| 1. |
- Berglund, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era : a discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: Gender, Work and Organization. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0968-6673 .- 1468-0432. ; 25:5, s. 531-556
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the early 1990s, there has been investment in women's entrepreneurship policy (WEP) in Sweden, which continued until 2015. During the same period, Sweden assumed neoliberal policies that profoundly changed the position of women within the world of work and business. The goals for WEP changed as a result, from entrepreneurship as a way to create a more equal society, to the goal of unleashing women's entrepreneurial potential so they can contribute to economic growth. To better understand this shift we approach WEP as a neoliberal governmentality which offers women 'entrepreneurial' or 'postfeminist' subject positions. The analysis is inspired by political theorist Nancy Fraser who theorized the change as the displacement of socioeconomic redistribution in favour of cultural recognition, or identity politics. We use Fraser's concepts in a discourse analysis of Swedish WEP over two decades, identifying two distinct discourses and three discursive displacements. Whilst WEP initially gave precedence to a radical feminist discourse that called for women's collective action, this was replaced by a postfeminist neoliberal discourse that encouraged individual women to assume an entrepreneurial persona, start their own business, compete in the marketplace and contribute to economic growth. The result was the continued subordination of women business owners, but it also obscured or rendered structural problems/solutions, and collective feminist action, irrelevant.
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| 2. |
- Hård, Ursula, et al.
(författare)
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Kvinnors företagande : arbetsmarknadsbeteende och organisatorisk lösning
- 2007
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I dagens Sverige lyfts ofta småföretag och entreprenörer fram. Företagandet diskuteras dock ofta separat från både arbetsmarknad och övriga näringslivet. Därmed negligeras att individer växlar mellan att vara sin egen och ha anställning, det vill säga att företagandet ofta är ett sätt för individen att navigera på arbetsmarknaden snarare än drivet av en stark önskan att vara sin egen. Inte heller uppmärksammas att små företag ofta startas och drivs som en direkt konsekvens av stora organisationers strategier - det vill säga företagandet är en organisatorisk lösning på en stor organisations problem, inte uttryck för en individs starka vilja att vara sin egen. I studien ges exempel på företagande av dessa slag. Det första exemplet bygger på Ursula Hårds studier av kvinnor som följt en starta-eget-kurs i en norrlandskommun och det andra på Malin Tillmars studier av företagande i anslutning till den offentliga sektorns omvandling. Det första fallet är ett exempel på företagande som arbetsmarknadsbeteende, det sistnämnda på företagande som organisatorisk lösning. Företagandet som skapat, och skapare av, genussystemet är tydligt i fallen och diskuteras i studien.
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| 3. |
- Berglund, Karin, 1967-, et al.
(författare)
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Conceptualising feminist resistance in the postfeminist terrain
- 2023
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Ingår i: Gender in Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1754-2413 .- 1754-2421. ; 38:2, s. 183-199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: In this paper, women entrepreneurs are seen as leaders and women leaders as entrepreneurial, making both groups an easy target of postfeminist expectations, governed by calls to embody the entrepreneurial self. Acknowledging that the entrepreneurial self has its roots in the universal, rational and autonomous subject, which was shaped in a male form during the Enlightenment, the purpose of this study is to conceptualise feminist resistance as a process through which the autonomous subject can be de-stabilised. Design/methodology/approach: Empirically, this study draws on an extensive research project on women's rural entrepreneurship that includes 32 in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs in rural Sweden. This study interpreted expressions of resistance from the women by using an analytical framework the authors developed based on Jonna Bornemark's philosophical treatise. Findings: Feminist resistance unfolds as an interactive and iterative learning process where the subject recognises their voice, strengthens their voice and beliefs in a relational process and finally sees themselves as a fully fledged actor who finds ways to overcome obstacles that get in their way. Conceptualising resistance as a learning process stands in sharp contrast to the idea of resistance as enacted by the autonomous self. Research limitations/implications: This study helps researchers to understand that what they may have seen as a sign of weakness among women, is instead a sign of strength: it is a first step in learning resistance that may help women create a life different from that prescribed by the postfeminist discourse. In this way, researchers can avoid reproducing women as "weak and inadequate". Originality/value: Through the re-writing of feminist resistance, the masculine entrepreneurship discourse including the notion of the autonomous self is challenged, and a counternarrative to the postfeminist entrepreneurial woman is developed. Theorising resistance as a learning practice enables a more transforming research agenda, making it possible to see women as resisting postfeminist expectations of endless competition with themselves and others.
