Gender and Forced Displacement: Practical Issues and Challenges at Field Level

This article by Miranda Gaanderse provides a view on the gendered refugee experience from the perspective of a humanitarian worker. Gaanderse responds to the articles presented in this issue and highlights their common focus on sexual and gender-based violence and evolving gender roles and power relations among displaced communities. Although guidelines, policies, and standard operating procedures exist, humanitarian workers face practical challenges in the field, which necessitate strategies particular to each situation that provide for the unique experiences of men and women, boys and girls in varied cultural contexts. Gaanderse contends that for positive change in gender equality to be lasting, it cannot be externally imposed, but must come from within.