727
Views
5
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

1, 2, 3, 4. I declare…empowerment? A material-discursive analysis of the marketisation, measurement and marketing of women’s economic empowerment

ORCID Icon
Pages 320-356 | Received 03 Feb 2019, Accepted 09 Oct 2019, Published online: 23 Dec 2019

References

  • Abe, S. (2013, September 25). Shinzo Abe: Unleashing the power of “womenomics.” Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/shinzo-abe-unleashing-the-power-of-8216womenomics8217-1380149475
  • Ahl, H. (2006). Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 30(5), 595–621.
  • Alaimo, S., & Hekman, S. (2008). Introduction: Emerging models of materiality in feminist theory. In S. Alaimo & S. Hekman (Eds.), Material feminisms (pp. 1–19). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
  • Antrobus, P. (2005). The global women’s movement: Issues and strategies for the new century. London: Zed Books.
  • Askegaard, S., & Linnet, J. T. (2011). Towards an epistemology of consumer culture theory: Phenomenology and the context of context. Marketing Theory, 11(4), 381–404.
  • Bajde, D. (2013). Consumer culture theory (re)visits actor–Network theory: Flattening consumption studies. Marketing Theory, 13(2), 227–242.
  • Banerjee, S. B. (2008). Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. Critical Sociology, 34(1), 51–79.
  • Banerjee, S. B. (2018). Markets and violence. Journal of Marketing Management, 34(11/12), 1023–1031.
  • Barad, K. (2001). Re (con) figuring space, time, and matter. In M. DeKoven (Ed.), Feminist locations: Global and local, theory and practice (pp. 75–109). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  • Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831.
  • Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.
  • Barton, C., & Prendergast, L. (2004). Seeking accountability on womens human rights. Women debate the UN millennium development goals. New York: Women’s International Coalition for Economic Justice.
  • Batliwala, S. (2007). Taking the power out of empowerment: An experiential account. Development in Practice, 17(4/5), 557–565.
  • Bettany, S. M. (2007). The material semiotics of consumption or where (and what) are the objects in consumer culture theory? In R. Belk & J. Sherry (Eds.), Consumer Culture Theory (pp. 41–56). Bingley: Emerald.
  • Bettany, S. M., & Daly, R. (2008). Figuring companion-species consumption: A multi-site ethnography of the post-canine Afghan hound. Journal of Business Research, 61(5), 408–418.
  • Bettany, S. M., & Kerrane, B. (2011). The (post-human) consumer, the (post-avian) chicken and the (post-object) Eglu: Towards a material-semiotics of anti-consumption. European Journal of Marketing, 45(11/12), 1746–1756.
  • Bettany, S. M., Kerrane, B., & Hogg, M. K. (2014). The material-semiotics of fatherhood: The co-emergence of technology and contemporary fatherhood. Journal of Business Research, 67(7), 1544–1551.
  • Bettany, S. M., & Woodruffe-Burton, H. (2009). Working the limits of method: The possibilities of critical reflexive practice in marketing and consumer research. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(7–8), 661–679.
  • Bonsu, S. K., & Polsa, P. (2011). Governmentality at the base-of-the-pyramid. Journal of Macromarketing, 31(3), 236–244.
  • Boyle, M.-E., & Boguslaw, J. (2007). Business, poverty and corporate citizenship: Naming the issues and framing solutions. The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, (26), 101–120.
  • Briant Carant, J. (2017). Unheard voices: A critical discourse analysis of the millennium development goals’ evolution into the sustainable development goals. Third World Quarterly, 38(1), 16–41.
  • Buchanan-Oliver, M., Cruz, A., & Schroeder, J. E. (2010). Shaping the body and technology: Discursive implications for the strategic communication of technological brands. European Journal of Marketing, 44(5), 635–652.
  • Butler, J. (2011). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex (1st ed.). Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Buvinić, M., Furst-Nichols, R., & Pryor, E. C. (2013). A roadmap for promoting women’s economic empowerment. UN Foundation and ExxonMobil Foundation website. Retrieved from http://www.womeneconroadmap.org/sites/default/files/WEE_Roadmap_Report_Final.pdf
  • Calkin, S. (2015). Feminism, interrupted? Gender and development in the era of ‘smart economics.’. Progress in Development Studies, 15(4), 295–307.
