Sofie Tornhill - The Business of Womens Empowerment: Corporate Gender Politics in the Global South

Sofie Tornhill

London New York

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: HB 978-1-78660-158-2

ISBN: PB 978-1-78660-159-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tornhill, Sofie, 1974 author.

Title: The business of womens empowerment : corporate gender politics in the Global South / Sofie Tornhill.

Description: London ; New York : Rowman & Littlefield International, [2019] | Series: Global political economies of gender and sexuality | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019005446 (print) | LCCN 2019007670 (ebook) | ISBN 9781786601605 (electronic) | ISBN 9781786601582 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781786601599 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: BusinesswomenTraining ofDeveloping countries. | EntrepreneurshipDeveloping countries. | FeminismDeveloping countries. | Social responsibility of businessDeveloping countries.

Classification: LCC HD6072.6.D44 (ebook) | LCC HD6072.6.D44 T67 2019 (print) | DDC 338/.04082091724dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019005446

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The work with this book has been informed by many collaborations and conversations, for which my sincere thanks are due. First and foremost, I extend my warmest thanks and gratitude to those who agreed to engage with me in this study: all the 5by20 program participants and implementers in Mexico and South Africa who have been interviewed, spent time with me, and shared their knowledge and experiences with me. Needless to say, was it not for your engagement and generosity, this book would not exist.

Besides the rewarding encounters and insights that my efforts to trace the 5by20 program in Mexico and South Africa led me to, the most gratifying outcome of this study has been becoming a part of new feminist research communities. The network meeting and workshop Gender Incorporated at Roskilde University was especially important in this regardthanks to everyone for such a vibrant two days. For collaborations around conferences, seminars, and the like, I wish to especially thank zlem Altan-Olcay, Susan Jackson, Charlotte M. Karam, and Grietje Sabra. On this note, I wish to express my warmest thanks to Catia Gregoratti, whose sharp thinking and uncompromising solidarity has sustained my work on this book.

Many thanks also to Katherine Allison, Catia Gregoratti, and Adrienne Roberts, with whom I have coauthored texts on themes which overlap with the ones discussed in this book. The opportunity to collectively ponder the implications of corporate power and the methodological challenges to study its concrete manifestations has truly enriched my thinking around these issues. My work on the 5by20 program has been published in edited volumes, and I would like to thank the editors of these for their constructive comments: Maria-Therese Gustafsson and Livia Johannesson; Kate Grosser, Maureen Kilgour, and Lauren McCarthy; and Yulia Gradskova and Sara K. Sanders.

During the course of the project, I have been affiliated with several university departments. The idea to make an ethnography about the 5by20 program first started to take form during a postdoc period at desigALdades.net, a research network about transnational inequalities in Latin America based at the Free University in Berlin. A second postdoc period in the department of political science at Stockholm University enabled me to materialize the idea, and the gender and politics research group constituted an important context. I subsequently taught gender studies at Stockholm University before I was appointed lecturer in gender studies in the department of social studies at Linnaeus University. Many thanks for input, company, and support to all colleagues and friends in these different environments.

Catia Gregoratti, Elisabeth Prgl, and Maria-Therese Gustafsson assisted with valuable input on the synopsis of this book, which enabled me to better visualize the route it would take. David Payne made a tremendous contribution to the readability of this text by carefully revising and editing itmy warmest thanks for this! Special thanks also to Malin Ah-King for being such a supportive companion through insecure employment conditions and the joys and anxieties of book projects.

The series editors, Juanita Elias, Adrienne Roberts and Nicki Smith, have been enormously encouraging and have provided me with careful readings and insightful comments on the manuscript, elevating the argument and reducing the stress levels. Thank you for making this book journey smoother than it would otherwise have been, and for your efforts to make a book series on the important issues of gender, sexuality, and political economy possible. At Rowman & Littlefield International, Dhara Snowden, Lara Hahn, and Rebecca Anastasi have promptly attended to any of my questions and queries.

A number of foundations made this project possible economically. My two year postdoc period at Stockholm University was financed by the Anna Ahlstrms and Ellen Terseruss Foundation. Funding from the Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation, The Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation, and The ke Wiberg Foundation made my research trips to Mexico and South Africa possible and gave me time to work on the manuscript.