In 2006, UNESCO partnered with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) claiming that women’s tennis can help foster gender equality. This partnership was based on the notion that the empowerment of women and girls is integral to sustainable international development; yet, girls and women are positioned as both the barrier and solution to development. This document analysis uses the UNESCO-WTA project in Cameroon to critique the problematic nature of development assumptions and the approach of gender mainstreaming while contextualizing women’s empowerment as a loaded term that often ignores social, political, and economic constraints. The implications of this analysis serve to reiterate calls for sport for development and peace initiatives to situate both sport and gender in their local contexts. It is also important to question the lack of accountability and transparency demonstrated by this particular corporate social responsibility partnership.
