Women-Led Social Innovation Initiatives Contribute to Gender Equality in Rural Areas: Grounded Theory on Five Initiatives From Three Continents

Sarkki Simo (), Ludvig Alice (), Fransala Jasmiini (), Melnykovych Mariana (), Živojinović Ivana (), Ravazzoli Elisa (), Bengoumi Mohammed (), Nijnik Maria (), Torre Cristina Dalla (), Górriz-Mifsud Elena (), Labidi Arbia (), Sfeir Patricia (), Marco Lucía López (), Valero Diana, Joyce Katy () and Chorti Houda
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Sarkki Simo: University of Oulu, Finland; University of Erfurt, Germany
Ludvig Alice: Institute of Forest, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria; European Forest Institute, Forest Policy Research Network, Vienna, Austria; Centre for Bioeconomy, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria
Fransala Jasmiini: University of Oulu, Finland
Melnykovych Mariana: Berne University of Applied Sciences Zollikofen, Switzerland
Živojinović Ivana: Institute of Forest, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria; European Forest Institute, Forest Policy Research Network, Vienna, Austria; Centre for Bioeconomy, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria
Ravazzoli Elisa: EURAC Research, Bolzano, Italy
Bengoumi Mohammed: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Tunis, Tunisia
Nijnik Maria: The James Hutton Institute Aberdeen, UK
Torre Cristina Dalla: EURAC Research, Bolzano, Italy
Górriz-Mifsud Elena: The Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia
Labidi Arbia: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Tunis, Tunisia
Sfeir Patricia: SEEDS-Int., Horsh Tabet, Lebanon
Marco Lucía López: Mediterranean Agronomic Institute, Zaragoza, Spain
Valero Diana: James Hutton Institute Aberdeen, UK
Joyce Katy: James Hutton Institute Aberdeen, UK; Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Chorti Houda: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Tunis, Tunisia

European Countryside, 2024, vol. 16, issue 4, 534-562

Abstract: Ensuring gender equality is an important development challenge, especially in rural areas, where women are often marginalized by economic, socio-cultural and policy structures. Women-Led Social Innovation Initiatives (WLSIIs) are a promising way to address this challenge, but their contributions to gender equality depend on complex interactions between marginalizing structures and agency of women. The objective of this paper is to examine how the relevant elements of agency enable WLSIIs to contribute to progress towards gender equality in rural areas. We examine five WLSIIs located in Canada, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, and Serbia. The cases focus on employment, education, identity, gender roles, and rural development, and are analyzed by grounded theory. We identified 1) gendered identity, 2) (in)dependence of women, and 3) control of women over the “rules of the game” as structural features that can enable or constrain WLSIIs. These concepts are located between grand societal structures (policy, economy, culture, and social organization) and women’s concrete, everyday realities, and as such helped us to understand factors supporting or hindering women’s agency and well-being. We identified women’s self-confidence, women-to-women networks, and self-developed and externally supported capacity as the key elements enabling agency. All these together increased social acceptance of the examined WLSIIs, helping to overcome cultural prejudices and gendered stereotypes. For example, women-to-women networks and self-organization increased economic independence, which reduced skepticism towards “new” roles of women and even changed unequal political dynamics. We conclude that women’s collective agency can be enabled by WLSIIs in diverse geographical and cultural contexts and should be recognized by policymakers as a key mechanism that has great potential for enhancing gender equality and overcoming structures marginalizing rural women.

Keywords: Gender equality; Rural development; Social Innovation; Structure-agency interplay; Women entrepreneurship; Women’s collective agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:534-562:n:1001

DOI: 10.2478/euco-2024-0028

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