The Girl Effect Movement: Impact of Social Communications Platforms in the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls
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Date
2015-12
Authors
Hershey, Rachel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The 'Girl Effect' is a movement and theory of change launched by the Nike
Foundation based on the idea that investing in the empowerment of adolescent girls is
the key to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty. This thesis explores the logic
of this discourse and investigates notions of agency, empowerment, and development
through girl-centered social communications platforms in the Girl Effect movement. I
seek to answer the following research question: How does the Girl Effect movement
position adolescent girls to increase their own agency through the use of social
communication platforms, and does this strategy have the potential to empower girls
and, through this effect, transform society? This line of research is situated within a
larger debate that questions the motives of corporations to promote the social good
based on principles of smart economics.
Within this debate I focus on the impact of three social communications
platforms in the Girl Effect movement, Ni Nyaminga magazine in Rwanda, Yegna radio
drama show in Ethiopia, and a participatory video program called Video Girls for
Change in Guatemala. I argue that while the Girl Effect acknowledges the intrinsic value of increasing girls’ voice and agency, their discourse overwhelmingly revolves
around girls’ instrumental value in achieving socioeconomic change. Furthermore, I
postulate that transformative development, in the sense that positive change occurs for
society at large, cannot be achieved by girls alone and must involve a more holistic
approach that engages the wider community, including boys and men, and must be
accompanied by complementary policies and infrastructure projects that help girls and
women to overcome structural constraints that actively disempower them.
Description
190 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of International Studies and Spanish and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Winter 2015.
Keywords
Girl empowerment, Girl effect, Agency, Empowerment, Development, Nike Foundation, Social communications