Patrons of Women

Esther Hertzog is a Social Anthropologist at Beit Berl Academic College in Israel. Her research focuses on bureaucracy and gender relations. She has published Immigrants and Bureaucrats (Berghahn, 1999); Op-Ed, Feminist Social Justice in Israel (Hebrew, 2004); Life, Death and Sacrifice, Women and Family in the Holocaust (ed.) (Gefen, 2008); Perspectives on Israeli Anthropology (co-ed.) (Wayne State University Press, 2010); At Teachers’ Expense: Gender and Power in Israeli Education (co-ed.) (Hebrew, 2010); and many articles and chapters, as well as hundreds of articles in Israeli dailies. She has been involved in feminist activities for more than twenty years and founded a women’s NGO, two women’s parties, and the Women’s Parliament.

• List of illustrationsForewordPrefaceMap of NepalAcknowledgmentsIntroductionDevelopment Projects – Persistence Despite Evident Failure"Development" and "Development Projects" – Neocolonialism behind Social Change DiscourseEconomic and Gendered Critique of Development and the World BankDo Micro-finance Schemes Help the Poor and Women in Developing Countries?The Comeback of "Development" Theories – Maiava's Study as an ExampleDevelopment and Women's Empowerment ProjectsThe Construction of Third World Women's Underdevelopment and Subordinated FemininityPostmodern Feminist Theory Trapped in Development DiscourseAmbivalence in Discussing the Futility of Gender Development ProjectsGender, Development and Literacy in NepalThe "Third World" Image of Nepali WomenNepali Women's Participation in the Maoist InsurgencyPower, Poverty and Women's Illiteracy in NepalMethodologyChapter 1. The Vulnerable Patron: Playing the Role of a Foreign Gender ConsultantPatronage and Power-dependence RelationsDeceitful Hierarchy – Privileged Experts and Low-ranked ParaprofessionalsThe Compelling Power and Appealing Advantages of the Consultant's PositionManufacturing the Image of a Gender ExpertA Tourist in DisguiseThe Professional Care-takerIn the Name of Women’s GoodConfronting Men's ChauvinismPatronizing AnitaComplying with Expectations to Patronize the Village MenPatronizing Male OfficialsVeiled VulnerabilityReluctant Patron, Vulnerable ForeignerChapter 2. Instrumental Patronage: Leon and HannaLeon, as a Bossy PatronComplying with Hanna's DominanceThe Betrayed PatronImposing Discretion for the Sake of DominanceServing Tea and Power GapsThe Jeep – Symbolizing and Contesting SuperiorityA Eidiculed PatronAbusing the Defenseless IndoorsBribery, Drunkenness and Ethnocentrism – Cooperation and Mutual Dependence Chapter 3. The Phantom of Literacy Classes for Women VillagersLiteracy and Economic Resources - On PaperRecommending Literacy – Fenster's ReportIlliteracy as a Case for Foreign Expertise – My ReportSuccessful Negotiations for Stalling TimeThe Project's Reports, The Social Order and Developers' ComplianceChapter 4. The Role of Economic Activities in Negotiating ConsentDevelopment Tourists and Collaborating Village-womenVisiting Ekala, "Literate Developers" Meet "Illiterate Villagers"Visiting Khumundihawa, Intruders Meet LocalsVisiting West Baharaulia - Procedural Rituals and Cracking Stereotypes   Structured Social Distance and Men's Marginality in the Village EncountersThe Village Women's AssertivenessVisiting Bhawarabari, Women Leaders and Economic IssuesBrindban and Sikatahan, Encountering a Field-bank and Village Women's EnterprisesManipulative DevelopersIgnoring the Women's Wishes and Deluding ThemForeign Agencies Take Over Responsibilities of State Authorities  The Appeal of Women's Organized Groups to Financial AgenciesThe Appeal of the Village Women Groups from the NGOs' PerspectiveThe Village Women - Neither Naïve nor Passively ManipulatedIlliteracy as a Means for Establishing the Image of Women's Collective Intellectual FailureChapter 5. The Seminar – The Successful Failure of the Women's Empowerment ProjectManufacturing a Fictitious Success – The Seminar and Thapa's ClassThe Collaboration of the World Bank with the Nepali and Israeli Partners in Faking ProgressThe Seminar as a Platform for Exercising Men's Power – The Use of Cultural DiscourseBossing Women in the Hierarchic Setting of the Irrigation Project  Men's Supervision Over the Women in the SeminarNo Books for the Seminar – Men's Stalling and Women's Anxiety  The Seminar – Degrading and Disempowering WomenChapter 6. Gender and the Phantom BudgetA Women's Budget in a Male Dominated ContextA Flexible Budget and Feminine ComplianceGender Consultants Accommodating to the Power of MenStimulating Hopes, Providing Vague PromisesDisillusioned Hopes: Gradual Unfolding of the BluffMen's Game: Power, Aggression, Devaluating Women's Matters  Becoming Part of the System: A Coopted FeministManipulating Facts and FiguresFeminine Coping with Confusing Messages and Stalling TacticsUnveiling the Truth: Women's "Peanuts" Money for Men's BonusesNo Budget for Women's ActivitiesReferencesIndex

“Hertzog has produced a valuable anthropological work, and it is a good contribution to the ongoing anthropological discourse on aid politics.” • JRAI“This compelling ethnographic analysis raises very important questions about gender and development that resonate well beyond the particular context of rural Nepal. Although the book paints quite a bleak picture of gender consultancies and development projects more generally, it is a great example of self-critical scholarship that should encourage us to reflect on the implications of our own practices.” • International Feminist Journal of Politics