  • Calkin, S. (2016). Globalizing ‘girl power’: Corporate social responsibility and transnational business initiatives for gender equality. Globalizations, 13(2), 158–172.
  • Campbell, N., & Deane, C. (2018). Bacteria and the market. Marketing Theory, 1470593118796678. doi:10.1177/1470593118796678
  • Campbell, N., O’Driscoll, A., & Saren, M. (2010). The posthuman: The end and the beginning of the human. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: an International Research Review, 9(2), 86–101.
  • Canniford, R., & Bajde, D. (Eds.). (2015). Assembling consumption: Researching actors, networks and markets. New York: Routledge.
  • Catterall, M., Maclaran, P., & Stevens, L. (2005). Postmodern paralysis: The critical impasse in feminist perspectives on consumers. Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5–6), 489–504.
  • Chant, S. (2008). The ‘feminisation of poverty’ and the ‘feminisation’ of anti-poverty programmes: Room for revision? The Journal of Development Studies, 44(2), 165–197.
  • Chant, S., & Sweetman, C. (2012). Fixing women or fixing the world? ‘Smart economics’, efficiency approaches, and gender equality in development. Gender & Development, 20(3), 517–529.
  • Chatterjee, S. (2014). Engaging with an emergent metanarrative: A critical exploration of the BOP proposition. Organization, 21(6), 888–906.
  • Cluley, R. (2018). The construction of marketing measures: The case of viewability. Marketing Theory, 18(3), 287–305.
  • Cluley, R. (2019). The politics of consumer data. Marketing Theory. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1470593119847252
  • Cornwall, A., & Anyidoho, N. A. (2010). Introduction: Women’s empowerment: contentions and contestations. Development, 53(2), 144–149.
  • Cornwall, A., & Brock, K. (2005). What do buzzwords do for development policy? a critical look at ‘participation’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘poverty reduction’. Third World Quarterly, 26(7), 1043–1060.
  • Cornwall, A., Harrison, E., & Whitehead, A. (2007). Gender myths and feminist fables: the struggle for interpretive power in gender and development. Development and Change, 38(1), 1–20.
  • Corus, C., & Ozanne, J. L. (2012). Stakeholder engagement: Building participatory and deliberative spaces in subsistence markets. Journal of Business Research, 65(12), 1728–1735.
  • DAWN. (2004). DAWN at 20. No. 1562–4587. Suva, Fiji Islands: Author. pp. 1–32.
  • Djelic, M.-L. (2006). Marketization: From intellectual agenda to global policy making. In M.-L. Djelic & K. Sahlin-Andersson (Eds.), Transnational governance (pp. 53–73). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Doss, C., Meinzen-Dick, R., Quisumbing, A., & Theis, S. (2018). Women in agriculture: Four myths. Global Food Security, 16, 69–74.
  • Eisenstein, H. (2010). Feminism seduced: How global elites use women’s labor and ideas to exploit the world. Boulder: Routledge.
  • Eisenstein, H. (2017). Hegemonic feminism, neoliberalism and womenomics: “Empowerment” instead of liberation? New Formations, 91, 35–49.
  • Esquivel, V. (2016). Power and the sustainable development goals: A feminist analysis. Gender & Development, 24(1), 9–23.
  • Faulconbridge, J. R. (2013). Situated bottom of the pyramid markets and the multinational corporation. Marketing Theory, 13(3), 393–396.
  • Fernandes, M. (2018). Feminist alternatives to predatory extractivism: Contributions and experiences from Latin America. Feminist Dialogue Series, 7, 1–7.
  • Ferree, M. M., & Hess, B. B. (2000). Controversy and coalition: The new feminist movement across three decades of change. New York: Routledge.
  • Folbre, N. (1994). Who pays for the kids?: Gender and the structures of constraint. New York: Routledge.
  • Folbre, N. (2010). Greed, lust and gender: A history of economic ideas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Giesler, M. (2012). How doppelgänger brand images influence the market creation process: Longitudinal insights from the rise of botox cosmetic. Journal of Marketing, 76(6), 55–68.
  • Goetz, A. M. (1994). From feminist knowledge to data for development: The bureaucratic management of information on women and development. IDS Bulletin, 25(2), 27–36.
  • Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of nature. New York: Routledge.
