Friday, January 16, 2009

Exchange students and gender balance

I remember reading a blog (http://hollisramblings.blogspot.com/2008/07/giving-back-volunteers-flood-into-ghana.html) which commented on volunteers coming to Ghana during summer holidays and being struck at how true this seemed.

Last semester was an extreme case at the institution where I work - with less than 10% male visiting exchange students - and though this semester there are more males, the percentage isn't that much over 20%. I asked one of the students why she thought this happened, and she made the comment, passed on from someone who had made some kind of study of this, that the males like going to Europe!

I wonder whether this is an indication of the feminisation of development - and I am not criticising this by any means, but I do wonder whether this is a trend which will continue in a job market. I think I will ask a bit more, as this does intrigue me.