Why we must listen to the unsung 'sheroes' of war

War has been taking a devastating toll on women in Gaza, in Sudan, in Yemen and in a growing number of places around the world. Armed conflicts are often started, led and perpetrated by men, while women in war zones pay a disproportionate price: total disruption and deprivation for families, displacement, loss of healthcare and livelihoods, and increased gender-based violence.

As the world has become more violent, the number of women living within 50 kilometers of an armed conflict has soared to more than double the level it was in the 1990s. Our research shows that 44% of women who died in pregnancy or childbirth last year were within 50 kilometers of a conflict zone. And almost 260 million women live in countries reporting massive or significant sexual violence during conflict.

But women are also often the unsung “sheroes” in conflict. They provide meals and shelter to others who are hungry and have had to flee their homes. They become their families’ main or sole breadwinners. They build powerful networks to make their communities safer and healthier. Women in war are often the peacebuilders.

In Gaza, 70% of frontline health workers are women. In Sudan and Mali, women are providing meals and shelter to displaced people fleeing conflict. In Ethiopia, women's groups have loaned money – interest-free – to wealthier neighbours to buy food when they couldn’t get their own funds out of the bank. In Yemen, 89% of women in local savings groups have put money toward helping their communities.

In Niger, which has been living through prolonged conflict including a 2023 coup, one woman told a humanitarian worker: “I was able to overcome my silence and I was the first to mobilize the women. Our voices were heard by the authorities who agreed to patrol every night to prevent men from entering our houses.”

In Uganda, South Sudanese refugee women are creating conflict resolution mechanisms to attempt to build bridges between traditionally opposed ethnic groups.

CARE has been collecting and publishing gender-specific, quantitative and qualitative data about people’s needs in countries in crisis for 10 years, including this recent study of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The above accounts from our first-ever global view, Women in War, paint a picture that reinforces everything we have been learning country by country: Women know what they, their families and their communities need in peacetime, as well as during war.

Women in war zones consistently list income support among their top aid requests – even sometimes above food. But far too few decision-makers hear or heed them. And in fact, only 5% of media conflict stories focus on women’s experiences.

The voices and powerful potential of women leaders typically remain stifled by pernicious stereotypes and outdated systems. Women are still too often locked out of the conversations and mechanisms at any government level that can prevent war and lead to peace. Only one of the 18 peace agreements signed around the world in 2022 included signatures from a women’s organization. UN Women says that, at the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years.

If the world continues to see women in war only as victims, we will miss many opportunities to save lives and advance peace. Humanitarian actors, funders and policy makers need to proactively – and visibly – show trust in women as leaders, invest in them, and include them when systems are designed and decisions are made.

In Uganda and Haiti, women have said they had to walk for miles and risk their safety to reach locations where food was being distributed. In one case, women refused to accept aid until the deliveries started to come through more accessible distribution points. The humanitarian aid sent to conflict areas could be much better directed if providers and governments listened to women.

Governments and civil-society organizations must prioritize partnering with and amplifying the voices and power of women-run networks. More funding must be directed to organizations run by women so they can scale up their humanitarian work, offer competitive salaries and plan beyond survival mode.

These changes need to be transparent and accountable, using mechanisms like the Grand Bargain self-reporting exercise created by the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a humanitarian coordination forum. Further, the impact of investments in humanitarian aid and development should be measured using success metrics that are not only for and about women, but that are also developed with and by women.

Women are often the builders and rebuilders of families, communities, societies and peace. It is long past time to bring women to the tables where policies and decisions are made – and to seat them at the head.