Male or female, does it matter? : A qualitative study on Swedish aid workers and gender

Abstract: Aid workers are one of the corner stones in development and consist of both female and male employees in the sector. Female aid workers have been studied within the “Women in Development” agenda but since the agenda shift to “Gender and Development” male aid workers have been concluded more in the study of aid workers and gender. Despite the shift, there is still an inaccurate image of aid workers and gender since there is a lack of the illustration on positive and negative attributes aid workers face because of their gender. The objective of this study is to remove prejudice of aid workers and their gender by exploring advantages and disadvantages that male and female aid workers encounter in their work. By using the theoretical framework hegemonic masculinity of Raewyn Connell concepts such as gender roles and gender norms are discussed in order to explore aid workers perception on gender. The thesis is conducted as an abductive field study of Swedish aid workers, working within the international sphere. The data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with both female and male aid workers. The data emerging display five main themes; characteristics of aid work, advantages and disadvantages, norms and norm- breaking, other factors and safety, to be the ground for aid workers and their perception on gender.