U.S. Aid and Third World Women: The Impact of Peace Corps Programs

Evaluates the significance of the Peace Corps as an example of a contemporary aid program for the status of women in 3rd world countries. Explores the extent to which the inclusion or exclusion of women as recipients of Peace Corps activities varies with the type of Peace Corps program the sex of the volunteer and with country characteristics. Data are based on a 20 page questionnaire distributed to all Peace Corps volunteers abroad in 1978. The response rate was 78% yielding 4422 completed questionnaires. The results indicate that the Peace Corps program as a whole benefits men to a greater extent that women with women being particularly underrepresented in those programs most likely to involve the transfer of marketable skills and resources. Female Peace Corp Volunteers were shown to work disproportionately with female recipients. The degree of womens participation in the programs varied with geographical region and level of development. The lack of consistent patterns here suggests that Peace Corps programming is a more critical factor than country or regional characteristics in determining the level of participation in Peace Corps programs. The overall conclusion is reached that the position of women in the 3rd world may actually be weakened in relation to that of men by the provision of disproportionate economic resources to men.