Women and humanitarian aid - a historicizing perspective

In recent years, influential international actors have been stressing the importance of the gender dimension in humanitarian aid. In order to reach a deeper understanding of humanitarian aid and deal with contemporary human crisis, there is a pronounced need to consider empirical knowledge produced from a historical point of view. In research on Swedish humanitarian efforts carried out inside as well as outside of Sweden during the 20th and early 21st century, women are very significant actors. Striving to put women’s role in humanitarian aid in focus, the aim is to bring together researchers interested in Swedish humanitarian work and to establish an interdisciplinary network where humanitarianism in relation to gender and human rights can be discussed and problematised.