So I finally met my long lost friend Natasha B. Hasnt changed one bit from what I remember. Fun loving, intelligent and still incredibly cool. She was here with her International Development Masters class from the University of Manchester, who also were good people… However I may not be too impartial… Out of 21 students on the tour, 17 were girls…
Talk about gendered education 
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On a serious note though, how is the effectiveness of development studies impacted when the majority of the intellegentsia is female, while the societies they study and work to change is deemed patriarchal? In all my travels here, the stereotypical development worker is young, white, female and all I have heard from some of these workers is how male-dominated development societies are. And dont get me wrong, to a certain extent, I do agree. But the more important question it seems to me is how do you change the power dynamic to make it more equal between men and women… I am not sure I have heard any coherent response especially from the locals.
Again this is not an argument to have male dominated development work. It is oft-stated fact, strong economies are built on more equitable societies… But I am curious whether to have such a major skew in volunteers may be more of a hindrance than a benefit in development work.