  • Hearn, J., & Hein, W. (2015). Reframing gender and feminist knowledge construction in marketing and consumer research: Missing feminisms and the case of men and masculinities. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(15–16), 1626–1651.
  • Hein, W., Steinfield, L., Ourahmoune, N., Coleman, C., Zayer, L. T., & Littlefield, J. (2016). Gender justice and the market: A transformative consumer research perspective. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 35(2), 223–236.
  • Hopkinson, G., & Aman, A. (2017). Women entrepreneurs: How power operates in bottom of the pyramid-marketing discourse. Marketing Theory, 17(3), 305–321.
  • Hunt, A. (2015). If not now, when? Reasserting Beijing for a progressive women’s rights agenda in 2015 and beyond. IDS Bulletin, 46(4), 108–114.
  • Idemudia, U. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and development in Africa: Issues and possibilities: Csr and development in Africa. Geography Compass, 8(7), 421–435.
  • Jackson, C. (1996). Rescuing gender from the poverty trap. World Development, 24(3), 489–504.
  • Jackson, C., & Pearson, R. (Eds.). (1998). Feminist visions of development: Gender, analysis and policy. London: Routledge.
  • Johnstone-Louis, M. (2017). Corporate social responsibility and women’s entrepreneurship: Towards a more adequate theory of “work”. Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(4), 569–602.
  • Joy, A., Sherry, J. F., Troilo, G., & Deschenes, J. (2006). Writing it up, writing it down: Being reflexive in accounts of consumer behavior. In R. Belk (Ed.), Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing (pp. 345–360). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  • Joy, A., Belk, R., & Bhardwaj, R. (2015). Judith Butler on performativity and precarity: Exploratory thoughts on gender and violence in India. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(15–16), 1739–1745.
  • Kabeer, N. (1994). Reversed realities: Gender hierarchies in development thought. London: Verso.
  • Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal. Gender & Development, 13(1), 13–24.
  • Kantola, J., & Squires, J. (2012). From state feminism to market feminism? International Political Science Review, 33(4), 382–400.
  • Latour, B. (2008). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Lucarelli, A., & Hallin, A. (2015). Brand transformation: A performative approach to brand regeneration. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1–2), 84–106.
  • Maclaran, P., Miller, C., Parsons, E., & Surman, E. (2009). Praxis or performance: Does critical marketing have a gender blind-spot? Journal of Marketing Management, 25(7–8), 713–728.
  • Mason, K., Chakrabarti, R., & Singh, R. (2017). Markets and marketing at the bottom of the pyramid. Marketing Theory, 17(3), 261–270.
  • Mason, K., Kjellberg, H., & Hagberg, J. (2015). Exploring the performativity of marketing: Theories, practices and devices. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1–2), 1–15.
  • Mazzei, L. A. (2014). Beyond an easy sense: A diffractive analysis. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(6), 742–746.
  • McCarthy, L. (2017). Empowering women through corporate social responsibility: A feminist foucauldian critique. Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(4), 603–631.
  • McKinsey & Company. (2010). The business of empowering women. London: McKinsey & Company.
  • Moussié, R. (2016). Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice. Toronto: AWID, The Solidarity Center.
  • Murphy, P. E., & Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1807–1813.
  • O’Leary, K., & Murphy, S. (2019). Moving beyond Goffman: The performativity of anonymity on SNS. European Journal of Marketing, 53(1), 83–107.
  • Oxfam. (2010, February 3). Are women really 70% of the world’s poor? How do we know? From Poverty to Power website. Retrieved from https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/are-women-really-70-of-the-worlds-poor-how-do-we-know/
  • Porter, M. E., Hills, G., Pfitzer, M., Patscheke, S., & Hawkins, E. (2011). Measuring shared value: How to unlock value by linking social and business results. Boston: Foundation Strategy Group.
  • Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011). The big idea: Creating shared value. how to reinvent capitalism—And unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Harvard Business Review, 89, 1–2.
  • Prasad, A., & Holzinger, I. (2013). Seeing through smoke and mirrors: A critical analysis of marketing CSR. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1915–1921.
  • Prügl, E. (2015). Neoliberalising Feminism. New Political Economy, 20(4), 614–631.
  • Roberts, A. (2015). The political economy of “transnational business feminism”: Problematizing the corporate-led gender equality agenda. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 17(2), 209–231.
