Development

Citation:

Dolan, Catherine, and Kate Roll. 2013. "Capital’s New Frontier: From “Unusable” Economies to Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Markets in Africa." African Studies Review 56 (3): 123-46.

Authors: Catherine Dolan, Kate Roll

Abstract:

Over the last decade, the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) approach has gained prominence as a tool of “inclusive” capitalism in sub-Saharan Africa. This approach reframes development as a seamless outcome of core business activities, one that can ameliorate poverty by bringing much-needed products and services to the poor and generating employment opportunities for informal and subsistence workers as “micro-entrepreneurs.” Yet while transnational capital has set its sights on Africa’s “underserved” yet potentially buoyant markets, BoP initiatives do more than seize upon the entrepreneurial talent and aspirations of Africa’s informal economies. This article argues, rather, that these initiatives create BoP economies through a set of market technologies, practices, and discourses that render the spaces and actors at the bottom of the pyramid knowable, calculable, and predictable to global business. The article describes how these technologies extend new forms of market governance over the informal poor, reconfiguring their habits, social practices, and economic strategies under the banner of poverty reduction.

Keywords: Bottom of pyramid, consumption, entrepreneurship, enterprise, international development

Annotation:

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Globalization, International Organizations, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Africa

Year: 2013

Citation:

Presidência da República. 2013. Plano Nacional de Politicas para as Mulheres. Brasilia D.F: Plano Nacional de Politicas para as Mulheres.

Author: Secretaria de Políticas para as Mulheres – Presidência da República

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Education, Gender, Women, Men, Girls, Boys, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Health, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 2013

Citation:

Narciso, Vanda and Pedro Damião de Sousa Henriques. 2008. "O papel das mulheres no desenvolvimento rural: uma leitura para Timor-Leste." CEFAGE-UE Working Paper, Universidade de Évora, Évora.

Authors: Vanda Narciso, Pedro Damião de Sousa Henriques

Abstract:

PORTUGUESE ABSTRACT:

Keywords: gênero, direitos à terra, desenvolvimento rural, Timor-Leste, Gender, land rights, rural development, East Timor

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Oceania Countries: Timor-Leste

Year: 2008

Citation:

Carneiro, María José. 1994. "Mulheres no campo: notas sobre sua participação política e a condição social do gênero." Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, 2: 11-22.

Author: María José Carneiro

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Education, Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Health, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 1994

Citation:

Wright, Melissa W. 2001. “Feminine Villains, Masculine Heroes, and the Reproduction of Ciudad Juarez.” Social Text 19 (4): 93–113.

Author: Melissa W. Wright

Annotation:

From Introduction: In this essay, I attempt to demonstrate how this development plan for “the next Silicon Valley of Mexico” necessarily requires the reproduction of the current city, marked by poverty, inadequate infrastructure, and unskilled, low-waged laborers who work in labor-intensive industries. This contradiction becomes clear upon close inspection of the proposal’s internal design, which is revealed through the narratives used to describe and justify it. These explanations reveal that the Silicon Valley of Mexico proposal does not call for the replacement of the unskilled laborers who live in squatter settlements and attend overcrowded schools. Rather, ORION’s plan for the Silicon Valley of Mexico promises to join high-tech, design-oriented operations with the labor-intensive manufacturing facilities that still mainly rely upon low-waged workers who live in poorly serviced areas of the city. These are the very workers that ORION’s team needs in order to convince potential investors that the proposal for developing the next Silicon Valley of Mexico is a viable plan.

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Infrastructure, Livelihoods, Political Economies Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico

Year: 2001

Citation:

Roberts, Adrienne. 2015. “The Political Economy of ‘Transnational Business Feminism’: Problematizing the Corporate-led Gender Equality Agenda.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 17 (2): 209–31.

Author: Adrienne Roberts

Abstract:

This article traces the emergence of a politico-economic project of "transnational business feminism" (TBF) over the past decade. This project - which is being developed by a coalition of states, financial institutions, the UN, corporations, NGOs and others - stresses the "business case" for gender equality by arguing that investments made in women can (and should) be measured in terms of the cost savings to families and communities, as well as in terms of boosting corporate profitability and national competitiveness. This article uses a feminist historical materialist framework to argue that TBF is facilitating the further entrenchment of the power of corporations to create "expert" knowledges about both "gender" and "development." Using the Nike-led "Girl Effect" campaign as an example, it is argued that TBF is promoting a naturalized and essentialized view of women and gender relations that ignores the historical and structural causes of poverty and gender-based inequality. It is also helping to reproduce the same neoliberal macroeconomic framework that has created and sustained gender-based and other forms of oppression via the global feminization of labor, the erosion of support for social reproduction and the splintering of feminist critiques of capitalism.

