Gender Norms and Protection: Navigating Agency, Risk, and Backlash
Publisher: ODI Global
Author(s): Anki Sjöberg, Ján Michalko, and Gemma Davies
Date: 2026
Topics: Conflict Causes, Gender, Governance
Conflict exacerbates and creates gendered inequalities and risks rooted in gender norms. At the same time, people exercise their agency to strengthen their protection by actively drawing on, adapting or challenging gender norms as part of their self-protection strategies. These strategies are complex and highly context-specific, but share a common feature: they rely on an implicit understanding that gender shapes risk, power and legitimacy.
This report identifies six critical takeaways for humanitarian, protection and gender actors to strengthen the intersection of gender norms with protection action in the current hostile geopolitical context. It draws from research in Iraq, Myanmar, South Sudan and Ukraine, with a diverse spectrum of gendered protection actors and responses in support of communities. It identifies critical ways forward for humanitarian actors to strengthen gender-sensitive protection.