Abstract
In The Gender Effect: Capitalism, Feminism, and the Corporate Politics of Development, Kathryn Moeller presents a nuanced analysis of the co-constituting relationship between the emergence of adolescent girls as a unique demographic category in global development discourse, and the increased, highly visible participation of corporations in the project of development. Drawing on discursive analysis and ethnographic research, Moeller is particularly interested in why private foundations and corporations have increasingly chosen the empowerment of adolescent girls as the site through which to ‘do good’, and how their deployment of the ‘Girl Effect’ discourse depoliticises calls for global gender equality while upholding capitalist logic and exploitative corporate practices.
Like much of the recent work on contemporary discourses of adolescent girls’ empowerment, Moeller’s book focuses almost exclusively on the Nike Foundation’s ‘Girl Effect’ campaign. Launched in 2004, this campaign is widely acknowledged as one of the first, and arguably the clearest, articulation of a narrative that posits the economic empowerment of adolescent girls in the Global South as the best way to end poverty. This instrumentalising narrative situates adolescent girls in the Global South as a high-yielding and hence worthwhile ‘investment’ who, once empowered, will extend the benefits of this empowerment, breaking the so-called ‘cycle’ of poverty while contributing to economic growth. This narrative is a key component of what Moeller calls the ‘business case’ for investing in adolescent girls, who are framed as an ‘untapped resource’ whose economic empowerment not only represents an end to poverty but also allows corporations to expand their markets, increasing both their labour pool and their consumer base.
Despite focusing on the Nike Foundation’s campaign, Moeller argues that the discourse of the Girl Effect has extended beyond it, having been taken up by powerful development institutions such as the World Bank. Drawing on Michel Foucault, Moeller thus speaks of the Girl Effect as an apparatus; that is, a network of discourse and knowledge that shapes development practice and impacts the material lives of adolescent girls in the Global South. One of the book’s greatest strengths, which distinguishes it from many previous analyses of the Girl Effect, is that it draws on the author’s ethnographic research, conducted while working within the Clinton Global Initiative (one of Nike Foundation’s key partners), as well as within two Brazilian NGOs that received funding from the Nike Foundation’s campaign. This ethnographic research allows Moeller to illustrate the processes through which Girl Effect discourses not only circulate but also shape on-the-ground programming and girls’ experiences of it.
Moeller argues, as have others (for example, see Koffman and Gill, 2013; Switzer, 2013), that the Girl Effect apparatus individualises and depoliticises issues of poverty, gender equality and women’s rights, while situating adolescent girls in the Global South as responsible for resolving them. Moeller nuances this critique by looking more explicitly at how this discursive move upholds the logic of capitalism and allows corporate entities to co-opt, neutralise and obscure feminist critiques of how capitalist systems and corporate practices harm girls and women. Through this process, Moeller argues, corporations are able to construct themselves not only as benevolent actors but also as authoritative experts in the realms of gender equality, economic empowerment and poverty reduction.
Chapter 1, ‘The Girl Effect as apparatus’, establishes the author’s theoretical approach and methodology, including the challenges of gaining access to tightly controlled corporate spaces in order to conduct critical research. Chapter 2, ‘The historical rise of the Girl Effect’, outlines how the contemporary discourse of girls’ empowerment is scaffolded on three historical discourses that, together, have established girls’ education as a ‘common sense’ solution to underdevelopment. These are: education as a human capital, population control as a path to development, and inclusion in education systems and labour markets as a path to gender equality. This historical work, which acknowledges both the specificity of contemporary corporatisation of development, as well as the ways in which corporations have always been involved in and benefitted from development, grounds Moeller’s analysis of the interconnectedness of Girl Effect discourse and corporatisation. This analysis is outlined in Chapter 3, ‘The spectacle of empowering women and girls’, which illustrates how corporations use girls’ economic empowerment as a way of performing corporate social responsibility, strategically redirecting attention away from (and hence neutralising) public criticism of their business and labour practices without having to change them.
Drawing more explicitly on Moeller’s ethnographic research, Chapter 4, ‘Searching for Third World potential’, examines how Girl Effect discourse shaped the recruiting practices of one NGO that received funding from the Nike Foundation. By examining who was targeted and who was excluded from programming, Moeller identifies which characteristics and social positioning are associated with having the potential to unleash the Girl Effect, and which are assumed to foreclose it. For example, given the campaign’s construction of delayed fertility as crucial to ensuring girls’ economic empowerment, girls or young women who had already given birth were not seen as ideal participants, sometimes facing exclusion or lack of support. In Chapter 5, ‘Proving the Girl Effect’, Moeller interrogates the monitoring and evaluation practices undertaken by the Nike Foundation and, by extension, programmes they funded, arguing that their reliance on universalising indicators not only obscures difference in girls’ identities and experience but also shapes what outcomes are deemed ‘successful’. Once again, reproduction is salient: since delayed pregnancy/childbirth was taken as an indicator of programme success and of girls’ economic empowerment, programmes could be more concerned with prevention of pregnancy as a ‘problem’ rather than with supporting young mothers. Furthermore, Moeller argues that monitoring and evaluation were intended to prove that the ‘Girl Effect’ worked as an overarching strategy, rather than capturing girls’ own experiences or understanding of their success.
Chapter 6, ‘Negotiating corporatized development’, compares data from two funded NGOs to examine how and under what conditions organisations, staff and programme participants were able to resist or negotiate the Girl Effect as apparatus, concluding that organisations that have established their own legitimacy and that do not rely too heavily on one funder are better able to contest the discourses in the Girl Effect, for instance by creating programming that includes, supports and refuses to pathologise young mothers. The book concludes with the author’s reflection on the future of corporatised development, given the increasing engagement of feminist advocates with corporate actors.
The Gender Effect is theoretically and historically robust, while remaining readable and accessible. Its insights are of interest to scholars and practitioners who are uneasy about the instrumentalisation of adolescent girls in development discourse and the increasing power of corporations and private foundations in shaping development discourse and practice. Even those who are familiar with the core critiques of Girl Effect discourse can appreciate how Moeller connects it to processes of corporatisation and her rich contextualisation of their dual emergence.
While it may be difficult for readers not to feel cynical about the future of development after finishing the book, the book itself is not cynical. Moeller offers not only rigorous critique but also actionable lessons and imparts the overarching message that, while the current dominant approach to adolescent girls in global development is harmful, a more transformative approach is possible.