Girlbosses or change-makers? Identities, Positioning and Activism of Feminist Business Owners in Berlin
(2023) 9th EMES conference on social Enterprise; Line 4: Social impact and sustainable development effects — Location: Berlin (11.September.2023)
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- 9EMESconf - Abstract submission Girlbosses or change-makers? Identities, Positioning and Activism of feminist business owners in Berlin Line 4: Social impact and sustainable development effects Natacha Bastiat-Jarosz (UCLouvain) Alena Sander (UCLouvain) Florence Degavre (UCLouvain) Feminist Businesses (FB) are bottom-up economic activities whose objectives and practices are defined according to feminist values and social justice principles (Lauri 2021; Villesèche, Meliou, and Kumar Jha 2022; Davis 2017; Comella 2017). While FB claim to contribute to the deconstruction of social inequalities, most of the literature on feminist activism in the current neoliberal era often portrays feminists as either co-opted or resistant to neoliberalism (Eschle and Maiguashca 2018), leaving little room for the theoretical inclusion of FB as a form of activism. FB’s role within the feminist movement is therefore controversial, as they operate within neoliberal market systems which are often viewed as individualistic, depoliticized, and exploitative, and consequently incompatible with feminist ideals (Fraser 2013; Rottenberg 2014). This communication challenges the dominant critique of FB as co-opted by neoliberal capitalism and instead presents a more nuanced understanding of the constraints and opportunities for feminist entrepreneurs to disrupt exploitative practices from within. It emphasizes the agency of feminist activists and suggests approaching the interaction of feminism and neoliberal market logics as a constructive tension that can lead to innovative and socially-driven business practices with the potential to change the market from within. These practices may even function as political arenas for social justice advocacy. The study aims to analyze how new strategies by feminist entrepreneurs create a new form of feminist economic activism. (Blanchard 2019; Eschle and Maiguashca 2018; Ahl et al. 2016; Avdelidou-Fischer and Kirton 2016; Villesèche, Meliou, and Kumar Jha 2022) The paper will in particular address the following questions: 1. How do feminist entrepreneurs run their businesses? The project is interested in their economic model and how they cope with the tension that arises due to the desire to act as drivers of social change versus market-oriented business logics. Here the project focuses on elements of the internal feature of FB: economic orientation, social project and governance. It will reflect on diversity among FB and put it into perspective with respect to the various approaches on social entrepreneurship of the EMES network (7). 2. What innovative local and transnational social and business practices result from the feminist values on which FB are built, and to what extent are they drivers of social innovations? Do they make any difference for women and other socially marginalized groups in general, and within the community in which they are embedded in particular? The project will help gaining insights on FB in their environments and on how they participate in creating awareness about diversity and discrimination. Thus, the contribution moves beyond the traditional frontier between for-profit and not-for-profit, and, instead, explores the economy as a site of economic diversity and feminist action. Following thick description (Sankofa 2022) and feminist methodological approaches of qualitative method-triangulation, the article draws from exploratory field work with owners and stakeholders of FB in Berlin in 2022. Main references : Ahl, Helene, Karin Berglund, Katarina Pettersson, and Malin Tillmar. 2016. “From Feminism to FemiInc.Ism: On the Uneasy Relationship between Feminism, Entrepreneurship and the Nordic Welfare State.” International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal 12 (2): 369–92. Avdelidou-Fischer, Nicole, and Gill Kirton. 2016. “Beyond Burned Bras and Purple Dungarees: Feminist Orientations within Working Women’s Networks.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 23 (2): 124–39. Blanchard, Soline. 2019. “The Market for Gendcdaer-Equality Expertise: Providing Services to Public and Private Organisations in France.” European Journal of Politics and Gender 2 (1): 93–111. https://doi.org/10.1332/251510819X15471289106022. Comella, Lynn. 2017. Vibrator Nation: How Feminist Sex-Toy Stores Changed the Business of Pleasure. Durham: Duke University Press. Davis, Dena S. 1991. “Rich Cases: The Ethics of Thick Description.” The Hastings Center Report 21 (4): 12–17. Davis, Joshua Clark. 2017. From Head Shops to Whole Foods The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs. Columbia University Press. Eschle, Cherine, and Bice Mai at guashca. 2018. “Theorising Feminist Organising in and against Neoliberalism: Beyond Co-Optation and Resistance?” EuropeanJournal of Politics and Gender 1 (1–2): 223–39. Fraser, Nancy. 2013. “How Feminism Became Capitalism’s Handmaiden - and How to Reclaim It.” The Guardian, October 14, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal. Lauri, Johanna. 2021. “Feminism Means Business: Business Feminism, Sisterhood and Visibility.” NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 29 (2): 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2021.1877193. Lauri, Johanna, and Hanna Bäckström. 2019. “Coffee by Women: The ‘Duty of Ethical Enjoyment.’” Cultural Studies 33 (5): 866–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2018.1510532. Prügl, Elisabeth. 2014. “Neoliberalising Feminism.” New Political Economy 20 (4): 614–31. Rottenberg, Catherine. 2014. “The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism.” Cultural Studies 28 (3): 418–37. Sankofa, Nicole. 2022. “Participatory Thick Descriptions: A Collaborative and Reflective Approach.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 20 (1): 100–120. Villesèche, Florence, Elina Meliou, and Harsh Kumar Jha. 2022. “Feminism in Women’s Business Networks: A Freedom-Centred Perspective.” Human Relations 75 (10): 1903–27.
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Bastiat, N., Degavre, F., & et al. (2023). Girlbosses or change-makers? Identities, Positioning and Activism of Feminist Business Owners in Berlin. 9th EMES conference on social Enterprise; Line 4: Social impact and sustainable development effects, Berlin. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/106195