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| 4. |
- Pettersson, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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In the name of women? : Feminist readings of policies for women's entrepreneurship in Scandinavia
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 33:1, s. 50-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Policy actors seeking to stimulate entrepreneurship sometimes give special attention to women. It is not given, however, that policy initiatives for women entrepreneurs necessarily contribute to gender equality, to social change for women - such as enhancing entrepreneurship as a means to women's wellbeing and financial or other independence - or to gendered change of society. We claim that the outcomes depend on the premises behind the policies. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the feminist approaches that are taken in policies for women's entrepreneurship in the Scandinavian countries. We analyse how these policies argue for women's entrepreneurship, how they position women, and what assumptions they hold with respect to women and their businesses. We analyse and compare state-level polices that have been implemented by the national governments in three Scandinavian countries; Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, during the period 2005-2015. A comprehensive analytical tool, building on six different feminist theoretical approaches, is developed. We find that, even if a liberal feminist perspective is present, along with elements of other feminist approaches, polices give precedence to economic growth in a non-feminist fashion. Over time, economic growth becomes the key focus, while feminist approaches are silenced. We observe that, in the name of supporting women, the actual aim of policies for women entrepreneurs often seems to be economic growth, and women are seen merely as an untapped, and yet not fully adequate, resource. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 5. |
- Tillmar, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Neo-liberalism translated into preconditions for women entrepreneurs – two contrasting cases
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Enterprising Communities. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1750-6204 .- 1750-6212. ; 16:4, s. 603-630
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeContrasting 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/approachThis 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.FindingsThis 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/implicationsThe 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/valueThis 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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| 6. |
- Tillmar, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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The gendered effects of entrepreneurialism in contrasting contexts
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Enterprising Communities. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1750-6204 .- 1750-6212. ; 16:5, s. 808-828
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeContrasting Sweden and Tanzania, this paper aims to explore the experiences of women entrepreneurs affected by entrepreneurialism. This study discusses the impact on their position in society and on their ability to take feminist action.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analysed interviews conducted in the two countries over 15 years, using a holistic perspective on context, including its gendered dimensions.FindingsThe results amount to a critique of entrepreneurialism. Women in Sweden did not experience much gain from entrepreneurship, while in Tanzania results were mixed. Entrepreneurialism seems unable to improve the situation for women in the relatively well-functioning economies in the global north, where it was designed.Research limitations/implicationsIn mainstream entrepreneurship studies, there is a focus on the institutional context. From the analysis, it is apparent that equal attention must be given to the social and spatial contexts, as they may have severe material and economic consequences for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. The paper raises questions for further studies on the gendering of markets in different contexts, as well as questions on the urban-rural dimension.Practical implicationsIn Sweden, marketisation of welfare services led to more women-owned businesses, but the position of women did not improve. The results strongly convey the need for a careful analysis of the pre-existing context, before initiating reforms.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the understanding of context in entrepreneurship studies: Africa is largely an underexplored continent and contrasting North and South is an underexplored methodological approach. This paper further extends and develops the model of gendered contexts developed by Welter et al. (2014).
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| 7. |
- Tillmar, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Women's rural businesses : for economic viability or gender equality? – a database study from the Swedish context
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1756-6266 .- 1756-6274. ; 14:3, s. 323-351
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss to what extent and why women's entrepreneurship contributes to rural economic viability and gender equality in an advanced welfare state. Design/methodology/approach The authors use detailed register data to explore men's and women's rural businesses in the most common industries for rural women entrepreneurs in the Swedish welfare state. Based on a literature review, the authors develop hypotheses and analyse how family, business and industry factors influence earnings. Findings Women's rural entrepreneurship is important for rural viability, as women's businesses provide a wide range of services necessary for life in rural areas. Although women's rural businesses are not significantly smaller than those of men, women's income is lower and more sensitive to business and industry variables. Marriage has positive effects for the earnings of men but negative effects for the earnings of women. The authors argue that the results are contingent on the gendering of entrepreneurship and industries, as well as on the local rural gender contracts. For these reasons, the importance of women entrepreneurs for rural viability is not reflected in their own incomes. Hence, women's rural entrepreneurship does not result in (economic) gender equality. Originality/value Entrepreneurship scholars rarely explore women's rural entrepreneurship, and particularly not in the Global North or Western welfare states. Therefore, this empirical study from Sweden provides novel information on how the gender order on the business, industry and family levels influences the income of men and women entrepreneurs differently.
