Governing change? neoliberal epistemology in the art of governing and the feminist policies in the city of madrid

Abstract

Currently, the feminist social movement and feminist theories are being subjected to a process of resignification, change and conceptual dispute in the frame of what some authors have called the Fourth Wave. This process involves the theoretical development of new feminist approaches and, thus, the struggle for signifying and owning the category feminism. In this complex process, the role of public initiatives and policies is crucial for setting and promoting the hegemonic meaning of this (and any) category. Throughout this paper, we aim to analyse two feminist initiatives developed by Madrid's City Council in order to pro-mote employment from an entrepreneurial approach. By doing so, we will be looking into the production of meaning linked to a feminine ideal subject as well as into a gender biased entrepreneurial discourse.