  • Sachs, J. D. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2206–2211.
  • Scott, K., Martin, D. M., & Schouten, J. W. (2014). Marketing and the new materialism. Journal of Macromarketing, 34(3), 282–290.
  • Scott, L. (2000). Market feminism: The case for a paradigm shift. In M. Catteral, P. MacLaran, & L. Stevens (Eds.), Marketing and feminism: Current issues and research (pp. 16–38). London: Routledge.
  • Scott, L. (2006). Fresh lipstick: Redressing fashion and feminism. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  • Scott, L. (2017). Private sector engagement with women’s economic empowerment: Lessons learned from years of practice.. Oxford: Said Business School, University of Oxford.
  • Scott, L., Custers, A., Dolan, C., Johnstone-Louis, M., Luchinskaya, D., Marston, A., … Steinfield, L. (2016). Advisory note on measures: women’s economic empowerment [research paper]. Oxford: Said Business School, University of Oxford.
  • Scott, L., Dolan, C., Johnstone–Louis, M., Sugden, K., & Wu, M. (2012). Enterprise and inequality: A study of avon in South Africa. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(3), 543–568.
  • Scott, L., Dolan, C., & Steinfield, L. (2015). Women’s empowerment through access to markets: Maasai women development organisation (MWEDO), Arusha, Tanzania. Oxford: Said Business School, University of Oxford.
  • Scott, L., Steinfield, L., & Dolan, C. (2014). Women’s empowerment through access to markets: Katchy kollections, Nairobi, Kenya. Oxford: Said Business School, University of Oxford.
  • Sen, G., & Corrêa, S. O. (2000). Gender justice and economic justice: Reflections on the five year reviews of the UN conferences of the 1990s. In S. O. Corrêa (Ed.), Weighing up Cairo: Evidence from women in the South (pp. 265–272). Suva, Fiji: DAWN.
  • Sen, G., & Grown, C. (1987). Development, crises and alternative visions: Third world women’s perspectives. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Sorel, G. (1999). Sorel: Reflections on violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Steinfield, L., Custers, A., Scott, L., & Dolan, C. (2016). Measuring the women’s economic empowerment of corporate interventions: A critique of the landscape and advisory note on measurements. In N. Campbell, M. Claudy, & A. O’Driscoll (Eds.), Macromarketing and academic activism (pp. 534–541). Dublin: Macromarketing Inc.
  • Steinfield, L., & Hein, W. (In Press). Women-led partnerships and the achievement of the sustainable development goals. In W. L. Filho, A. M. Azul, L. Brandli, P. G. Özuyar, & T. Wall (Eds.), Partnerships for the goals. Encyclopedia of the UN sustainable development goals. Hamburg: Springer.
  • Steinfield, L., Coleman, C., Tuncay Zayer, L., Ourahmoune, N., & Hein, W. (2019). Power logics of consumers’ gendered (in)justices: Reading reproductive health interventions through the transformative gender justice framework. Consumption Markets & Culture, 22(4), 406–429. doi:10.1080/10253866.2018.1512250
  • Steinfield, L., Sanghvi, M., Zayer, L. T., Coleman, C. A., Ourahmoune, N., Harrison, R. L., … Brace-Govan, J. (2019). Transformative intersectionality: Moving business towards a critical praxis. Journal of Business Research, 100(July), 366-375. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.031
  • Stienstra, D. (2000). Dancing resistance from rio to Beijing. In M. H. Marchand & A. S. Runyan (Eds.), Gender and global restructuring: Sightings, sites and resistances (pp. 214–229). New York: Routledge.
  • Strategy&. (2014). The third billion. Retrieved from http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/global/home/what-we-think/third_billion
  • Strike, V. M., Gao, J., & Bansal, P. (2006). Being good while being bad: Social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(6), 850–862.
  • Taguchi, H. L. (2012). A diffractive and Deleuzian approach to analysing interview data. Feminist Theory, 13(3), 265–281.
  • Thomas, T. C., Price, L. L., & Schau, H. J. (2012). When differences unite: Resource dependence in heterogeneous consumption communities. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(5), 1010–1033.
  • Thompson, C. J, & Üstüner, T. (2015). Women skating on the edge: Marketplace performances as ideological edgework. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(2), 235–265.
