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1 – 10 of over 14000
Article
Publication date: 11 May 2010

Caroline Gatrell

Drawing upon notions of agency and the body, the purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of agency as a gendered concept through a consideration of women sex‐workers…

3036

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon notions of agency and the body, the purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of agency as a gendered concept through a consideration of women sex‐workers. Specifically, the paper analyses how far women sex‐workers may be regarded as social agents. It then considers how far notions of agency, in relation to sex‐workers' embodied boundaries, may be gendered.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews existing literature on sex‐workers and sex‐work practices, looking at indoor sex‐work (massage parlours), outdoor sex‐work (street sex‐work) and trafficking. It considers these types of sex‐work in relation to agency, gender and the body.

Findings

The paper acknowledges the diversity of women's experience within different aspects of the sex trade. The paper recognizes claims that treating sex‐workers as “victims” could further jeopardize their social position. However, the paper finds that the “options” available to sex‐workers are severely constrained. Specifically, the lack of capacity among sex‐workers to set embodied “rules of engagement” with clients makes the notion of agency problematic. The paper contends that “agency” is itself a gendered concept not only in relation to sex‐work, but also in the context of women's work more broadly.

Practical implications

Through the idea of agency as a gendered concept, the paper offers alternative ways of exploring agency, the body and women's work.

Originality/value

The paper puts forward the notion of agency as a gendered concept. This opens up possibilities for further research on women's “choices”, and who “makes the rules” within different labour markets.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 September 2008

Ruthy Lazar

The ways in which battered women respond to domestic violence, and the ways the legal system constructs those responses, constitute the framework of this chapter. The analysis…

Abstract

The ways in which battered women respond to domestic violence, and the ways the legal system constructs those responses, constitute the framework of this chapter. The analysis focuses on mitigation in sentences of battered women who killed their abusers and examines the manifestation of agency and victimization in the mitigation structure. My thesis is that these women are perceived by courts solely as victims who lack agency and autonomy. Three main themes emerge from the analysis: first, the courts focus on the mental state of the defendants, stressing their psychological deficiencies as the primary mitigating factors. Secondly, many cases are categorized by courts as unique cases. Thirdly, in several cases the courts portray the women as “victims of circumstances”. An alternative analysis to that offered by the courts, one that seeks to reframe the mitigation process, is introduced in this chapter. According to this analysis, the narrative used in cases of battered women who kill should be changed to reflect dimensions of agency and resistance. In the suggested discourse, the abuse these women suffer is acknowledged, but is used to explain the women's urge to self-preservation and thus, the rationality and reasonableness of their acts.

Details

Studies in Law, Politics and Society
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-090-2

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2019

Maia Hallward and Hania Bekdash-Muellers

This study aims to examine women’s leadership in Oman, seeking to empirically determine whether and how local perceptions of “success” and lifestyle preferences are related to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine women’s leadership in Oman, seeking to empirically determine whether and how local perceptions of “success” and lifestyle preferences are related to women’s agency and propensity for leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the literature, this paper qualitatively analyzes 32 semi-structured interviews of diverse Omani women leaders, identifying their conceptions of success as predominantly subjective or objective. At the same time, the study uses Hakim’s (2006) lifestyle preference model to explore women's agency.

Findings

Contrary to the literature on the central importance of domestic responsibilities for Arab Muslim women, more women in leadership positions are identified as career-centered (14/32, 44%); those who did identify as family-centered (6/32, 19%) did not cite Islam to justify that preference, and success is envisioned more subjectively (19/32, 59%).

Research limitations/implications

The sample has an urban bias and does not claim to be representative of all Omani women. Interviews were conducted in English; most women leaders in Oman are required to speak English.

Practical implications

By analyzing work-life balance preferences as a proxy for agency and interrogating Omani women's own conceptions of success, the study may lead to more robust and culturally aware policies to support women’s leadership.

Social implications

Defining in subjective terms suggests that success is not necessarily equated with achieving a high level position for Omani women. Further, only 6/32 were identified as home-centered, thus indicating the critical importance of domestic support from hired labor or family members.

Originality/value

This study contributes new empirical findings on women leaders in Oman that illustrates the role of personal agency and lifestyle preference in contrast to many studies that treat culture as a constant.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal , vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 March 2024

Edicleia Oliveira, Serge Basini and Thomas M. Cooney

This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to the proposed framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The article critically examines the current state of women’s entrepreneurship research regarding the institutional context and highlights the benefits of a shift towards feminist phenomenology.

