In the name of women? Feminist readings of policies for women’s entrepreneurship in Scandinavia

Abstract

List of key informants. The names have been removed for the sake of confidentiality.

Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era: A discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden

“…Swedish policy studies demonstrate that the idea that the position of women can be improved through individual women's business ownership has indeed rendered women's collective, political action irrelevant (Ahl et al, ; Pettersson et al, ). Neoliberal policy has limited the space for conventional feminist action; women's collective action through the state or through women's policy agencies (Outshoorn & Kantola, ).…”

“…So, while Swedish policy has argued that neoliberal reforms, along with an increase in women-owned businesses, will benefit both the economy and women (Proposition, 1993(Proposition, /94:140, 2001(Proposition, /02:4, 2006, the outcomes indicate that this is not so. Feminist critiques demonstrate that the neoliberal growth paradigm, which underpins entrepreneurship policy in Sweden, has had this effect (Pettersson, 2012;Pettersson, Ahl, Berglund, & Tillmar, 2017;Rönnblom, 2009). Swedish entrepreneurship policy was found to subordinate women's wellbeing to goals of economic growth, or assumed that increased gender equality automatically would result from growth (Ahl et al, 2016); support systems were tailored in such a way that men's businesses were favoured (Berglund & Granat Thorslund, 2012;Hedlund, 2011;Nutek, 2007) and policy and programmes positioned women as an 'other' in need of being 'fixed' in relation to a masculine norm (Ahl & Nelson, 2015;Nilsson, 1997).…”

“…… this neoliberal postfeminist moment is importantlyperhaps pre-eminentlyone in which power operates psychologically, by 'governing the soul' … Indeed, it is not simply that subjects are governed, disciplined or regulated in ever more intimate ways but even more fundamentally, that notions of choice, agency and autonomy have become central to that regulatory power. (p. 443) Swedish policy studies demonstrate that the idea that the position of women can be improved through individual women's business ownership has indeed rendered women's collective, political action irrelevant (Ahl et al, 2016;Pettersson et al, 2017). Neoliberal policy has limited the space for conventional feminist action; women's collective action through the state or through women's policy agencies (Outshoorn & Kantola, 2007).…”

The Positive Side of Feminist Theory in Entrepreneurial Finance: Feminist Themes and Tropes in Crowdfunding for Social Change

“…This is not only because gender notions reflect inherent differences between men and women, but also because from a more radical perspective, feminist theory aims to induce social change by addressing relevant societal issues and thus offers critical avenues for explaining the prior mentioned issues via the conceptualization of phenomena such as social finance. Thus, following Pettersson et al (2017); Calas et al (2007), the main streams of feminism that are essential in entrepreneurship research are described in Table 1. This table also incorporates their main implications for society and their theoretical backgrounds.…”

“…In order to meet both social and entrepreneurial underpinnings, I borrow from Calas and Smircich (1999); Calas et al (2009) and apply feminist theory as an apt lens for looking at the change potential of crowdfunding campaigns. From the many important faces of feminist theory (Pettersson et al, 2017), two mainstream approaches -liberal and social feminism -can be recognised. First, critique stemming from a feminist perspective offers avenues into a more fine-grained understanding of the growing change intention of entrepreneurs, for example in social entrepreneurship.…”