‘And now I’m free’: Women’s empowerment and emancipation through entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia and Sweden

Abstract

Critical perspectives have called for the study of women's entrepreneurship as a route to social change. This 'social turn' claims women are empowered and/or emancipated through entrepreneurship with limited problematisation of how these interchangeably used concepts operate. Using an institutional perspective in combination with a narrative approach, we investigate women entrepreneurs' life stories on their 'road to freedom' where entrepreneurial activity enables them to 'break free' from particular gendered constraints.Through juxtaposing women's narratives in the contexts of Saudi Arabia and Sweden, the relationship between empowerment and emancipation is disentangled and (re)conceptualised. The findings distinguish between empowerment narrated as individual practices to achieve freedom for the self within institutional structures, and emancipation as narrated as a wish to challenge and change structures of power and reach collative freedom. The yearning for collective emancipation propels women's stories of entrepreneurship by raising expectations for entrepreneurship as a vehicle for institutional change. Such stories may fascinate and inspire others to engage in entrepreneurial endeavours to become empowered, but whether they reach emancipation remains an empirical question to be answered. The performative dimension of entrepreneurial narratives is, however, their ability to turn emancipation into an (un)reachable object of desire, with a quest for even more individual empowerment and entrepreneurial activity, at the same time excluding other forms of human conduct as conducive for change.

Farms in Progress-Providing Childcare Services as a Means of Empowering Women Farmers in South Tyrol, Italy

“…in Fieldsand [5], women farmers tend to reject the claim that they are over-burdened because of their attachment to the traditional agricultural lifestyle and their wish to preserve the traditional farming system. This is confirmed by Alkhaled and Berglund [47], who showed that although women empower themselves, they are not emancipated; they act within their cultural system and sustain the family farm through the fulfilment of multiple tasks.…”

“…These structures refer, for example, as mentioned in the state of the art on gender roles in agriculture, to the allocation of resources (land). According to Alkhaled & Berglund [47], empowerment is distinguished from emancipation, because it does not challenge the pervasive patriarchal order. This means that through social farming, women acquire autonomy, professionalization, and self-realization opportunities, but in certain contexts, they still act within the patriarchal system.…”

Uncovering the scaling of innovations developed by grassroots entrepreneurs in low-income settings

“…However, in situations of poverty and isolation, it is difficult to start with entrepreneurial activities (Scott et al, 2012). These studies also show that entrepreneurship as a social change includes both the experience of suppression and empowerment, leading to emancipation (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018;Calás et al, 2009).…”

“…Critical studies on entrepreneurship have also emerged, exploring entrepreneurship as a social change, especially in the area of female entrepreneurship (Calás et al, 2009). Entrepreneurship for women is a means to overcome obstacles, to feel empowered in male-dominated power structures and to feel emancipated to take actions towards change (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018). However, in situations of poverty and isolation, it is difficult to start with entrepreneurial activities (Scott et al, 2012).…”

The Social Imaginary of Emancipation in Entrepreneurship

“…According to Schumpeter, one of capitalism's cardinal virtues is its ability to provide the economic and moral premises for entrepreneurs to transgress the social class system (Schumpeter, 1955a). In this vein, entrepreneuring has been perceived as a transformative socioeconomic practice, potentially pulling its subjects toward a better life (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018;Tobias et al, 2013). The second is the entrepreneurial emancipation to inflict changes in society in a broader sense, a "positive" (Berlin, 1969) conception of emancipation.…”