TY - BOOK ID - 34136 TI - Patrons of Women AU - Hertzog, Esther PY - 2011 SN - 9781845457686 9781789206418 DB - DOAB KW - Anthropology KW - Gender KW - Studies KW - Women KW - Development studies KW - Anthropology KW - Asia KW - Nepal KW - World KW - Bank KW - Economics UR - https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=search&query=rid:34136 AB - Assuming women’s empowerment would accelerate the pace of social change in rural Nepal, the World Bank urged the Nepali government to undertake a “Gender Activities Project” within an ongoing long-term water-engineering scheme. The author, an anthropologist specializing in bureaucratic organizations and gender studies, was hired to monitor the project. Analyzing her own experience as a “development expert,” she demonstrates how the professed goal of “women’s empowerment” is a pretext for promoting the interests of local elites. She demonstrates how a project intended to benefit women fails to provide them with any of the promised resources. ER -