Feminist Ideologies at Work: Culture, Collectivism and Entrepreneurship among Poor Women in India

Punita Bhatt and Supriya Garikipati

No 202014, Working Papers from University of Liverpool, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper explores the role of feminist ideologies in developing a culture of work and entrepreneurship among disadvantaged women. It draws on evidence from ‘Lijjat’, a women’s cooperative in India where poor women were able to initiate, develop and successfully operate a women’s only enterprise. Ideological influences exist both, at the individual level (motivation) and at the collective level (organisational practices). Pragmatist feminist ideologies are found to be particularly supportive of women’s collective ventures. Women use collectivist strategies to resist the patriarchal corralling of the business. Through an intersection of feminist ideologies at individual and collective levels we explore how women have successfully engaged in economic activity while influencing the structures of patriarchy around them. We extrapolate the influence of feminist ideology further by drawing implications for women’s work in patriarchal contexts.

Keywords: women’s entrepreneurship; feminist ideologies; pragmatist feminist; collectivism; cooperative; Lijjat; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2020-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-ent, nep-gen and nep-hme
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:liv:livedp:202014

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