In 2018, two UK aid agencies, Oxfam GB and Save the Children UK found themselves in the midst of serious sexual abuse scandals. The consequences of the scandals breaking culminated in the departure of senior staff, investigations by the Charity Commission and the International Development Select Committee and significant numbers of donors deserting both agencies.
The role of The Times which put the revelations about abuse of beneficiary women by Oxfam GB staff after the Haiti earthquake and the Mail on Sunday which broke the stories of harassment of Save the Children UK staff by senior executives was clear (O’Neill, 2018; Walters, 2018). However these stories had been widely known in the aid industry and media for several years without receiving attention. This study looks at how social media may have played a role in opening up the story, allowing a more inclusive approach with more diverse voices, and whether such sites offered support for those involved.
Using Greer and McLaughlin’s (2017) scandal model and field theory as conceptual frameworks, it examines two closed Facebook groups where discussion took place – Fifty Shades of Aid, a group, which is populated by all genders and Humanitarian Women’s Network specifically aimed at women. Using surveys and in-depth interviews it will aim to analyse the potential democratising and opening-up effect of different mobile platforms and whether all-women sites proved particularly useful. In particular it will ask: How did those involved in the sites find out about the #AidToo scandal? What actions did they take as a result of seeing these stories on social media? And what differences were perceived by those who used a specifically all-female site and one in which all genders were allowed to join?