Findings

The prevailing disembodied and gender-neutral portrayal of entrepreneurship has resulted in an equivocal understanding of women’s entrepreneurship and perpetuated a male-biased discourse within research and practice. By adopting a feminist phenomenological approach, this article argues for the importance of considering the ontological dimensions of lived experiences of situatedness, intersubjectivity, intentionality and temporality in analysing women entrepreneurs’ agency within gendered institutional contexts. It also demonstrates that feminist phenomenology could broaden the current scope of IPA regarding the embodied dimension of language.

Research limitations/implications

The adoption of feminist phenomenology and IPA presents new avenues for research that go beyond the traditional cognitive approach in entrepreneurship, contributing to theory and practice. The proposed conceptual framework also has some limitations that provide opportunities for future research, such as a phenomenological intersectional approach and arts-based methods.

Originality/value

The article contributes to a new research agenda in women’s entrepreneurship research by offering a feminist phenomenological framework that focuses on the embodied dimension of entrepreneurship through the integration of IPA and conceptual metaphor theory (CMT).

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 30 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 May 2021

Alistair Anderson and Funmi Ojediran

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on women’s entrepreneurship in emerging economies. This is a thematic review to identify patterns and trends to better…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on women’s entrepreneurship in emerging economies. This is a thematic review to identify patterns and trends to better understand this literature. From the analysis, this study offers ideas for useful and theoretically informed research. In addition, this paper proposes the concept of restricted agency that helps to explain the practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This study identifies the nature, what is interesting, what it sees as important and considers what is neglected in this literature. The analysis sought important issues, interesting directions and the potential for useful future work. Thematic analysis is ideal for messy and unstructured material such as the literature used in this study as the data set. The process is qualitative, iterative and inductive but ontologically appropriate for the socially produced knowledge of the literature.

Findings

This paper finds the literature tends towards descriptive papers. Few papers make substantial contributions to theory. Many papers reported the barriers women to encounter, reporting general and typical processes of responding to obstacles and the implications for practice. Interestingly this study perceives overcoming and sometimes using, the cultural and physical restraints of gendered entrepreneurship. This paper proposes the concept of restricted agency explaining the gendering of entrepreneurs and explains what they can do. Moreover, the concept helps explain why and what. Most promising theoretically, is how the application of this agency is slowly and contextually differently changing the rules of the game.

Research limitations/implications

This study covers a large and extensive literature, so might have missed themes.

Originality/value

This paper starts with the notion of the “otherness” of women’s entrepreneurship. The literature is good at explaining both how and why women’s entrepreneurship is different and in effect, marginalised. This study conceptualises this gendering process as a restricted agency. Moreover, the concept helps explain why and what. Most promising theoretically, is how the application of this agency is slowly and contextually differently changing the rules of the game. It may be the mechanism for emancipation.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4604

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 December 2019

Marilyn T. J. Vilisoni, Ajla Vilogorac and Syeda Samira Saif

In recent years there has been a push from policymakers and the broader development arena on women’s economic empowerment (WEE). The drive to mainstream gender and strengthen…

Abstract

In recent years there has been a push from policymakers and the broader development arena on women’s economic empowerment (WEE). The drive to mainstream gender and strengthen focus on WEE in market systems programming took force in 2003; however, the approach to systematically integrate WEE into implementation, monitoring and results measurement is fairly recent. The Market Development Facility (MDF) programme is one such programme that has developed a WEE framework that is integrated into all aspects of project development across a range of different socio-economic contexts. It not only looks at addressing WEE constraints as relevant but also seeks to draw out and align the incentives of the private sector to do so. The Fiji Bula Coffee case study demonstrates this and highlights the findings on WEE, specifically on women’s access, agency and their influence on social norms in rural Fijian communities.

Qualitative and quantitative data were collected over consecutive field studies conducted over a four-year period beginning in 2015. In-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were used to interview a total of 69 community members across five communities in the Sigatoka highlands. Findings reveal that women in rural coffee-supplying communities have equal access to income-generating activities and are able to make decisions on the income earned from coffee harvesting. Income is used for education and a portion is put aside as savings. ‘Women’s voice’ through collective action and decision-making is also discussed, where through a female champion, who in this case was the chief’s wife, women in the community were enabled to continue supplying coffee cherries and earning additional income for their families, despite the ban that was initially put in place by the chief.

Details

Integrating Gender in Agricultural Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-056-2

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 November 2018

Hanan Nazier and Racha Ramadan

This paper aims to tackle an important question related to women’s economic empowerment in highly patriarchal societies like Egypt. The paper discusses individual, household…

3152

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to tackle an important question related to women’s economic empowerment in highly patriarchal societies like Egypt. The paper discusses individual, household, wealth and location factors determining women empowerment, as measured by two dimensions: decision-making power and mobility.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the “Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey” (ELMPS) 2012, a Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model was estimated to study the main economic resources and social constraints that determine women empowerment as measured by the power of women over household decisions and her freedom of movement in Egypt.

