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Birds of a Feather
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Birds of a Feather

Feminist Issues in Evaluation

Session: Birds of a Feather

100 - Measuring the Impact of Women’s Leadership: Now and Next

Stream:

Friday, October 25, 2024
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM PST
Location: Exhibit Hall A
Abstract Information: WomenLift Health is committed to expanding the power and influence of talented women in public and global health and catalyzing systemic change to achieve gender equality in leadership, envisioning a world where diverse, accomplished leaders collectively transform health outcomes. We have implemented a year long women’s leadership development program in North America, South Asia, and East Africa since 2020, and are soon to launch in Southern Africa. . Beyond our leadership development work we see tremendous value in expanding the evidence base for women’s leadership, and understanding how we can work with others in the space to contribute effectively and thoughtfully to the literature on women’s leadership. WomenLift Health partners with Bixal to evaluate our program as rigorously as possible, but there are large questions in women’s leadership that are mostly unexplored in the literature. These gaps exist for many reasons, including the methodological challenges in measuring women’s leadership, the lack of funding to implement and evaluate women’s leadership programs, and competing perspectives on what success or good leadership look like. Both WomenLift and Bixal want to take bold steps to better understand leadership but understand that there are various stakeholders working in this space who do not always have the chance to share their knowledge, experiences, and ideas. This Birds of a Feather session will serve as a space to discuss our common questions, including:


  • What research is currently being done on women’s leadership? - What are the gaps in our current understanding of women’s leadership?

  • Who is building the evidence on women’s leadership? - What evidence should we expect to see in the short-, medium-, and long-term?

  • What do we consider valid evidence? What forms should evidence take? - How can we ensure future evidence is considered when defining desired outcomes and impact?

  • How can we ensure that women’s leadership literature is inclusive and does not only focus on senior leadership and corporations in the Global North?

  • How can we ensure that women’s leadership literature is cross-sectoral (NGO, Academia, Government, Multi-laterals, Philanthropy) and not just exploring private sector environments?

  • What priorities should we as a community focus on exploring?

  • What guiding principles can we utilize as a community when doing research on women in leadership?


WomenLift Health and Bixal will host this session and invite relevant stakeholders from the women’s leadership community to come and discuss these key questions. WomenLift and Bixal commit to sharing the findings of this session more broadly to ensure that even those who cannot participate can review and build on the discussion.