Conference Agenda

Women’s underrepresentation in operations leadership is not a talent pipeline issue. It is a system design issue. The organizations that close the leadership gap will be those that examine and change how they structure roles, govern career pathways, manage culture, and define leadership - not those that only invest in developing individual women to fit systems that weren’t built for them. This brief highlights four structural barriers that consistently influence who gains credibility, visibility, and decision-making authority in operational roles: safety is not integrated into role design; career pathways assume a male life cycle; organizational culture perpetuates gender norms through informal gatekeeping; and leadership evaluation favors visibility over impact. These barriers work together and reinforce each other. The findings are based on ten in-depth interviews with senior women leaders from five different sectors and a participatory workshop with seventeen participants in Amman. The main strength of the study is the consistent results across sectors: barriers that appear in humanitarian, public, and private sector settings are systemic, not specific to one sector. The request is straightforward: view leadership system design as a governance duty. Review your role structure, career standards, sponsorship methods, and evaluation systems against the four barriers in this brief. Ensure accountability for addressing identified gaps.

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