Keywords: transnational business feminism, feminist IPE, feminist historical materialism, the business case for gender equality, World Bank, social reproduction, the Girl Effect

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Financial Institutions, International Organizations, Multi-National Corporations, NGOs, Political Economies

Year: 2015

Citation:

Metcalfe, B. D., and C. J. Rees. 2010. “Gender, Globalization and Organization: Exploring Power, Relations and Intersections.” Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 29 (1): 5–22.

Authors: Beverly Dawn Metcalfe, Christopher J. Rees

Abstract:

Purpose – Current debates on neo-liberal and universalistic globalization pay little attention to gender or to other marginalized groups, and fail to consider the complexity and diversity of the experiences of men and women in specific socio-political contexts, especially those in the developing world. The paper challenges mainstream theories which present globalization and its associated forces as gender neutral. The main purpose of this paper is to advance theoretical debates on the gendered organizing dynamics of globalization.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on organization theory, gender and development studies literature, and feminist sociology, to advance critical understandings of contemporary debates of the intersecting qualities of globalization, transnational organizations and gender social divisions.

Findings – The paper provides a critical synthesis of the complexity and interconnections between gender, organization and globalization. The paper identifies international development agencies; transnational corporations; international nongovernmental organizations and government state machineries as key stakeholders in the global and national regulation of employment and diversity issues. The paper outlines the organizing praxis of these key stakeholders, and stresses the need for all actors to engage in human rights awareness and equality consciousness raising.

Originality/value – The paper provides an original gendered organization analysis of globalization which reveals the specificity of global-local linkages mediated by national states, international organizations, women’s NGOs and gendered government machineries.

Keywords: Gender, globalization, organizations, feminism, transnational companies

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Globalization, Governance, International Organizations, Multi-National Corporations, NGOs, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 2010

Citation:

Medvedev, Katalin, and Britanny Reef. 2012. “Picking up the Threads: Model Approach Helps Cambodia Design a New Fashion Image.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 41 (1/2): 131–49.

Authors: Katalin Medvedev, Britanny Reef

Annotation:

Last paragraph of Introduction: Most of the country's intelligentsia and skilled labor force perished. Because Cambodia's entire population was uprooted and displaced around the country, the national agriculture, industry, and service sectors, including textiles and fashion production, were either destroyed or abandoned. Vietnamese troops put an end to the destruction by ousting Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in 1979. In 1991 the Paris Peace Agreement finally brought a cease-fire in the continuing civil war. The agreement and the subsequent establishment of the United Nations Transitional Authority in 1992, followed by national elections in 1993, opened Cambodia to international investment and aid, which claimed to rebuild the nation and spur economic growth. As part of this, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Blue Mekong, which operates within the Stung Treng Women's Development Center have become important catalysts in creating socially and economically sustainable employment opportunities for Cambodian women in fashion production.

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, NGOs, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia, United States of America, Vietnam

Year: 2012

Citation:

Maertens, Miet, and Johan F. M. Swinnen. 2012. “Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries.” The Journal of Development Studies 48 (10): 1412–30. 

Authors: Miet Maertens, Johan F. M. Swinnen

Abstract:

The rapid spread of modern supply chains in developing countries is profoundly changing the way food is produced and traded. In this article we examine gender issues related to this change. We conceptualise various mechanisms through which women are directly affected, we review existing empirical evidence and add new survey-based evidence. Our results suggest that, although modern supply chains are gendered, their growth is associated with reduced gender inequalities in rural areas. We find that women benefit more and more directly from large-scale estate production and agro-industrial processing, and the creation of employment in these modern agro-industries than from smallholder contract-farming.

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods

Year: 2012

Citation:

Rajgopal, Shoba S. 2002. “Reclaiming Democracy? The Anti-Globalization Movement in South Asia.” Feminist Review 70: 134–37.

Author: Shoba S. Rajgopal

Abstract:

This article studies anti-globalization activities in South Asia, and specifically the Indian subcontinent, and discovers that the common people have begun a new form of civil disobedience in the country, to counter the machinations of multinational corporations. Many of the eminent writers and activists at the forefront of the movement are Indian women, a fact that may come as a surprise to some, but is part and parcel of the movement's basis in sustainable development and resistance to patriarchal hegemony.

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Globalization, Multi-National Corporations, Political Participation Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2002