Deconstructing Development Theory: Feminism, the Public/Private Dichotomy and the Mexican Maquiladoras
Author(s)
Wright, Joanne
Abstract
As the newest of many varied approaches to the topic of international development, the postmodern approach offers valuable insights into the Westernizing project of development theory, not least of which is its insight into the dichotomies of modern/traditional and progressive/backward. What the postmodern approach fails to do adequately, however, is uncover the specifically gendered dichotomies also resident in development thought, including male/ female, public/private, and productive/non-productive. The purpose of this primarily theoretical essay is not to enumerate Third World women’s experiences with development, but rather to apply the postmodern tool of deconstruction from a feminist perspective, first to mainstream development theory, and subsequently to a practical example of development, the Mexican maquiladora project. Through a feminist deconstruction, development theory is shown to be a fundamentally gendered – phallocentric – discourse that systematically applies to Third World countries.