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| 8. |
- Ahl, Helene, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
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Women's contributions to rural development : implications for entrepreneurship policy
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1355-2554 .- 1758-6534.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposePolicy for women's entrepreneurship is designed to promote economic growth, not least in depleted rural areas, but very little is known about the contributions of rural women entrepreneurs, their needs or how the existing policy is received by them. Using a theoretical framework developed by Korsgaard et al. (2015), the authors analyse how rural women entrepreneurs contribute to rural development and discuss the implications for entrepreneurship policy. This paper aims to focus on the aforementioned objectives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 32 women entrepreneurs in rural Sweden representing the variety of businesses in which rural Swedish women are engaged. The authors analysed their contributions to rural development by analysing their motives, strategies and outcomes using Korsgaard et al.'s framework of "entrepreneurship in the rural" and "rural entrepreneurship" as a heuristic, interpretative device.FindingsIrrespective of industry, the respondents were deeply embedded in family and local social structures. Their contributions were substantial, multidimensional and indispensable for rural viability, but the policy tended to bypass most women-owned businesses. Support in terms of business training, counselling and financing are important, but programmes especially for women tend to miss the mark, and so does rural development policy. More important for rural women entrepreneurs in Sweden is the provision of good public services, including for example, schools and social care, that make rural life possible.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, the findings question the individualist and a-contextual focus of much entrepreneurship research, as well as the taken-for-granted work-family divide. How gender and how the public and the private are configured varies greatly between contexts and needs contextual assessment. Moreover, the results call for theorising place as an entrepreneurial actor.Practical implicationsBased on the findings, the authors advise future policymakers to gender mainstream entrepreneurship policy and to integrate entrepreneurship and rural development policy with family and welfare state policy.Originality/valueThe paper highlights how rural women respond to policy, and the results are contextualised, making it possible to compare them to other contexts. The authors widen the discussion on contributions beyond economic growth, and the authors show that policy for public and commercial services and infrastructure is indeed also policy for entrepreneurship.
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| 9. |
- Berglund, Karin, 1967-, et al.
(författare)
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To play or not to play: that is the question : entrepreneuring as gendered play
- 2015
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 31:2, s. 206-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How can play be used to unravel the discourse of the gendered hero entrepreneur and instead describe mundane entrepreneuring? Further, how can the doing of gendered social orders be problematized when entrepreneuring is equated with play? In this article we answer these questions by engaging with the French social theorist Caillois’ (1961) conceptualization of play as being at the heart of all higher culture. Two ethnographic cases act as our vehicle in analysing play as entrepreneuring. From a rich description of these cases we find that it is not a question of playing or not playing, but about how to play. All four forms of play described by Caillois are present, which illustrates the variation of entrepreneuring and the richness of activities conducted in the ‘doing of entrepreneurship’. Further, both ways of playing discussed by Caillois are found. Whilst these two ways are interrelated on a continuum in the theory of play, they have been separated in entrepreneurship discourse, where they underpin the tendency to differentiate between the hero entrepreneur and ordinary people. Finally, we engage in a more interpretive and reflective discussion on entrepreneuring as performative acts through which social orders can be not only reproduced but also transformed.
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| 10. |
- Högberg, Lena, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Contextualising the coevolution of (dis)trust and control : a longitudinal case study of a public market
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Trust Research. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2151-5581 .- 2151-559X. ; 8:2, s. 192-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research into the dynamics of trust?control is still inconclusive. In this paper, we offer an in-depth understanding of how (dis)trust and control coevolve as embedded in multiple dimensions of context. The paper focuses on public markets, a context which is underrepresented in extant studies on trust and control. Our analysis is based on a longitudinal case study of interorganisational relationships (IOR) between boundary spanners representing purchaser and providers on a customer choice market for home care in a midsized municipality in Sweden. We identify, narrate and analyse critical incidents during seven years of the process. A conceptual framework contextualising the trust?control nexus of a public?private IOR is developed and utilised. We find that while the public?private IOR context requires control, control only enables deterrence trust from the municipal officers and only in individual providers. Interferential rather than symbiotic coevolution of trust and control is the dominating pattern. In addition, we find what we denote as mixed coevolution, where control simultaneously has positive and negative impact on trust. In our case in point, control enables trust in specific providers but this trust is not reciprocated due to experienced distrust on the category level.
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