Gender inequalities in Development NGOs: discourses, practices and process of change

Abstract

In the same way as any other type of social organization, NGOs evidence the existence of gender inequalities in their structure and internal functioning. This paper aims at analysing this issue in the case of Development NGOs, through the study of the practices, dynamics and rhetoric that go on inside them. Particular attention is paid to one of its effects: the (in)visibility of women in this kind of organization, an examination being made of the two dimensions of this phenomenon. On the one hand, the paper studies the invisibility of gender issues, which arises out of the inequality that exists in such organizations. On the other hand, we focus on the excessive visibility of anything that goes against established rules, starting out from the processes of change in the gender roles that are occurring in some Development NGOs.