Informal Gender Research Articles

Breaking barriers and bridging gaps: the influence of entrepreneurship policies on women’s entry into entrepreneurship

PurposeHow does the interplay between entrepreneurship policies and both formal and informal gender equality affect women’s inclination towards self-employment in contrast to men?Design/methodology/approachThis study introduces and validates a comprehensive multi-level model underpinned by symbolic interactionism, institutional theory, and the nuances of gendered institutions. Employing innovative analytical techniques and leveraging data from 66 countries, we scrutinize how formal and informal gendered institutional arrangements either inhibit or facilitate an environment favorable to women’s entrepreneurial activities.FindingsSignificantly, our research delves into the nuanced effects of specific entrepreneurship policies across diverse nations. While these policies can bridge the gendered resource gap, a profound understanding of broader gender dynamics is crucial for fostering an inclusive entrepreneurial landscape.Originality/valueOur insights advocate for a more integrated approach to bolster women’s participation in entrepreneurship, thus furthering their socio-economic progression.

Substantive representation of women, informal quotas and appointed upper house parliaments: The case of the Omani State Council

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Determinants of women's financial inclusion: Evidence from India

AbstractA number of studies have analyzed the determinants of financial inclusion in India, but few if any have focused specifically on the factors that shape women's access to finance. This paper draws on the trove of women‐specific data collected in the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS‐4), conducted in 2015–16 in India, to examine the factors that influence women's access to finance. The results indicate that while the forces that shape women's access to finance function at multiple levels, micro‐level factors appear to be powerful drivers of inclusion. The analysis reveals that household‐level economic indicators like wealth, gender of household head and their rural‐urban location are crucial, but so are individual‐level characteristics which explain approximately 83% of the variation in the multilevel regressions. Informal gender norms that govern women's mobility and economic activity crucially influence the ability of women to access loans and open bank accounts.

ENTREPRENEUR’S GENDER AND FIRM INNOVATION BREADTH: AN INSTITUTION-BASED VIEW OF SMEs IN AN EMERGING MARKET CONTEXT

This study, at the intersection of gender, entrepreneurship and innovation, investigates the impact of women leadership (vis-a-vis men) on innovation by SMEs in an emerging economy context. Drawing from the institution-based view, we examine the moderating role of regional formal institutions and informal gender norms on the innovativeness of women-led SMEs in India. Using data obtained from the World Bank Enterprise Survey and World Value Survey, and deploying the Poisson regression method, we find that, overall, women-led SMEs perform better than men-led SMEs in innovation breadth. Interestingly, the regional formal institutional quality negatively moderates the relationship between having a female entrepreneur and firm innovation breadth. In addition, regional gender role expectations act as a positive moderator between having a female entrepreneur and firm innovation breadth. Further, the increase in innovation breadth under unfavourable formal institutional quality and informal gender norms is larger for non-technological innovation than for technological innovation.

Populism and feminist politics: The cases of Finland and Spain.

While populism has been subject to growing scholarly interest, its relationship to feminist politics has remained conspicuously understudied. This article investigates this relationship by analysing two cases of European populism: left populism in Spain (Podemos), and right populism in Finland (the Finns Party). The questions asked, and the challenges posed to feminist politics from populist political forces are intriguing: How is feminist politics articulated in both left and right populism? What differences can be discerned between left and right populism for feminist politics? To explore this, the article analyses three core dimensions: (1) political representation: descriptive representation (numbers of women, men and minority positions) and substantive representation (policy content in relation to gender equality); (2) populist parties’ formal and informal gender institutions such as internal quotas, gender equality plans and institutional culture; and (3) dedicated spaces for feminist politics such as women's sections or feminist groups. It is argued that political ideology matters for feminist politics, and while left parties are more responsive to feminist concerns and populism poses specific problems for feminist politics, it is the gendered culture of political parties that ensures both left and right parties are problematic for feminist politics.

