Abstract
Spaces of dialogue and contestation from which ‘situated’ gender norms may be perceived to emerge are increasingly silenced by processes of professionalisation. This chapter analyses how professionalisation processes shape the diffusion of gender norms in development discourse and practice. These processes privilege modes of information consisting of books, reports, conference papers and pamphlets, and modes of dissemination such as conferences and policy roundtables. The presumption that actors in the Global South in particular have the capacity to privilege the voices of those on the margins is undermined by this professionalisation. These modes of engagement shape which ideas are codified and thus legitimised, with implications for our understanding of exclusion in gender and development discourse and practice.
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Narayanaswamy, L. (2019). Deeds Not Words: The Marginalising Effects of Global Gender Equality Norms. In: Engberg-Pedersen, L., Fejerskov, A., Cold-Ravnkilde, S.M. (eds) Rethinking Gender Equality in Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15512-4_10
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