Calls for educating girls in the Third World: futurity, girls and the ‘Third World Woman’

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26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this article I examine three calls for Western support for girls' education in the ‘developing world’. Using transnational feminist theory and discourse analysis I look at three examples of these calls; Three Cups of Tea, ‘Because I Am a Girl’ and the United National Girls Education Initiative. I suggest that what Mohanty (1988) terms the ‘Third World Woman’ – a homogeneous, static image of women in the third world – is the spectre used to motivate Western support. Through representations of girls, Western viewers/readers are hailed to invest in order to save the girl-child from the haunting ‘Third World Woman’. The girl-child, through her particularity as a girl, her future womanhood as motherhood and her neoliberal potential, becomes presented as emblems of a better future with the investment of Westerners.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-17
Number of pages17
JournalGender, Place and Culture
Volume23
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan. 2016

Keywords

  • Futurity
  • Girls' education
  • International development
  • Representation
  • Third World Woman
  • Transnational feminism

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