ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explore the sexualized nature of international development policies by utilizing the concept of heteronormativity. It explores the intersections between export promotion and sexuality in development by examining how World Bank gender staff understand the role of the Ecuadorian flower industry in the reformulation of normative heterosexuality. Ecuador has become the world’s third largest exporter of flowers, specializing mostly in varieties of roses. Between 1985 and 1997, the value of Ecuadorian flower exports grew from $0.5 million to $120 million, and the number of people directly employed by the industry rose from 6,700 in 1993 to 36,000 in 1998. The Bank’s claim that women gained power in their intimate lives through work in flowers rests on standard neoclassical models of household bargaining, whereby self-interested individuals navigate personal relationships using available resources to press for preferences. On this basis employment empowers women simply because it gives them access to wages which improve their bargaining power.
