Abstract
AbstractThis paper is a longitudinal study that uses insights from postcolonial feminism to explore women's entrepreneurship as a political form of feminist organizing for social change in Saudi Arabia. Postcolonial feminist approaches challenge Western feminism, which can obscure the diversity of women's lived experiences, agency, and activism. Through Bayat's (2013) theory of “quiet encroachment,” I identify the ways in which contemporary Western conceptualizations of feminist solidarity and social movements have dismissed “Other” women's “silent,” protracted and (dis)organized activism in parts of the Middle East. By exploring how Saudi women have utilized their entrepreneurial space as a legitimate platform for change, I aim to enrich understanding of women's activism through everyday solidarity practices, which allow them to quietly encroach onto the previously forbidden political space. The findings exemplify how their activism “quietly” developed over time through a three‐step process—from the entrepreneur aiming to empower women within their organization, to developing feminist consciousness within their entrepreneurial network, to becoming a “political activist” lobbying for policy changes for women. These solidarity practices exemplify the West's relationship with “the Other,” and reveal that feminist organizing for social change must be explored within its own context in order to fully appreciate its global political potential.
Highlights
Understanding entrepreneurship as an economic activity has been criticised for its limited capacity in appreciating its impact on social change and community development (Hjorth & Steyaert, 2004), women’s entrepreneurship (Calás, Smircich & Bourne, 2009)
Vachhani & Pullen, 2019)? That is, how can we explore feminist capacities for political engagement and resistance in contexts where social transformations cannot take place through democratic engagement (Segal, 2017), there is no space for rigorous critique and dissent or a legal platform for collective political activism or affective dissonance (Hemmings, 2012)? how can women engage in political change when there are no feminist social movement organisations to unite them, nor a stage for them to exhibit rage, frustration, and desire for connection and feminist solidarity? A postcolonial lens is required to reconceptualise feminist solidarity and activism in such contexts
I argue that in studying feminist social movements and political activism, it is essential for this to be conducted over a long period of time, especially if it is a social nonmovement characterised by subtle solidarity practices in the shape of quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2013), which are dynamic, developing and changing over time
Summary
Understanding entrepreneurship as an economic activity has been criticised for its limited capacity in appreciating its impact on social change and community development (Hjorth & Steyaert, 2004), women’s entrepreneurship (Calás, Smircich & Bourne, 2009). Entrepreneurship provides an interesting space for feminist organising and activism to be explored To this end, in this study I ask, how do women utilise entrepreneuring as a platform for feminist solidarity and political change in non-democratic contexts?. I argue that in studying feminist social movements and political activism, it is essential for this to be conducted over a long period of time, especially if it is a social nonmovement characterised by subtle solidarity practices in the shape of quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2013), which are dynamic, developing and changing over time This builds up a strong nuanced sense of the complex factors within which the women are situated, such as class, type of schooling and family background (McLeod & Yates, 1997), which along with gender shape their life-opportunities. The women engaged in three solidarity practices in this phase, i.e. confrontations with authorities refusing to support their business affairs, lobbying for women’s employment laws, and becoming a member of the King’s Consultative Council
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