Did the COVID-19 pandemic impact men and women in the informal labour sector differently? Do women experience trauma in a unique way? Are current social protection policies securing equally the livelihoods of both men and women? How do current labour laws impact the health of women and men differently?
Answering these types of questions is key to generating evidence to inform plans for achieving and sustaining an equitable society. However, research is not often designed to answer these questions with a view to effectively understanding gender discrepancies.
That is why a specific approach known as gender-transformative research (GTR) is essential.
At its core, GTR identifies and addresses gender inequities by actively questioning, challenging and reshaping the systemic and patriarchal norms that perpetuate them. The Women RISE initiative, with support from IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, has begun to spearhead an approach that aligns with global calls for inclusive and sustainable development, recognizing the transformative potential of gender-responsive research in enabling equitable recovery from health-related crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
GTR emerged from the growing recognition that conventional research methods can perpetuate power imbalances and structural inequities in society. While earlier gender-sensitive or gender-inclusive research focused on identifying disparities and accommodating differences, GTR pushes boundaries further by seeking to challenge these systemic inequities.
Globally, the demand for gender equality and inclusion in research gained traction soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the glaring gender disparities across the health, economic and social sectors. These disparities spurred an urgency for research that not only documents inequities but offers transformative solutions to ensure inclusive recovery and resilience.
Through this nuanced approach, the Women RISE initiative aligned with the United Nations Research Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery. That document underscores how recent economic changes disproportionately impact women and stresses the need for recovery strategies to be more action-oriented, inclusive and gender-transformative.
Gender-transformative research in action
All 23 Women RISE projects are framed from a GTR perspective, applying key principles of the approach to every aspect of the research, from start to finish. The key principles of GTR include:
- Participatory research: Involving stakeholders as active participants in the research process is crucial, particularly for marginalized women in impacted communities. It ensures that the experiences and testimonials of those most affected by inequities shape the outcomes and recommendations for each project.
- Intersectionality: Recognizing that gender inequities intersect with other forms of oppression — such as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and disabilities —, GTR approaches are deeply rooted in a nuanced understanding of overlapping identities and inequalities.
- Accountability: GTR emphasizes accountability for all stakeholders involved. Project teams and researchers are encouraged to share findings transparently and work collaboratively to drive change.
- Inclusive data and evidence-based solutions: GTR prioritizes collecting granular, disaggregated data that reflects the lived realities of women and marginalized groups. This data forms the foundation for actionable, evidence-based interventions.
- Sustainable development: Research outcomes are directed toward immediate challenges and designed to facilitate long-term systemic change, ensuring the sustainability of gender-equitable practices across sectors.
In Sri Lanka, for example, a Women RISE project aimed at improving pandemic responses to reduce adverse health effects on women workers in the export sector. It used participatory research to not only identify the differences in health impacts on men and women, but also to share the results with key decision-makers with a view to informing equitable decisions around response and relief plans. The research found that there was a disproportionate effect on women workers in the ready-made garment industry. Women workers faced negative impacts such as income loss, unemployment, limited food and lack of access to health care.
Policymakers and key decision-makers are hesitant to acknowledge the necessity of gender-specific pandemic responses or to adjust generic responses to address the unique needs of women workers, according to Asanka Wijesinghe, lead researcher with the project.