Assessment of Gender Policy in Selected Tertiary Agricultural Education Institutions in Africa

The paper assesses the existing gender policy document in fourteen (14) selected agricultural faculties and colleges in tertiary institutions in Africa. This paper is an output of research report on Programme of Strengthening Africa’s Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID) implemented by the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE). Data for the study were collected from 207 respondents (8 deans of ANAFE SASACID pilot institutions, 36 academic staff/lecturers of SASACID pilot institutions and 163 students of SASACID pilot institutions) through the use of online survey. Data collected were analysed and presented using frequency, percentage and charts. Results of the survey revealed that 25.0% of the institutions studied indicated that they had a formal gender policy document in place in their institutions with regards to staff recruitment and students’ admission, while about 25.0% had an informal gender practices on staff recruitment and students’ admission. Higher proportion (60.0%) of the institution had neither a formal policy document nor informal practices as regards staff recruitment and students admission. Some of the constraints faced by the Institutions with a gender policy were insufficient female applicants in agricultural courses, societal norms and remote location of some of the faculties/colleges of agriculture. To encourage both males and females to study agriculture in higher institutions of learning and to create and sustain a fair and just academic environment where both have equal opportunities, there is a need to have a gender policy document and the need to create awareness.

“New,” “Old,” and “Nested” Institutions and Gender Justice Outcomes: A View from the International Criminal Court

What difference do new actors and new institutions make to gender justice outcomes? This article explores this question through an examination of the objectives and influence of “new” international actors on the design and implementation of the “new” victims' rights and gender justice provisions contained in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court's (ICC). Highlighting the role of gender and formal and informal institutions, this article argues that during its first decade in operation, the ICC has produced mixed outcomes in terms of the treatment of victims, especially of conflict-related sexual violence. While there is some sign that the new actors and rules have helped produce some positive outcomes, there are also signs that “old” informal gender rules and the historical context in which the ICC is “nested” has contributed to undermining and distorting news rules aimed at addressing gender injustices. The article suggests that “newness” matters, but so, too, does “oldness” and “nestedness,” and understanding the interaction and relationship between these factors is key to understanding gender justice outcomes.

Genderové inovace v malém podnikání. Institucionální podmínky a dosahování genderové (ne)rovnosti u podnikatelských párů

Using the so-called embeddedness perspective, this article highlights the importance of context (time, space and institutions) for the direction of current research on the gender structure of entrepreneurship. The authors focus mainly on the effects of institutional context, namely tax and family policies, on business couples (copreneurs). The emphasis is on how these factors and formal institutions, which are reflected in informal gender norms, influence the work-life balance strategies of copreneurs. Based on a qualitative analysis of 24 in-depth interviews, the authors identify three strategies of achieving work-life balance and using welfare state measures: individualistic, adapting and innovating. Based on separate in-depth interviews with these business and life partners, we are also able to analyse the dynamics of communication between them. We draw attention to the finding that the strategies identified are not exclusive and may change during one's life course and business career. Despite their differences, in some respects all these strategies preserve and reproduce gender inequality because it is embedded in the social context and institutional framework for economic activity and work-life balance in the Czech Republic.

Engendering Imprisonment: The State and Incarcerated Female Subjects in Taiwan

In International feminist perspectives in criminology, Rafter and Heidensohn in International feminist perspectives in criminology: Engendering a discipline. Open University Press, Buckingham, (1995: 4) contended that current mainstream criminology was the most masculine of all social sciences. A look at arguments about penal development confronts us with the fact that most historical studies are not gender-specific. Whether female offenders were victimized or acted as their own agents in the penal institutions can be determined with reference to two considerations: first, women prisoners have persistently been treated differently from their male contemporaries; second, female offenders have typically been burdened with formal penalties and informal gender disciplines as punishments for their wrongdoings. The relationship between women and the state provides some clues regarding how penal institutions, which are authorized to act for the state in imposing penalties, treat female offenders and why women’s imprisonment has taken the forms that are evident historically. This study traces the unique political and social conditions of Taiwan’s history to determine what reformations penal institutions have sought to enforce upon female prisoners and which body-types of female inmates have been ‘docile’, ‘obedient’, and ‘useful’ to the state. From the establishment of women’s care homes and the practice of separating the genders in penal institutions, to the implementation of independent women’s prisons, the state in Taiwan has played a dominant role in penal reforms in various historical contexts. This investigation aims to provide a critical and unique perspective of the penalization of women.

Just Checking It Out: Exploring the Significance of Informal Gender Divisions Amongst American Supermarket Employees

This paper describes a research project in which some of the dynamics of informal gendered task segregation between male and female workers in American supermarkets with the same job description are explored. It also provides a discussion of the implications of this form of gender inequality for equal opportunities policies.