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Empowerment according to whom? A critical assessment of Coca-Cola’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative Parivartan (5by20) in India

Berggren, Anna LU (2015) UTVK03 20151
Sociology
Abstract (Swedish)
”In many parts of the world, opening a bottle of Coca-Cola means opening the doors to economic empowerment for women.” Thus, by founding their latest global campaign 5by20, an initiative aiming to empower five million women before 2020 in their position as small-scale entrepreneurs, Coca Cola engages itself in what is called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This notion of businesses engaging in social and ethical issues has recently turned to incorporate the (previous lack of) gender equality measures such as women’s empowerment. In India a subprogram of 5by20, Parivartan, aims to empower female retailers through helping them overcome everyday challenges and barriers faced in business. Nevertheless, there is an absence of external... (More)
”In many parts of the world, opening a bottle of Coca-Cola means opening the doors to economic empowerment for women.” Thus, by founding their latest global campaign 5by20, an initiative aiming to empower five million women before 2020 in their position as small-scale entrepreneurs, Coca Cola engages itself in what is called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This notion of businesses engaging in social and ethical issues has recently turned to incorporate the (previous lack of) gender equality measures such as women’s empowerment. In India a subprogram of 5by20, Parivartan, aims to empower female retailers through helping them overcome everyday challenges and barriers faced in business. Nevertheless, there is an absence of external research done on which kind of assistance Parivartan provides and which the alignments and misalignments are between this program and women’s empowerment. Thus, deriving from fieldwork conducted in Punjab, India, this study is based on data collected from interviews with beneficiaries and key informants of the Parivartan. Using a thematic analysis, it finds that the program reproduces socially constructed gender roles within the business sphere, described as a “Feminization of Business”. It also discusses how the program uses women’s empowerment as an instrumentalization of gender equality rather than of intrinsic reasons, which correlates with the ‘Smart Economics’ approach put forth by international development institutions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Berggren, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
course
UTVK03 20151
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Feminization of Responsibilities, CSR, Parivartan, 5by20, Coca Cola, Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment, India
language
English
id
5473611
date added to LUP
2015-06-29 11:16:32
date last changed
2015-06-29 11:16:32
@misc{5473611,
  abstract     = {{”In many parts of the world, opening a bottle of Coca-Cola means opening the doors to economic empowerment for women.” Thus, by founding their latest global campaign 5by20, an initiative aiming to empower five million women before 2020 in their position as small-scale entrepreneurs, Coca Cola engages itself in what is called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This notion of businesses engaging in social and ethical issues has recently turned to incorporate the (previous lack of) gender equality measures such as women’s empowerment. In India a subprogram of 5by20, Parivartan, aims to empower female retailers through helping them overcome everyday challenges and barriers faced in business. Nevertheless, there is an absence of external research done on which kind of assistance Parivartan provides and which the alignments and misalignments are between this program and women’s empowerment. Thus, deriving from fieldwork conducted in Punjab, India, this study is based on data collected from interviews with beneficiaries and key informants of the Parivartan. Using a thematic analysis, it finds that the program reproduces socially constructed gender roles within the business sphere, described as a “Feminization of Business”. It also discusses how the program uses women’s empowerment as an instrumentalization of gender equality rather than of intrinsic reasons, which correlates with the ‘Smart Economics’ approach put forth by international development institutions.}},
  author       = {{Berggren, Anna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Empowerment according to whom? A critical assessment of Coca-Cola’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative Parivartan (5by20) in India}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}