Calkin Human Capital in Gender and Development

Feminist Political Economy and Empowerment
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-315-52208-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 200 Seiten

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Gender and Global Politics

It is often said that gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but a ‘Smart Economic’ policy. Global development discourse is dominated today by the language of gender equality and women’s empowerment as a primary driver for growth and prosperity. The central argument of this book is that the new empowerment agenda constitutes an invasive regime of development interventions which, under the rubric of ‘human capital’ analysis, aim to transform women’s economic agency and relationship to global markets. Providing a feminist reading of Foucauldian thought on human capital and neoliberalism, the author argues that ‘human capital’ analysis which dominates gender equality policy is premised on a double move to identify women’s supposedly innate productive capacities and to intervene in order to shape and train their subjectivities according to market logic.

While the corporatization of gender and development discourse is the subject of vibrant feminist political economy research and has received attention by leading researchers in recent years, this book approaches the topic from a post-structuralist feminist political economy perspective, influenced by Foucauldian theory, and develops a feminist critique of the ‘human capital’ economic framework that underpins ‘Smart Economics’ policy agenda. The World Bank provides an essential focus of analysis in this field, first because it has made efforts in recent years to position itself as the pre-eminent source of expertise on Gender and Development, and secondly because it is a leader in the shifting funding environment which sees development funding increasingly provided through the private sector.

This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of feminist political economy, global governance, and international development.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Calkin, Sydney

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Women ‘Under the Development Gaze’

2. Feminist Critique of Human Capital

3. Human Capital and Gender in the World Bank

4. Empowerable Bodies and Empowered Entrepreneurs: 2012 World Development Report

5. International Finance Corporation

6. ‘Tapping’ Resources, Producing Consumers: Public-Private Partnerships for Empowerment

Über Autor(innen)

Sydney Calkin is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Geography at Durham University, UK. Her primary research interests lie in feminist approaches to global development, political economy, and global governance.