I’m already thinking of the housekeeping chores - misogyny in small couple and family entrepreneurship

Abstract

This article treats misogyny as a structural and complex socioeconomic, political and institutional phenomenon. Its operation is explained in the domain of small couple and family entrepreneurship in traditional sectors of production and services in Serbia at a time of the forces financialization of post-socialist Serbia as a peripheral economy. As sources and mechanisms of a misogynistic attitude it recognizes both a patriarchal gender regime, and the global and national financial and political oligarchies, which through processes of marketization, financialization and the general centrality of the economy in society stimulate and reproduce misogyny. Gender policies created in such a context remain insufficiently geared towards the economic and social development and the emancipation of women and hence ineffective. The empirical findings of a study on 10 couple and 30 family businesses (micro and small sized) illustrate the presence of misogyny in this domain of entrepreneurship. Misogynic relationships of differing visibility and intensity are present in family businesses, in relation to the most important long-term management decisions about the distribution of power and resources in household and business roles in the family firm, in all styles and bargaining models of management. These relationships manifest themselves through prejudices, stereotypes, ritualization and offensive hierarchies. The burden of home work and care work predominantly on female shoulders, and women?s ownership and/or management positions overall are obscured by and subordinate to the male members of the household and family businesses.