Governing Through Accountability: Gender Equality and the United Nations

Authors

  • Sally Cole Concordia University, are currently undertaking a three-year research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. They co-edited Ethnographic Feminisms (McGill Queens Press) in 1995.
  • Lynne Phillips University of Windsor, are currently undertaking a three-year research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. They co-edited Ethnographic Feminisms (McGill Queens Press) in 1995.

Abstract

This article investigates the audit culture of UNIFEM, an international organization dedicated to bringing about global gender equality. UNIFEM's strategic plans, regional activities, and one fund-raising activity are analyzed to illustrate how pressures to "manage for results" combine with the UN's promotion of a transnational, modernist ethos to shape gender equity policy and, ultimately, what we know about women's lives. Résumé Cet article enquête la culture de vérification chez UNIFEM, un organisme dédié à amener l'égalité globale entre les sexes. Les plans stratégiques de l'UNIFEM, les activités régionales et une activité de levée de fonds sont analysées pour illustrer comment les pressions pour "gérer pour les résultats," combinées avec la promotion de l'ONU d'une philosophie transnationale,moderniste visée à l'établissement d'une politique pour l'équité entre les sexes, et ultimement, ce que nous connaissons sur les vies des femmes.

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Fort Amherst Lighthouse. St. John's, Newfoundland, 2008. Photographer: Brad Gibb

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Published

2008-01-01

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 1 (2008): Open Topic Issue

Section

Original Research

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