Corporate Social Responsibility and the Win-Win Paradigm for Women’s Empowerment in Brazil

This paper discusses the expansion of gender equality agendas by the corporate sector via forms of corporate social responsibility programs. Using a multi-sited ethnography as a case study, I analyze how women’s empowerment has been incorporated into communicative practices through a CSR initiative that promotes entrepreneurship training for Brazilian women. The findings suggest that such strategies secure an ethical and socially committed positioning for the corporate sector, while the effects on the lives of the women involved are less tangible.