IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v24y2024i2p165-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender and the Multilateral Development Banks: From WID to GAD to Retroliberal WID

Author

Listed:
  • Adrian Robert Bazbauers

    (Adrian Robert Bazbauers is the corresponding author (a.bazbauers@unsw.edu.au) and is affiliated with UNSW Canberra, School of Business, Canberra, Australia.)

  • Nadeen Madkour

    (Nadeen Madkour is also affiliated with UNSW Canberra, School of Business, Canberra, Australia.)

Abstract

Multilateral development bank (MDB) engagement with ‘gender’ is controversial in review and uneven in practice. The authors analyse 1,928 gender-focused projects financed by the World Bank and regional development banks between 1967 and 2021. We propose three eras into which MDB gender engagement divides and argues that isomorphic pressures have aligned their approaches. The article concludes that gender is not an investment priority and projects have conceptually narrowed over time to focus on private entrepreneurship at the expense of addressing systemic gendered inequalities. This is significant for what the MDB finance signals to investors the feasibility of development projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Robert Bazbauers & Nadeen Madkour, 2024. "Gender and the Multilateral Development Banks: From WID to GAD to Retroliberal WID," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 24(2), pages 165-184, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:24:y:2024:i:2:p:165-184
    DOI: 10.1177/14649934231210100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14649934231210100
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14649934231210100?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shahra Razavi, 2012. "World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development— A Commentary," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 423-437, January.
    2. Alvaro Mendez & David Patrick Houghton, 2020. "Sustainable Banking: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks as Norm Entrepreneurs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink, Kathryn, 1998. "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 887-917, October.
    4. Chris Humphrey, 2017. "He who pays the piper calls the tune: Credit rating agencies and multilateral development banks," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 281-306, June.
    5. Lucy Ferguson & Sophie Harman, 2015. "Gender and Infrastructure in the World Bank," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(5), pages 653-671, September.
    6. Wihtol, Robert, 2014. "Whither Multilateral Development Finance?," ADBI Working Papers 491, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    7. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391, December.
    8. Kearrin Sims, 2021. "Infrastructure violence and retroliberal development: connectivity and dispossession in Laos," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(8), pages 1788-1808, July.
    9. Razavi, Shahra, 1997. "Fitting gender into development institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1111-1125, July.
    10. Paul DiMaggio, 1998. "The New Institutionalisms: Avenues of Collaboration," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 154(4), pages 696-696, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrian Robert Bazbauers, 2022. "Translating climate strategies into action: An analysis of the sustainable, green, and resilient city action plans of the multilateral development banks," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(2), March.
    2. Hillenbrand, E. & Karim, N. & Mohanraj, P. & Wu, D., 2015. "Measuring gender-transformative change: A review of literature and promising practices," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 40647, April.
    3. Grillos, Tara, 2018. "Women’s participation in environmental decision-making: Quasi-experimental evidence from northern Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 115-130.
    4. Alvaro Mendez & David Patrick Houghton, 2020. "Sustainable Banking: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks as Norm Entrepreneurs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Klasen, Stephan, 2020. "From ‘MeToo’ to Boko Haram: A survey of levels and trends of gender inequality in the world," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Anne Jerneck, 2015. "Understanding Poverty," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, November.
    7. Umar, B.B. & Nyanga, P.H. & Chibamba, D. & Nchito, W.S., 2020. "Women’s empowerment, land and donor-driven agricultural interventions in Eastern Zambia," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    8. Maria Fay Rola‐Rubzen & Thelma Paris & Jacob Hawkins & Bibek Sapkota, 2020. "Improving Gender Participation in Agricultural Technology Adoption in Asia: From Rhetoric to Practical Action," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 113-125, March.
    9. Brenda Wyss, 2015. "Seats for the 51 %: Beyond the Business Case for Corporate Board Quotas in Jamaica," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 211-246, September.
    10. John C. Anyanwu, 2018. "Empirical Analysis of Key Drivers of Gender Equality in Tertiary Education Enrolment in Africa," International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 4(7), pages 197-213, 07-2018.
    11. Klyver, Kim & Nielsen, Suna Løwe & Evald, Majbritt Rostgaard, 2013. "Women's self-employment: An act of institutional (dis)integration? A multilevel, cross-country study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 474-488.
    12. Bridget O'Laughlin & Kiran Asher & Bimbika Sijapati Basnett, 2016. "Forum 2016," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(4), pages 952-964, July.
    13. Steininger, Lea & Hesse, Casimir, 2024. "Buying into new ideas: The ECB’s evolving justification of unlimited liquidity," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 357, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    14. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    15. Felix Meier Zu Selhausen & Jacob Weisdorf, 2016. "A colonial legacy of African gender inequality? Evidence from Christian Kampala, 1895–2011," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 229-257, February.
    16. Stephanie Barrientos & Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, 2016. "Promoting Gender equality in the cocoa-chocolate value chain: opportunities and challenges in Ghana," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 062016, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    17. Taylor, Sebastian A.J. & Perez-Ferrer, Carolina & Griffiths, Andrew & Brunner, Eric, 2015. "Scaling up nutrition in fragile and conflict-affected states: The pivotal role of governance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 119-127.
    18. Scheurlen, Elena, 2015. "Time allocation to energy resource collection in rural Ethiopia: Gender-disaggregated household responses to changes in firewood availability:," IFPRI discussion papers 1419, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Astrid Sneyers & Anneleen Vandeplas, 2013. "Girl Power in Agricultural Production: How Much Does it Yield? A Case-Study on the Dairy Sector in India," LICOS Discussion Papers 34113, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    20. Picarelli, Nathalie, 2016. "Who really benefits from export processing zones? Evidence from Nicaraguan municipalities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 318-332.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:24:y:2024:i:2:p:165-184. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.