Corporate knowledge production, gender, and development - the case of McKinsey & Co.

Sammanfattning: For over a decade McKinsey & Co. has engaged in the public debate on gender and economy. This thesis critically investigates how the relationship between gender and global economy is constructed by McKinsey, by employing a three-dimensional approach to Faircloughian critical discourse analysis and analysing McKinsey Global Institute’s crucial 2015 publication “The Power of Parity”. The anal-ysis concludes that the Power of Parity constructs the case for gender equality on economic arguments and depoliticises the choice of prioritising GDP-growth over increased gender equality. Through a particular operationalisation of gender equality and visual representations of ‘gender parity indicators’ The Power of Parity reproduces existing gendered power structures. Finally, by discursively depoliti-cising their own involvement and through the act of producing knowledge which favours corporate-led initiatives against gender inequality, McKinsey enhances their own discursive power. The Power of Parity can thus be seen as both being founded on the societal trends of enhanced corporate power, as well as an expression of the expansion corporations mandate of legitimacy into the realm of gender and development expertise.