Skip to main content

Gender Expertise and the Private Sector

Navigating the Privatization of Gender Equality Funding

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Politics of Feminist Knowledge Transfer

Part of the book series: Gender and Politics ((GAP))

Abstract

Private sector funding for gender equality initiatives is a growing phenomenon worldwide. To date, however, this issue has received relatively little attention in feminist literature. Our aim here is to map the contours of such funding and draw out the implications thereof for discussions of feminist knowledge transfer. While existing literature on the subject, as outlined below, offers a feminist critique of private sector involvement in gender equality, we suggest that our approach is original as it engages explicitly from the perspectives of those conducting feminist knowledge transfer. Drawing on the experiences of the authors and accounts from interviews, we set out the opportunities and challenges created by the increasing privatization of gender equality funding. By the “private sector”, we mean medium to large enterprises operating at national and multinational levels.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • AWID (2014) New Actors, New Money, New Conversations: A Mapping of Recent Initiatives for Women and Girls. Toronto: Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). http://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/New%20Actors%20Final%20Designed.pdf (accessed 8 May 2015).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bear, Stephen, Noushi Rahman, and Corinne Post (2010) “The Impact of Board Diversity and Gender Composition on Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Reputation”, Journal of Business Ethics, 97(2), 207–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron, Suzanne and Stephen Healy (2013) “Beyond the ‘Business Case’: A Community Economies Approach to Gender, Development and Social Economy”. Paper presented at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Conference on Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy, May, Geneva. Cited with permission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bexell, Magdalena (2012) “Global Governance, Gains and Gender: UN-Business Partnerships for Women’s Empowerment”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 14(3), 389–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chant, Sylvia (2012) “The Disappearing of ‘smart economics’? The World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality: Some Concerns about the Preparatory Process and the Prospects for Paradigm Change”, Global Social Policy, 12(2), 198–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elias, J. (2013) “Davos Woman to the Rescue of Global Capitalism: Postfeminist Politics and Competitiveness Promotion at the World Economic Forum”, International Political Sociology, 7(2), 152–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, Lucy (2014) “‘This Is Our Gender Person’: The Messy Business of Being a Gender Expert in International Development”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, DOl 10.1080/14616742.2014.918787 (accessed 8 May 2015).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernändez-Feijoo, Belen, Silvia Romero, and Silvia Ruiz (2012) “Does Board Gender Composition Affect Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting?”, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(1), 31–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosser, Kate and Jeremy Moon (2005) “Gender Mainstreaming and Corporate Social Responsibility: Reporting Workplace Issues”, Joumal of Business Ethics, 62(4), 327–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (2008) “Developments in Company Reporting on Workplace Gender Equality? A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective”, Accounting Forum, 32(3), 179–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keating, Christine, Claire Rasmussen, and Pooja Rishi (2010) “The Rationality of Empowerment: Microcredit, Accumulation by Dispossession, and the Gendered Economy”, Signs, 36(1), 153–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Judi (2007) “The Gendering of Leadership in Corporate Social Responsibility”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(2), 165–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (2011) “En-gendering Notions of Leadership for Sustainability”, Gender, Work & Organization, 18(3), 263–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno Alarcon, Daniela (2014) “El camino hacia Ia igualdad: el caso de Cartagena de Indias, Colombia”, Memorias.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, Patrick E. and Bodo B. Schlegelmilch (2013) “Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Introduction to a Special Topic Section”, Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1807–1813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prügl, Elisabeth and Jacqui True (2014) “Equality Means Business? Governing Gender through Transnational Public-private Partnerships”, Review of International Political Economy, 21(6), 1137–1169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rankin, Katherine N. (2002) “Social Capital, Microfinance, and the Politics of Development”, Feminist Economics, 8(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rekker, Saphira A. C., Karen L. Benson, and Robert W. Faff (2014) “Corporate Social Responsibility and CEO Compensation Revisited: Do Disaggregation, Market Stress, Gender Matter?”, Journal of Economics and Business, 72, 84–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Adrienne (2012) “Financial Crisis, Financial Firms... and Financial Feminism? The Rise of Transnational Business Feminism and the Necessity of Marxist-Feminist IPE”, Socialist Studies/Etudes socialistes, 8(2), 85–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Adrienne and Susanne Soederberg (2012) “Gender Equality as ‘Smart Economics’?: A Critique of the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report”, Third World Quarterly, 33(5), 949–968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN Women/UN Global Compact (2011) Women’s Empowerment Principles: Equality Means Business. 2nd edition. New York: UN Women/UN Global Compact Office. http://www. unglobalcom pact.org/docs/issues_doc/human_rights/Resources/WEP_EMB_Booklet.pdf (accessed 8 July 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2007) Gender Action Plan: Gender Equality as Smart Economics. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://go.worldbank.org/FSV68RJ1FO (accessed 8 July 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2012) World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2016 The Editor(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ferguson, L., Alarcón, D.M. (2016). Gender Expertise and the Private Sector. In: Bustelo, M., Ferguson, L., Forest, M. (eds) The Politics of Feminist Knowledge Transfer. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48685-1_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics