Strife and bloodshed in the Middle East have led to the displacement of millions of persons. While the international community struggles to meet their needs, what is often missing from the toolkit is a good set of gender lenses. And that’s surprising, because we have known for decades now that gender matters greatly in any form of third party assistance, whether we are speaking of economic development projects, health interventions, or any other type. Our assistance is more effective and our policies less likely to cause unintended negative consequences when we take into account the priorities and concerns of women.
Food and shelter are rightly first and foremost in our minds when assisting refugees. But refugee camps are a distinctly gendered experience. In the case of the most recent exodus, a sizeable proportion of the able-bodied men and teen boys have left for Europe (they are over 70% of those who have applied for asylum there in the last year). It is primarily women, children, the elderly, and the sick that have been left behind in the camps. These groups have distinctive needs, which may not be seen as important—and yet they are crucially important to the entire purpose of the camp as a sanctuary from the violence.
