Development projects and the disciplining of women in time and space

Abstract

By contrasting the implementation of three development projects, this article examines the meanings of “female empowerment” employed in each context, emphasizing how the strategies for the use of time and space of those who conceived the projects delimit opportunities and create obstacles for different women. The article demonstrates the precarious comprehension of the various repercussions on gender relations of these development projects, which involve: 1) a hydroelectric dam; 2) a mega sporting event; and 3) a port complex. It found that actions related to women had secondary priority in each of these projects. Supported by international regulations presented in productivist discourses and promoted as offering opportunities to women, in fact these initiatives discipline women as those who: complement household income, are linked to domestic space, are capable of stereotypical female skills, have sexuality related to reproduction, are targets of protection and deserve control similar to the younger generations. Each sector develops its own strategies and meanings of projects for women. The main objectives sought by the executors of the projects involve differences in the scope of the projects and their objectives and the length of their planning, and execution phases. Independently of the phase and size, more obstacles prevail to empowerment than true empowerment for groups of women who come to be involved in or by the project.

Development project; Feminism; empowerment of women; planned neglect; Disciplining