Chapter 13: Identity Negotiation Across Cultures: A Case Study of International Women Aid Workers

The humanitarian sector has grown significantly in size and profile over recent years (Ager & Iacovou, 2014). The exact number of International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) operating today is not known but varies widely from between 6,000 to 30,000 (Leverty, 2013). Reliable data on the number of people in aid² are rarely published (Roth, 2015), but it has been estimated that around a quarter of a million people are employed by humanitarian organizations globally (Stoddard, Harmer, & Di Domenico, 2009). Despite the rapid expansion of the aid industry, academic and research-based enquiry on the people working in aid has to date been limited, as most of the research so far has focused on the ‘beneficiaries’ of aid and has excluded those involved in the provision of aid.