Kathryn Moeller
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520286382
- eISBN:
- 9780520961623
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520286382.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
As corporations search for new frontiers of capitalist growth in the context of ongoing economic crises, they are making a business case for investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the ...
More
As corporations search for new frontiers of capitalist growth in the context of ongoing economic crises, they are making a business case for investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the Global South as a way to end poverty and promote economic growth and corporate profit. This chapter identifies this phenomenon as an instantiation of corporatized development and situates it within the context of the interrelated discourses of bottom-billion capitalism, philanthrocapitalism, gender equality, and third world difference. It introduces Nike Inc.’s investment in the Girl Effect through the Nike Foundation in the context of the corporation’s attempt to recover from transnational criticism of its well-documented abusive labor practices, and it situates the Girl Effect within the context of the racialization and feminization of global capitalism.Less
As corporations search for new frontiers of capitalist growth in the context of ongoing economic crises, they are making a business case for investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the Global South as a way to end poverty and promote economic growth and corporate profit. This chapter identifies this phenomenon as an instantiation of corporatized development and situates it within the context of the interrelated discourses of bottom-billion capitalism, philanthrocapitalism, gender equality, and third world difference. It introduces Nike Inc.’s investment in the Girl Effect through the Nike Foundation in the context of the corporation’s attempt to recover from transnational criticism of its well-documented abusive labor practices, and it situates the Girl Effect within the context of the racialization and feminization of global capitalism.
Kathryn Moeller
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520286382
- eISBN:
- 9780520961623
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520286382.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
The Girl Effect tells the story of how and why U.S. transnational corporations are investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the Global South as a solution to ending poverty in the pursuit of ...
More
The Girl Effect tells the story of how and why U.S. transnational corporations are investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the Global South as a solution to ending poverty in the pursuit of economic growth. This book fundamentally departs from the prominent individuals and institutions that promote this logic of development. Through a multi-sited ethnography in powerful institutions, including Nike Inc., the Nike Foundation, the World Bank, the Clinton Global Initiative, and international nongovernmental organizations, this book draws on over a decade of research in the United States and Brazil to understand how these corporatized development practices simultaneously position girls and women as instruments of poverty alleviation and as new frontiers for capitalist accumulation. Its ethnographic insights demonstrate how diverse, unequally resourced actors negotiate corporatized development, and reveal its intended and unintended effects for girls and corporations. Moeller illuminates how corporations, in partnership with liberal feminists and development experts, have sought to free capitalism from the constraints of gender inequality without fundamentally transforming the lives of the girls and women that they claim to serve. She concludes that these development practices enable corporations to expand their legitimacy, authority, and reach, while depoliticizing girls’ and women’s demands for a fair global economy.Less
The Girl Effect tells the story of how and why U.S. transnational corporations are investing in poor, racialized girls and women in the Global South as a solution to ending poverty in the pursuit of economic growth. This book fundamentally departs from the prominent individuals and institutions that promote this logic of development. Through a multi-sited ethnography in powerful institutions, including Nike Inc., the Nike Foundation, the World Bank, the Clinton Global Initiative, and international nongovernmental organizations, this book draws on over a decade of research in the United States and Brazil to understand how these corporatized development practices simultaneously position girls and women as instruments of poverty alleviation and as new frontiers for capitalist accumulation. Its ethnographic insights demonstrate how diverse, unequally resourced actors negotiate corporatized development, and reveal its intended and unintended effects for girls and corporations. Moeller illuminates how corporations, in partnership with liberal feminists and development experts, have sought to free capitalism from the constraints of gender inequality without fundamentally transforming the lives of the girls and women that they claim to serve. She concludes that these development practices enable corporations to expand their legitimacy, authority, and reach, while depoliticizing girls’ and women’s demands for a fair global economy.
Kathryn Moeller
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520286382
- eISBN:
- 9780520961623
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520286382.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
To illustrate the corporate search for new population and geographic frontiers, the concluding chapter traces the Nike Foundation’s movement away from the perceived limitations of traditional ...
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To illustrate the corporate search for new population and geographic frontiers, the concluding chapter traces the Nike Foundation’s movement away from the perceived limitations of traditional development channels and into Silicon Valley’s world of fast capital and market-driven enterprise through the Girl Effect Accelerator. It reveals the expansionary tendencies of corporatized development, as third world girls are promoted as a potential billion-dollar market and, thus, a valuable new capitalist frontier. The chapter then analyzes how and why Nike Inc. decided to end its investment in the Girl Effect. The conclusion ends by analyzing the phenomenon of corporatized development in light of emergent trends within transnational feminism.Less
To illustrate the corporate search for new population and geographic frontiers, the concluding chapter traces the Nike Foundation’s movement away from the perceived limitations of traditional development channels and into Silicon Valley’s world of fast capital and market-driven enterprise through the Girl Effect Accelerator. It reveals the expansionary tendencies of corporatized development, as third world girls are promoted as a potential billion-dollar market and, thus, a valuable new capitalist frontier. The chapter then analyzes how and why Nike Inc. decided to end its investment in the Girl Effect. The conclusion ends by analyzing the phenomenon of corporatized development in light of emergent trends within transnational feminism.
