This post is part of the Localization (R)evolution blog series, exploring why locally led humanitarian action – rooted in power, rights, and accountability – is essential to transforming the humanitarian system (read the introduction here and other posts in the series here).

Global progress toward gender justice has been uneven and fragile. But recent funding cuts could tip the balance even further against women’s rights. Women’s and gender rights are facing increased backlash, and according to research from UN Women, a staggering 90% of women’s organizations were hit by funding cuts in 2025. Many women’s organizations are at a breaking point based on a recent UN survey, receiving only 0.1% to 0.4% of global aid and bilateral funding in conflict-affected contexts in 2025. That, in itself, is a crisis.

Meanwhile, humanitarian crises are escalating. Climate disasters are intensifying. Conflicts are deepening. Displacement is rising. Total disaster costs in 2025 now exceed $2.3 trillion. Against this challenging situation, how can we support local women to stand their ground, lead, and adapt in a world full of disasters? 

According to new research, it does when it comes to grassroots leadership in disaster preparedness and response (DPR). With data from Nepal and the Philippines, we can see that in the right contexts and with support, women’s leadership shifts power in ways that better responds to people’s needs: it is solidarity in action.

A New Brand of Leadership

The need for effective, inclusive humanitarian local leadership has never been greater.

Based on recent research, women are first responders, organizers, and decision-makers. As a woman leader in the Philippines shared:

When there was a typhoon or a flood…before, I felt shy asking for help from boys. It’s different when it’s a fellow woman who helps you. That is one of the reasons that motivated me…I challenged myself to help other women.

The question is not whether women can lead in humanitarian settings. The evidence shows that they already do. The real question is whether the humanitarian system will recognize, resource, and stand behind their brand of leadership, especially now when women’s rights are under renewed attack, or if the current system will stand in the way.

Hearing from Local Communities and Women Leaders

In 2025, Oxfam America and Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs Integration Lab partnered on research analyzing community resilience in Nepal and Philippines, with a specific focus on women’s leadership. What we’ve learned is simple: women are already central to DPR at the local level. But too often, the odds are stacked against them.

• Social norms and stereotypes push women out of decision-making spaces, failing to see them as capable, or discourage them from stepping into them in the first place.
• Gaps in access to formal education and information limit their opportunities to fully participate.
• Daily realities of poverty, unpaid care work, and time constraints make leadership feel out of reach.

In other words, it’s not a lack of capacity that holds women back: it’s the barriers placed in their way by a patriarchal system.

What Happens When Women Lead?

Emerging research from women leaders in Nepal and the Philippines underscores that when given the chance, characteristics that women often bring to the table can transform into leadership skills needed in DPR efforts. Their leadership is rooted in lived experience. Through managing households, caring for family members, and navigating daily resource constraints, women develop critical skills such as resourcefulness, empathy, multitasking, and adaptive problem-solving. These skills translate directly into effective crisis management.

Women leaders in the DPR program report that their communities were more informed about what to do during a disaster, had a better grasp and access to early warning information, and were better equipped to analyze potential threats. As a result, women and their communities report feeling less afraid of and more prepared for future disasters.

Women’s leadership does not only improve DPR: it shifts power dynamics. Rather than equating leadership with hierarchy or formal power, women describe it as relational, service-oriented, and community-anchored. By leading in a different way, women’s leadership offers clear signs of what is possible in a humanitarian system at its crisis point.

In Nepal, leadership is about sharing knowledge and preparedness information widely, ensuring that no one is left unprotected. In the Philippines, it is seen in practical acts of service – checking on neighbors, organizing evacuations, and coordinating relief efforts. 

Leadership, in this framing, is not command-and-control; it is solidarity in action. From this research, and Oxfam’s work more generally, where women are empowered to lead, the communities demonstrate higher levels of social cohesion and trust, meaning they cooperate more effectively and are less likely to leave marginalized groups behind.

An Investment Opportunity with High Return on Investment

While thinking of her experience in the DPR program, a woman leader from the Philippines shared:

“For me, what can help us women to help in the community is training, support, and women’s empowerment, because if there is support and we are given training, we will know what to do, where to go, and who to approach” 

The research identifies successful strategies for empowering women to lead:

• Establish formal and recognized roles for women to lead, such as gender quotas, gender mainstreaming and consultative disaster planning.
• Provide regular capacity strengthening focused on women. Women leaders reported such programs being useful, such as trainings and skills building on DPR, but need them to be offered consistently, and not just on one-off occasions.
• Lean into community social ties, particularly friendships between women, as they are powerful tools to inspire women to become leaders and to remain in these roles.
• Provide economic empowerment programs such as livelihood promotion and professionalization schemes (initiatives that provide payment, formal recognition, and employment).
• Catalyze changing gender roles for enduring women’s leadership. In Nepal, male migration has opened space for women to lead – though now the task is to make those gains stick.

A Leadership (R)evolution: Women at the Forefront

A local community member in Nepal reflected on how her leadership evolved through the program:

Not long ago, women in our community were confined to household chores. Women’s voices were dismissed during meetings and gatherings, with the belief that we were incapable. But today we can stand up for our rights anywhere.

When women lead, they become the bridge between their communities and formal institutions, increasing the community’s coordination with and trust in institutions. Their participation tends to improve women’s social standing in the community, making them less vulnerable to the impacts of disasters.

The evidence from this research makes clear that investing in women’s leadership at the local level strengthens preparedness, enhances coordination with institutions, and fosters social cohesion. Moreover, supporting women’s leadership is an act of resistance against the normalization of inequality. It affirms that women’s voices, analysis, and authority matter not only in global forums, but also in the everyday decisions that determine whether communities survive and recover from disaster. Grounded in solidarity, investing in women’s leadership can be an antidote to escalating humanitarian crises and the erosion of rights.