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A Letter to the New “Gender Person” in a Development NGO

08 Mar 2022
By Dr Joyce Wu
Source: Kevin Walsh, Flickr, https://bit.ly/3CongzI

What are the tips for making gender integration successful in international development? Joyce Wu responds in a (fictional) letter to a former student.

Dear “New Gender Person,”

Thank you for reaching out last month. It was wonderful to hear that, upon graduation, you quickly found a position at an international NGO, and that you are enjoying the first few weeks at work. You asked, wryly, “Now that I have become the Gender Person, can you please give me some advice on how to survive and thrive in this organisation?”

You must forgive me for the month-long silence since receiving the missive. During the university lecture when I talked about my experiences of working in the development sector, primarily working on gender issues, or assisting institutions integrate gender into their development projects, I recounted an amusing incident in which I was introduced as such:

This is Joyce Wu. She is our new colleague. And because she is a woman, she will be our new gender person.

You have a good memory of remembering that anecdote.

My silence, however, was my struggle in answering your question, “how to survive and thrive” as the new gender person. I am not confident in my ability to advise on “thriving,” but perhaps some ideas about surviving would be more pertinent.

Firstly, be mindful that you are no longer a student studying at university. Despite its hierarchy dominated by white men, despite the arcane and bureaucratic processes, and pretensions about turning students into “thought leaders,” the university as an institution is relatively proactive at making sure students are protected from discrimination. You were also a paying customer — and the fee for a social science degree is becoming more prohibitive. Thus, universities have an interest in protecting your rights and ensuring that your student experience is a happy one.

In the workplace, you are an employee contractually bound to perform roles and responsibilities as befit your job description. As a gender person, this becomes very interesting — your job often makes your employer’s job harder.

When I wrote your referral letter, I looked at the job description, which is fairly stock standard for gender advisors: “Provide strategic input and advice on gender across the work of the Organisation,” “Work with Country Programme Teams to ensure gender is mainstreamed across all the Country Objectives, policies and programme design, monitoring and evaluation,” the list goes on with more banalities about ensuring the implementation of gender policies, create gender networks, and focal points, etc., etc.

What the job description does not mention is that your role essentially requires you to throw Molotov cocktails at gender-blind policies and programme design, destroy them, and rebuild. You will engage in daily guerrilla warfare with hostile combatants who do not care about gender issues — they also outnumber you, with superior firearms. You will need agility to retreat, tact in your exercise of diplomacy, and political nous when forming strategic alliances. You must also be adept at administering First Aid to oneself and other “gender people” and avoiding burn out. What I am trying to say is that your job requires you to challenge the very institute that hired you. To survive, here are some tips.

Find your allies

There are inside activists everywhere. Some are what I call “usual suspects” — people who have been advocating on gender and intersectionality long before you were born. Seek them out early, and listen to their stories and experiences. Learn from the usual suspects on how the organisation responds to gender mainstreaming. Support them. No gender person is an island.

Look for unlikely allies – these are people who may have an inkling of interest, but they don’t know how to integrate gender dimensions into a Theory of Change — and what is that anyway? Dispense with jargon. Vernacularise your language to make gender mainstream activities relatable, or just put it simply, communicate in a way that makes you sound like a human, and not a training manual.

Newcomers and younger colleagues can also be your ally. They will be more receptive to new ideas. Form friendships and acquaintances. You will need that coffee — or perhaps something stronger.

Structural changes demand resources

When presented with a new initiative, for instance a new policy that audits gender implementation in project activities, ask about the budget. How much money for how long? How many personnel will be dedicated to it? Your finance manager and finance team are your allies. Work with them, explore ways in which resources can be mobilised for gender activities.

Beware of performative behaviours

Performative behaviours are easy to spot from others. For example, the CEO gives a rousing speech on International Women’s Day or Mardi Gras or Reconciliation Day about equity and diversity but does nothing for the other 362 days of the year. What you need to be mindful of are your own, for they a sign that you have become cynical and are about to burn out.

Try to understand resistance to gender integration, but don’t make excuses for it

There are many reasons why your colleagues may baulk at the thought of gender training or a new set of indicators to measure women’s participation in a livelihood project. It can be anything from “I’m not a woman, why do I need to do this?” to “I’m overworked already, I don’t have time for more.”

Understanding the reasons for resistance requires compassion and humility because you will need to walk in someone else’s shoes. That can be a very confronting experience. Your values and assumptions will be challenged. From there, work with your colleagues to explore ways that they can create change.

Work within your constraints and don’t burn out

Gender integration requires the collective effort of the entire organisation. Never feel as though it is your burden alone.

My dear new gender person and former student, I hope this letter has not dampened your enthusiasm for your new job. You have an exciting career ahead of you and I know you will make waves. Remember, the goal of a gender person is to make everyone a gender person in the organisation.

In any case, my offer of a PhD supervision – should you wish to return to academia – stands ready!

Kindly yours,

Joyce

Dr Joyce Wu is a lecturer in Global Development at the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales. As a “gender person”, she has worked for the Australian Government as well as the United Nations. Joyce is the Deputy Editor for the journal, Development in Practice, and Treasurer for Development Studies Association of Australia. This blog is based on her recent study reflecting on the challenges of integrating gender into development agencies.

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and may be republished with attribution.