Reumo
The concept of global governance has recently developed and has become widely used in various areas of scientific knowledge, although many doubts and uncertainties remain about its meaning. Governance cannot be confused with the act of governing, and it represents an instrument of analysis and action that goes far beyond the limits of national states. These are also essential actors who participate in their processes and activities. However, there has been a small share of female voices and a low trend regarding gender-social relations as a predominant factor.
There has been a growing coalition between capitalist states, regional and international financial institutions, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that recognize the need to promote gender equality for women globally. The same applies to women's choice as leaders of the World Bank, the IMF, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and other international institutions. There is still a question as to whether some issues of gender equality have become visible at the highest levels of global economic and political governance or whether these changes are simply a facade for neoliberalism with a feminist face.
Taking gender issues seriously in social, economic, and political discussions at the international level makes it possible to understand the power of adjectives such as normal and natural in more detail. However, the term gender remains one of the most slippery concepts in global governance, persistently invisible on many occasions and surreptitiously removed from discussions. Therefore, the objective is to elucidate how gender policies in different contexts of institutional bodies were implemented and to provide an overview of the main barriers to advancing the inclusion of the female gender.
The first definition of governance portrays governments' diminishing relevance and international politics' importance as an interconnection between actors and phenomena. The second concept is based on the principle that society must have the power to decide on complex matters currently controlled by the market. Global governance is a model for interpreting actual events to bring more effective responses to issues beyond states' ability to resolve.
Admitting the existence of governance at the international level implies recognizing that sovereign States are currently immersed in a vast web of international organizations, institutions, and regimes that exercise authority and regulate a series of activities, also involving different actors, among which, due to their relative newness, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and multinational corporations stand out.
In response to these challenges, the UN General Assembly approved 17 goals and 169 targets as part of the 2030 Global Agenda for post-2015 development. This initiative represents an innovative approach characterized by broad public participation during its preparation process, including contributions from at least 70 countries and several civil society representatives, including defenders of women's rights. In general terms, three main justifications exist for including an autonomous objective related to gender equality. Firstly, gender-based inequalities and injustices are omnipresent in all societies. Second, gender equality acts as a catalyst for realizing human development, sustainability, and governance. Finally, the visibility of gender equality on the agenda can ensure that governments are held accountable for progress in this area.
The new millennium, marked by crises, has driven an increasing focus on feminist studies in development and global political economy. As a result, feminist ideas have entered economic and political agendas, including those of multinational corporations, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and major foundations. This movement has given unprecedented visibility to feminist perspectives in international political circles.
A portion of feminist research and work has been dedicated to a critique of the neo-liberalization of feminism, which involves the promotion of an orthodox economic policy as beneficial to women and investment in women as a driver of economic growth. These market-oriented economic policies may increase participation in the women's labor force. However, the more significant market freedom these policies provide will unlikely result in expanded respect for women's economic rights. On the contrary, market support policies tend to be associated with higher levels of economic gender discrimination. This tended to obscure the underlying structural causes of inequality while celebrating an essentialist vision of female empowerment. As a result, there has been decreased accountability towards women and feminist movements in corporate social responsibility initiatives promoted by companies and in public-private partnerships.
The discourse promoted by the World Bank and the IMF regarding gender equality investigates to what extent and how their statements and incentives contributed to the effective promotion of gender equality. We also analyzed whether such pronouncements concretely resulted in implementing programs for this purpose.
Incorporating gender perspectives in projects financed by the World Bank shows that the targets for these indicators in the Bank's evaluation system are generally limited to establishing a specific proportion of female beneficiaries or requiring disaggregation of results by gender. So, by focusing on completed projects with gender indicators and results data available, their analysis revealed that 52.9% of projects met or exceeded their objectives. In comparison, 10.6% did not meet their results, and 36.5% had no targets.
Regarding the IMF, its gender approach and sensitivity have been limited until at least 2016, as evidenced by a limited number of policy and working documents produced by its staff. The records indicate that IMF loan programs, such as the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, do not significantly incorporate gender considerations. Furthermore, despite the IMF's claims to have introduced greater flexibility and policy space to low-income countries following the global financial crisis, studies related to loans show that its orthodox macroeconomic stance remains unchanged.
The research conclusions suggest that market-oriented policies and projects are associated with greater female participation in the workforce and less respect for women's rights. A relevant implication is that although women take on a more active role in the workforce and hold leadership positions in international organizations, this does not necessarily translate into improving women's economic status in more liberal economies. On the contrary, neoliberal market economic measures tend to result in less protection of gender economic rights.