This paper builds upon the sport for development scholarship that critically explores how Western ideals of gender and sport are mobilized within sport development campaigns. This growing body of development scholarship (e.g. Hayhurst, 2013, “Girls as the ‘New’ Agents of Social Change? Exploring the ‘Girl Effect’ Through Sport, Gender and Development Programs in Uganda,” Sociological Research Online, 18 [2], Chawansky, 2012, “Good Girls Play Sports: International Inspiration and the Construction of Girlhood,” Feminist Media Studies 3: 473–476) critically examines the taken-for-granted liberatory character that frequently accompanies accounts of sport's allegedly progressive role in supporting gender equity. Grounded in this scholarship and transnational feminist sensibilities, this paper critically examines the rhetoric to inspire and assist women in ‘developing’ nations, via the US State Department's global ‘Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports’ diplomacy campaign. Rather than focusing on those who ...