Women's Empowerment and Emancipation Through Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia and Sweden

Alkhaled, Sophie; Berglund, Karin

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2018.15306abstract

Cited by 8 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…We performed a four-stage analysis (Alkhaled and Berglund, 2018) using the interview transcripts as the units of our narrative analysis (McAdams, 2012). First, we read all transcripts with the intention of tracing the influence of the four opportunity structures discussed earlier.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interplay between identity construction and opportunity structures: Narratives of Turkish migrant women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

Kacar

Essers

2019

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

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This article explores the relationship between the identity construction processes of migrant women entrepreneurs and the opportunity structures in their wider sociocultural and politico-institutional environments. Drawing on 10 life-story interviews with one-and-a-half- and second-generation Turkish women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, this study draws upon an intersectional approach. Considering the recent socio-political tensions in the Netherlands regarding the presence of Turkish people, studying the relationship between opportunity structures and identity construction of Turkish women entrepreneurs is important and timely. The findings demonstrate the manner in which opportunity structures influence the creation and enactment of an entrepreneurial identity that intersects with gender, ethnicity and class. Analysing how these migrant women interpret and frame opportunity structures in their entrepreneurial contexts, this article reveals how processes of politicisation, class-consciousness and transnational and cosmopolitan positioning influence these women’s entrepreneurial identities and experiences.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interplay between identity construction and opportunity structures: Narratives of Turkish migrant women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

Kacar

Essers

2019

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

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“…Women's struggle with gender discrimination in obtaining funding, a lack of role models and society's association of entrepreneurship with masculine traits were particularly prevalent (Almobaireek & Manolova, 2012; Danish & Smith, 2012). The research is insightful in terms of the entrepreneurial motivations, opportunities, and challenges the women faced (Basaffar et al., 2018) but further theorizing and contextualizing is needed in order to understand how the women aim for a collective movement toward emancipation and breaking the oppressive patriarchal structures, rather than continuing to negotiate within them (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018).…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Framing entrepreneurship as social change through feminist perspectives (Calás et al., 2009; Orser et al., 2013) has theorized entrepreneurship as a platform for achieving empowerment, emancipation, and social change for women from patriarchal structures in developed and developing country contexts (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018; Jennings et al., 2016). Drawing upon postcolonial feminist perspectives (Mohanty, 2003; Ozkazanc‐Pan, 2012) and the politics of social nonmovement through quiet encroachment in the Middle East (Bayat, 2013), my study investigates 16 Saudi women entrepreneurs' ability to engage in feminist solidarity, political activism, and social change between 2010 and 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite acknowledging these important insights, studies in contexts such as the Middle East have continued to highlight how women's entrepreneurship can be used as a practice of defiance in patriarchal economies and societies, as women defy their contextual embeddedness and patriarchal boundaries to work through their entrepreneurial activities to empower themselves and others within their community (Al‐Dajani et al., 2019). Yet, this empowerment remains confined within the patriarchal structures, with structural change and emancipation from gender constraints becoming an object of desire seldom reached (Alkhaled & Berglund, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…'s (2013) research on “entrepreneurial feminists” in Canada found that women entrepreneurs, who self‐identified as feminists, viewed themselves as individuals who sought to translate their feminist values into feminist action and a desire for personal and/or social change in their community. On the other hand, Alkhaled and Berglund's (2018) study illustrated how women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, who did not explicitly identity as feminists, were instinctively and morally compelled to use their empowered position as entrepreneurs to emancipate other women in their community from oppressive patriarchal structures through their enterprises.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: Feminist solidarity and political activism in disguise?

Alkhaled

2021

Gender Work & Organization

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This paper is a longitudinal study that uses insights from postcolonial feminism to explore women's entrepreneurship as a political form of feminist organizing for social change in Saudi Arabia. Postcolonial feminist approaches challenge Western feminism, which can obscure the diversity of women's lived experiences, agency, and activism. Through Bayat's (2013) theory of “quiet encroachment,” I identify the ways in which contemporary Western conceptualizations of feminist solidarity and social movements have dismissed “Other” women's “silent,” protracted and (dis)organized activism in parts of the Middle East. By exploring how Saudi women have utilized their entrepreneurial space as a legitimate platform for change, I aim to enrich understanding of women's activism through everyday solidarity practices, which allow them to quietly encroach onto the previously forbidden political space. The findings exemplify how their activism “quietly” developed over time through a three‐step process—from the entrepreneur aiming to empower women within their organization, to developing feminist consciousness within their entrepreneurial network, to becoming a “political activist” lobbying for policy changes for women. These solidarity practices exemplify the West's relationship with “the Other,” and reveal that feminist organizing for social change must be explored within its own context in order to fully appreciate its global political potential.

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Neo-liberalism translated into preconditions for women entrepreneurs – two contrasting cases

Tillmar¹,

Ahl

Berglund

et al. 2021

JEC

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Purpose Contrasting two countries with different gender regimes and welfare states, Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to analyse how the institutional context affects the ways in which a neo-liberal reform agenda is translated into institutional changes and propose how such changes impact the preconditions for women’s entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach This study uses document analysis and previous studies to describe and analyse the institutions and the institutional changes. This paper uses Scandinavian institutional theory as the interpretative framework. Findings This study proposes that: in well-developed welfare states with a high level of gender equality, consequences of neo-liberal agenda for the preconditions for women entrepreneurs are more likely to be negative than positive. In less developed states with a low level of gender equality, the gendered consequences of neo-liberal reforms may be mixed and the preconditions for women’s entrepreneurship more positive than negative. How neo-liberalism impacts preconditions for women entrepreneurs depend on the institutional framework in terms of a trustworthy women-friendly state and level of gender equality. Research limitations/implications The study calls for bringing the effects on the gender of the neo-liberal primacy of market solutions out of the black box. Studying how women entrepreneurs perceive these effects necessitates qualitative ethnographic data. Originality/value This paper demonstrates why any discussion of the impact of political or economic reforms on women’s entrepreneurship must take a country’s specific institutional context into account. Further, previous studies on neo-liberalism have rarely taken an interest in Africa.

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Women's Empowerment and Emancipation Through Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia and Sweden

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

The interplay between identity construction and opportunity structures: Narratives of Turkish migrant women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

The interplay between identity construction and opportunity structures: Narratives of Turkish migrant women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

Women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: Feminist solidarity and political activism in disguise?

Neo-liberalism translated into preconditions for women entrepreneurs – two contrasting cases

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