The Corporatization of Sport, Gender and Development: Postcolonial IR Feminisms, Transnational Private Governance and Global Corporate Social Engagement

Munk School of Global Affairs Working Papers Series 2009-10, 2009

20 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2011

See all articles by Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst

Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst

University of Toronto - Faculty of Physical Education and Health

Date Written: October 12, 2011

Abstract

Across the globe, the 'Girl Effect' is a growing but understudied initiative that assumes that girls are catalysts capable of bringing social and economic change to their families, communities and countries. In an attempt to build on the 'promise' of women as agents of development, there has been escalating interest in sport, gender, and development (SGD) interventions that aim to 'empower' women and girls in the Two-Thirds World through sport and play. Increasingly, SGD interventions are funded and implemented by multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing on postcolonial feminist international relations theory and recent literature on transnational private governance, the purpose of this study was to consider how MNCs headquartered in the One-Third World that fund, execute and implement corporate-sponsored SGD programs in the Two-Thirds World are implicated in some of the complicated effects observed in the postcolonial contexts in which they operate. Qualitative research methods were used, including interviews with seven key staff members from a sporting goods MNC that funds SGD programs in the Two-Thirds World. The findings revealed three themes that speak to the colonial residue within corporate-funded SGD interventions, including the power of brand authority, the importance of 'authentic' subaltern stories, and the politics of the 'global sisterhood' enmeshed in saving 'distant' others. The implications of these findings for SGD will be discussed in terms of postcolonial feminist approaches to studying sport for development and peace more generally.

Suggested Citation

Hayhurst, Lyndsay M.C., The Corporatization of Sport, Gender and Development: Postcolonial IR Feminisms, Transnational Private Governance and Global Corporate Social Engagement (October 12, 2011). Munk School of Global Affairs Working Papers Series 2009-10, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1942740

Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Faculty of Physical Education and Health ( email )

Toronto
Canada

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