Summary Of The Girl By Cynthia Enloe: A Feminist Analysis

Cynthia Enloe encourages a feminist gender analysis when examining anything. The central question of this analysis is where are the women and why are they there? These same questions can apply to girls. In the past many development programs did not view girls as their own category, however girls recently became the development focal point. The recent upsurge in development organizations focus on girls holds varied implications for the greater development movement. The programs these organizations create and implement see girls in the development world as the key to changing the third world and fast tracking the development process. To prove the importance of multidimensional programs this paper analyzes the stereotype of the girl, the interventions
One major critique is that the importance of " the girl" is just a fad that will pass over. The support for this argument comes from the organizational focus on practical needs instead of trying to dismantle larger societal forms of domination and oppression. Programs that work in this structure are only short-term by nature. A second critique is that The Girl Effect and most girl-focused programs are just new waves of the efficiency argument. Grosser and van der Gaag state " less focus is being given to how this new agenda will benefit girls and young women themselves, and more to what it can achieve for the rest of us" (75). This is the foundation of the efficiency argument, investing in women is the efficient thing to do, it provides the greatest returns (Grosser and van der Gaag 75), it unlocks the potential of a nation (Nike Foundation), women are the key to societal success. The issue with the efficiency argument is that it promotes the idea that women are only as valuable as their contribution to others. Grosser and van der Gaag say that maybe the new girl programs " may include real interest" in the betterment of the lives of girls, but the implementation of these programs suggests that this is unfortunately not true. If it were, girls would be " give a legitimate, ethical choice" to participate or not (Moeller 619), but that is not the reality. As Professor Caron said in her lecture many of these girls participated to receive a certificate but when confronted with specific elements of the program they dropped out of the Landesa initiative. These girls were then denied their certificates and pushed to finish the program, illustrating how the companies valued their goals over the actual aid the girls were receiving. Moreover, the girls were divided into control groups where only a selection received the aid The Girl