Gender Competencies for Leadership- Moving from Mandate to Action

What does it take for a leader to be successful? Of all the books, social media posts, and online lists created to support leaders in their work, we’re willing to bet that almost none spell out “gender competency” as a critical skill.

Yet for organizations and institutions to contribute meaningfully to a gender equal world, leadership is crucial. Many leaders today excel at articulating a commitment to gender equality in their speeches and other public statements. But with so many priorities competing for organizational resources, attention, and time, leaders sometimes struggle with how to make that commitment real. At the same time, gender technical staff often feel like they aren’t having maximum impact because they don’t have consistent allies in positions of power.

At the Chroma Collective, we’ve been doing a lot of thinking about pathways to better gender equality outcomes. While our work focuses on how donors and financing institutions can promote gender equality, these pathways may apply across a wide range of organizations. Advancing gender equality within our programs, organizational behaviors, and systems doesn’t just happen – it requires intentional thought and action. For example, organizations with a mandate to advance gender equality must have supportive structures in place to carry it out – including reporting mechanisms, inclusive policies, budget set-asides, human resource expertise and clear internal and external communications about gender as an explicit priority.

As Chroma members have emphasized, the one thing that underpins each of these structures is leadership – the intentional guidance of an institution toward a shared goal. Leaders are critical to gender equality throughout an institution, whether they direct entire organizations, oversee human resources staff, or plan programs and budgets. Without active leadership to plan and implement systems that promote gender equality, these supportive structures likely will not materialize. Likewise, without strong and outspoken leadership, every single one of those supportive structures could exist on paper, but not meaningfully influence the organizational culture and success. 

For all the talk within gender circles about the importance of leadership, there does not seem to be clarity about what gender competencies leaders need. Below are some ideas, based on the thinking in the Chroma Collective and our experiences working on women’s rights and gender equality issues. 

• Knowledge – Leaders don’t need to have the same level of gender expertise as their organizations’ gender technical staff, but they do need to understand specific ways in which gender inequality hinders the success of their mission-driven organizations. They also should have basic knowledge about where and how to embed structures for organizational accountability on gender equality. They should understand what intangibles (such as organizational culture - see below) are needed to support an institutional commitment to gender equality.

• Vision – Gender competent leaders at all levels of the organization should have a common vision of what promoting gender equality looks like at their institution. What staffing and teamwork is needed to make the gender mandate a reality across organizational functions? The vision should include ways the leaders themselves can be held accountable to the organization’s gender mandate.

• Timing – Leaders with gender competency understand that organizational changes promoting gender equality can’t wait until other urgent matters are completed. Instead, a leader should seek opportunities to advance the gender equality agenda on a daily basis. Periodic activities like staff training and strategic planning are ideal for reflecting on and pushing action for gender equality in process and programming. Leaders also should recognize that patience is essential – changing organizational structures and cultures to support gender equality will be challenging and take time.

• Commitment – Relatedly, leaders showing gender competency sustain a principled commitment to implementing their gender mandate throughout their tenure, no matter the external climate. They can show this commitment by building enthusiasm for the gender mandate among board members, staff, and other stakeholders, and by lifting up the voices of gender experts in their daily work. 

• Communication – Leaders should be able to communicate the importance of gender equality as a global good and as a critical aspect of achieving their institution’s overall mission. As good communicators, they should listen to the gender experts on staff and weave bold and evidence-based messages on gender equality into their public statements and meetings with external stakeholders.

• Culture – A key element of demonstrating gender competency in leadership is creating an organizational culture that is supportive of the gender mandate. This includes identifying where there is misunderstanding or resistance, and addressing capacity gaps. Accountability is also key to a culture that drives change. (See much more on Chroma Collective’s recommendations for building institutional leadership and accountability for gender equality here.)

Leaders in organizations committed to gender equality should see themselves as critical allies and enablers of the gender experts on their staff. By cultivating and sustaining their own gender competencies, leaders can help ensure that the organizational investments they are making toward gender equality are well spent and generate maximum impact.