Introduction Corporatized Development
Introduction corporatized development “It has been called the ultimate emerging market: women,” explained Margaret Brennan, a young white reporter for Bloomberg Television’s InBusiness, while standing in front of the American fl ag on the fl oor of the New York Stock Exchange.1 She continued, “A recent announcement by Booz & Co.,” the global strategy consulting fi rm,2 “found that about 860 million women are not prepared to take part in the world economy because they lack education, training, access, and fi nance. Enter the Third Billion.” This was February 1, 2012, the day that the Third Billion Campaign was offi cially launched. I watched the announcement on my laptop from where I was living in San Francisco, California. The campaign was created by “an alliance of corporations, including Coca-Cola, Ernst & Young, Accenture, and Standard Chartered” that was “working with the World Bank and others to invest in these women.” A video of women in headscarves walking on a sidewalk played on the screen as the headline “Niche for Global Growth: Women” fl ashed below. Brennan then welcomed Beth Brooke, vice chair of Ernst & Young and “one of the world’s one hundred most powerful women according to Forbes magazine,” to the show. 1 2 introduction “So tell me, what is this initiative about?” asked Brennan. Brooke, a mid- dle-aged white woman, explained, “The Third Billion Campaign is really focused on just what you mentioned, which is within the next decade, the impact on the global economy of women coming into the workforce, as consumers, as entrepreneurs, as employees, will have an impact as great as China’s billion population or India’s billion population, which is why we use the term ‘the Third Billion.’ It’s that big of an impact.” Brennan sought clarifi cation: “And so, as you have the population growing, it’s the partici- pation, and how they participate, that’s the issue.
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