Varieties of gender wash: towards a framework for critiquing corporate social responsibility in feminist IPE

Abstract

Recent years have seen vast sums of money invested in health, education and economic empowerment Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs for women and girls, particularly in the Global South. Feminist scholars of IPE have charted how transnational corporations (TNCs) have partnered with international institutions, donor governments and non-governmental organizations to position themselves as champions of gender equality. There is some debate in the literature over whether this phenomenon constitutes a co-optation or an appropriation of feminism. In this article, I focus on the behavior of TNCs, arguing that it can be conceptualized as 'gender wash.' Drawing on the extensive environmental literature on the 'greenwashing' of corporations' public images, I outline a framework for analyzing CSR as 'gender washing.' Adapting Lyon and Montgomery's summary of the greenwashing literature, I present seven varieties of gender washselective disclosure, empty gender claims and policies, dubious certifications and labels, co-opted NGO endorsements and partnerships, ineffective public voluntary programs, misleading narrative and discourse, and misleading brandinggiving illustrative examples for each. In doing so, I aim to put forward a useful tool for critiquing contradictory claims made by corporations whose products, business model or employment practices are inherently damaging to women and girls.

Corporate social responsibility as a framework for gender equality: Mapping of gender equality standards for sustainable development

“…Equality work can become reduced to paperwork, to “ticking the box” to satisfy (external) accountability requirements without engendering real change within institutions (Tzanakou et al, 2021). In line with recent literature that alerts about “gender washing,” “pinkwashing,” or “femvertising” when examining corporate commitment to GE (Sterbenk et al, 2022; Tiefer, 2013; Walters, 2021), and drawing on Walters' (2021) framework for analyzing CSR programs as gender washing, a warning can be made about the GE standards with weak enforcement mechanisms, misleading narrative and discourse, and ineffective public voluntary programs.…”

“…or "femvertising" when examining corporate commitment to GE (Sterbenk et al, 2022;Tiefer, 2013;Walters, 2021), and drawing on Walters' (2021) framework for analyzing CSR programs as gender washing, a warning can be made about the GE standards with weak enforcement mechanisms, misleading narrative and discourse, and ineffective public voluntary programs.…”

“…According to the United Nations Global Compact and United Nations Women (UNGC & UN Women, 2014), internal and external stakeholders such as investors, regulators, trade unions, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), consumers, board members, directors and employees are increasingly demanding that companies manage, measure, and communicate their gender‐related impacts and practices. Consequently, CSR practice has begun to engage with gender issues, both through gender‐specific initiatives and broader CSR programs aimed at women and girls (Grosser & Moon, 2019; Walters, 2021). Thus, CSR initiatives on GE have been developed in companies both internally and externally (Velasco et al, 2014), in the workplace, the community, the market and supply chains (Grosser & Moon, 2019).…”

¿Qué entienden los expertos por comunicación responsable?

“…Dichas condiciones se vinculan estrechamente con las identificadas el día de hoy en la literatura académica y profesional (honestidad, empatía, transparencia, interactividad y consistencia). No obstante, al igual que en la literatura revisada (Shim;Yang, 2016;Walters, 2021;Karmasin, 2017), este estudio evidencia la complejidad para la operacionalización de la CR en un listado de indicadores extrapolables toda vez que su papel parece estar entrelazado por las visiones que conceptualmente dividen el campo (instrumental y holística). No obstante, esta situación podría ofrecer también una ventaja para analizar su interdependencia y complementariedad; el análisis de la vinculación de la CR con actividades como la comunicación socialmente responsable; la activación y retroalimentación de la comunicación en el campo de lo social a partir de prácticas como el marketing institucional y la responsabilidad social corporativa.…”

“…Entendida como el acto de comunicar e informar con sentido hacia la responsabilidad, la CR se emplea en la literatura como una categoría articuladora de saberes y disciplinas sin que concreten definiciones y categorías que permitan validar algunas de las principales hipótesis en el estudio de la comunicación organizacional (Boshoff, 2017;Faber-Wiener, 2013;García-Marzá, 2017). Si bien gran parte de los marcos conceptuales existentes aportan claves para el estudio de una CR, la existencia de modelos y metodologías que permitan su estudio es todavía un proyecto incipiente (Del Campo;González Martin, 2012;Parguel;Benoît-Moreau;Larceneux, 2011;Karmisin, 2017), limitado por la variedad de campos en los que convergen las discusiones teóricas y la distancia que toman de la comunicación organizacional (García-Marzá, 2017;Shim;Yang, 2016;Walters, 2021).…”