  • Thompson, L. A. (2019). Who really benefits from corporate-run women’s empowerment programmes? Equal Times website. Retrieved from https://www.equaltimes.org/who-really-benefits-from-corporate
  • UN. (2008). “Investing in women is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do”, says secretary-general as united nations marks International Women’s Day. United Nations Press Release website. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/press/en/2008/obv684.doc.htm
  • UN Women. (2015). The Beijing platform for action: Inspiration then and now. UN Women: The Beijing Platform for Action Turns 20 website. Retrieved from http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/about
  • UN Women. (2019). In focus: Women and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). UN Women website. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs
  • UNDP. (1995). Human development report 1995. Oxford: Oxford University Press; United Nations Development Programme.
  • UNHLP. (2017). Leave no one behind: taking action for transformational change on women’s economic empowerment (p. a). New York: UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
  • UNIFEM. (2000). Progress of the world’s women 2000. UN Development Fund for Women website. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/digital-library/publications/2000/1/progress-of-the-world-s-women-2000
  • United Nations. (1995). Beijing declaration and platform for action. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf
  • United Nations. (2015). The millennium development goals report 2015. New York: Author.
  • Valtonen, A., & Närvänen, E. (2015). Gendered reading of the body in the bed. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(15–16), 1583–1601.
  • Voronina, O. (1993). Soviet patriarchy: Past and present. Hypatia, 8(4), 97–112.
  • Wagner, T., Lutz, R. J., & Weitz, B. A. (2009). Corporate hypocrisy: Overcoming the threat of inconsistent corporate social responsibility perceptions. Journal of Marketing, 73(6), 77–91.
  • Walby, S. (2005). Gender mainstreaming: Productive tensions in theory and practice. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 12(3), 321–343.
  • Wal-Mart. (2006a). 2005 report on ethical sourcing. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2006b). 2006 Report on Ethical Sourcing: Sourcing ethically through a socially responsible program. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2011a). 2011 global responsibility report: Building the next generation walmart … responsibly. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2011b). Walmart launches global women’s economic empowerment initiative. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcUAwjMrcM8
  • Wal-Mart. (2011c). Walmart launches global women’s economic empowerment initiative. Corporate – USR. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2011/09/13/walmart-launches-global-womens-economic-empowerment-initiative
  • Wal-Mart. (2012). 2012 global responsibility report: Beyond 50 years: building a sustainable future. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2013). 2013 global responsibility report: The responsibility to lead. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2014a). 2014 global responsibility report: So many opportunities to make a difference. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2014b). Walmart receives award for best economic empowerment program. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/videos/walmart-receives-award-for-best-economic-empowerment-program
  • Wal-Mart. (2014c). Women’s economic empowerment. Walmart Inc. website. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/galleries/womens-economic-empowerment
  • Wal-Mart. (2015). 2015 global responsibility report: Opportunity, sustainability, community. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2016). 2016 global responsibility report: Opportunity, sustainability, community: using our strengths to help others. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2017a). 2017 global responsibility report. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • Wal-Mart. (2017b). Supporting local, diverse and small businesses. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/2017grr/opportunity/supporting-local-diverse-and-small-businesses
  • Wal-Mart. (2017c, March 15). About the initiative. WEE Library website. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/womensempowerment/about
  • Wal-Mart. (2017d, March 23). Welcome to the women’s economic empowerment knowledge center. WEE Library website. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/womensempowerment/
  • Wal-Mart. (2017e, April 10). International sourcing. WEE Library website. Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/womensempowerment/sourcing/international-sourcing
  • Wal-Mart. (2017f, August). Getting started with approved capacity building program. Retrieved from http://imagestore.s4rb-systems.co.uk/images/rightnow/walmartjump.custhelp.com/answers/small%20supplier%20program.pdf
  • Wal-Mart. (2018). 2018 global responsibility report summary. Bentonville, AR: Author.
  • WEF. (2013). Five challenges, one solution: Women. Global agenda council on women’s empowerment 2011 – 2012. Geneva: World Economic Forum.
  • Wiltshire, R. (1992). Environment and development: Grass roots women’s perspective. Brazil: DAWN.
  • World Bank. (1994). Enhancing women’s participation in economic development ( No. 13415; pp. 1–78). The World Bank website. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/764641468135599885/Enhancing-womens-participation-in-economic-development

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.