Findings

Three key messages could be delivered. First, women’s own economic resources as captured by her employment status are an important source of her empowerment. Second, contrary to theoretical prediction education is not playing its expected role in developing awareness and transforming ideas concerning gender roles in Egypt. Third, the importance of social local context is fundamental for Egyptian women empowerment.

Originality/value

This study is an attempt to address some of the gaps in the literature for the Egyptian case, where there is a lack in rigorous studies measuring women empowerment and examining its determinates. This is done by first, tackling multiple dimension of women’s empowerment, decision-making inside households and freedom of mobility. Second, using MIMIC model, which is a modeling approach that allows for studying the relations between several causes of a given latent variable, such as “Empowerment” in our case, and a number of its possible indicators, without a directly observable measure of the latent variable. Third, using the most recent set of data; the ELMPS 2012 which has a special focus on women’s resources and agency that permits greater content validity of the multidimensional setup. Forth, the macro level differences in women’s status are tackled through using location dummy variables. Finally, given the important correlation between wealth level and women empowerment, the paper is considered a first attempt to analyze such impact by including a variable that captures the wealth level of the woman’s household as one determinant of empowerment.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. 3 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3561

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2021

Nadeera Ranabahu and Farzana Aman Tanima

The purpose of this study is to explore how vulnerabilities arising from physical impairments, age, widowhood, forced displacement due to war or natural disasters and sexual…

1027

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how vulnerabilities arising from physical impairments, age, widowhood, forced displacement due to war or natural disasters and sexual orientation affect women’s microfinance-related entrepreneurial activities and economic empowerment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a structured literature review and uses preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) method. The paper also uses agency, resources and achievement dimensions of empowerment to assess the findings.

Findings

This study reveals that although microfinance services promote women entrepreneurship, they also exacerbate exclusion and further discrimination. Individual-, household-, institutional- and community-level structures shape women’s agencies to access and use loans and conduct entrepreneurial activities; hence, ultimately economic empowerment.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper arises from the conceptual model we synthesised from our review which illustrates how vulnerable women’s agency is shaped by resources and how it affects their achievements in relation to entrepreneurial activities.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 September 2018

Abeer Alfarran, Joanne Pyke and Pauline Stanton

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the Saudi employment programme “Nitaqat” in addressing institutional barriers to women’s employment in the Saudi…

1565

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the Saudi employment programme “Nitaqat” in addressing institutional barriers to women’s employment in the Saudi private sector. The paper has a particular focus on the perspectives of unemployed women as the intended recipients of increased employment opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a qualitative approach, drawing on findings from face-to-face interviews conducted with two groups of stakeholders, government officials and unemployed Saudi women.

Findings

Four key findings are identified. First, the considerable cultural and regulatory barriers of a conservative society are resilient impediments to the success of Saudi employment policy. Second, discrimination against women is endemic in the Saudi society; however, it is largely unrecognised within the Saudi culture and often accepted by women themselves. Third, due to government regulations, cultural constraints and the gendered educational system, the private sector contributes to sustaining labour market segmentation through discriminatory practices. Finally, while a positive change is taking place in Saudi Arabia regarding women’s employment, it is incremental and uneven.

Originality/value

This paper provides new insights into the institutional barriers related to the labour force participation of Saudi women from the perspective of Saudi women themselves.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 37 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 August 2015

Alice J. Peck

This chapter critically analyzes the disparity between presumptive theoretical and technical development literatures and local ways of inhabiting gender and conceptualizing…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter critically analyzes the disparity between presumptive theoretical and technical development literatures and local ways of inhabiting gender and conceptualizing justice in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This study explores local understandings of sexual violence, gender, and justice to capture a picture of gender, victimhood, and agency that destabilizes hegemonic global narratives of widespread violence and oppression.

Research implications

Dominant academic and policy literatures often rely on universalized framings of gender, sexual violence, and justice. Broader critiques of Western presuppositions regarding the lived realities of women’s experiences are necessary to bridge the gap between representation and reality.

Practical implications

Without understanding the lives and experiences of women like those in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, imported programs to improve women’s “access to justice” and to “empower” women fail to render an inclusive justice and, ironically, reinforce essentialized conceptions of gender that are themselves an obstacle to women’s empowerment.

Social implications

The danger of perpetuating hollow myths of oppression and suffering necessitates a re-evaluation of how scholars and development professionals capture the complexity of gender, sexual violence, and conceptions of justice in Indonesia, as well as other countries in the Global South.

Originality/value

This study builds on existing critical literature to problematize global assumptions about sexual violence, and emphasizes how essentialized representations of the feminine as fixed and universally oppressed silence the myriad voices of women of Yogyakarta.

Details

At the Center: Feminism, Social Science and Knowledge
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-078-4

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 14000