If asked what “arms manufacturer” first brings to mind, few people would likely answer “women’s rights.” And yet, each International Women’s Day (IWD), leading global arms manufacturers present themselves as working to help bring about gender equality. “Gender washing” refers to corporate social responsibility communications aimed at presenting a corporation as empowering to women and girls, even while their own products, supply chains, or employment practices harm them. In this article, we show how arms manufacturers use social media communications about IWD to gender wash their images, positioning themselves as progressive and caring. Bringing into conversation feminist work in Security Studies and International Political Economy, we identify new varieties of gender washing specific to war and martial violence: client military and government partnerships, and constructive silence. We also expand the global hierarchy of publics targeted by gender washing communications, reflecting the fact that unlike other transnational corporations, arms manufacturers are not concerned with garnering “brand loyalty” amongst the general public. Rather, they communicate both to and with Global North governments and militaries. Thus, what is at stake in these representations, we argue, is not simply the reputation of the individual corporations concerned, but a broader process of gender washing war.

中文翻译：

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性别清洗战争：武器制造商和劫持 #InternationalWomensDay


如果被问及“军火制造商”首先想到的是什么，很少有人会回答“妇女权利”。然而，每年国际妇女节 （IWD），全球领先的武器制造商都会将自己展示为帮助实现性别平等。“性别清洗”是指企业社会责任沟通，旨在将公司展示为赋予妇女和女孩权力，即使她们自己的产品、供应链或雇佣行为对她们造成伤害。在本文中，我们展示了军火制造商如何利用有关国际妇女节的社交媒体传播来清洗他们的图像，将自己定位为进步和有爱心的人。将安全研究和国际政治经济学中的女权主义工作带入对话，我们确定了特定于战争和军事暴力的新性别清洗类型：客户军队和政府伙伴关系，以及建设性的沉默。我们还扩大了性别清洗通信所针对的公众的全球等级制度，这反映了一个事实，即与其他跨国公司不同，武器制造商并不关心在公众中获得“品牌忠诚度”。相反，他们与全球北方政府和军队进行沟通，并与全球北方政府和军队进行沟通。因此，我们认为，这些陈述的利害关系不仅仅是相关公司的声誉，而是更广泛的性别清洗战争过程。