A feminist socio-economic approach of the third sector: a strand of thought to be ?
(2016) ISTR’s 12th International Conference of ISTR — Location: Stockholm (30.June.2016)
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- The aim of this paper is to assess the literature dealing with feminist and third sector issues from the perspective of its added-value to a feminist socio-economics of thought. The paper identifies some milestones and suggests further developments. The fundamental but limited contribution of Feminist Economics (FE) FE addressing the economic science has left non-orthodox models of economy for a long time outside their critical approach. In the 80’s and 90’s, feminists started to deconstruct the classical economic paradigm (CEP). This led to an heterogeneous ensemble, inclusive of both an anti- and a pro- perspective. The latter, reformist from within, considers that « economic agents can be male or female, and they interact in families as well as in firms and in markets. (…) » (Jacobson, 2007 :3). The more radical perspective is preoccupied by the measure of the « real value » of things (time, work, care ) and wants to « change the system » (Schonpflug, 2008 : 120). There is still no consensus on what is FE but it can be said that it 1) puts women’s emancipation from family at the center of questioning 2) highlights the masculine bias of CEP (dominated by white bourgeois men and their sole experience) (Folbre 1986, 2009 ; Elson, 1991, Ferber and Nelson 1993 ; Beneria 1995) 3) examines how capitalism operates specifically on women (Waring 1988 ; Sassen, 1991, Picchio 1992) with particular attention to the State-Market nexus. It is only in the 2000’s that FE started to consider TSO seriously. Until the 1990’s, they were still considered by reformist feminists as neither State nor Market with no interest to women and, by radicals, as « little fingers » operating for the State (Nyland 1993). A stunning evidence : the over-representation of women in TSO The first move towards cross-fertilisation of women and third sector issues happened through the debate on the over-representation of women in TSO (Teasdale et al, 2010) but not necessarily in a feminist perspective. Reasons for women’s outstanding commitment in SE are articulated around 1) their “stronger pro-social preferences” (Themudo 2009, Hakim 2000), 2) their altruism (Guérin 2003), (3) their own “caring experience” (Pilcher 1999, Harris et al. 2003). Pioneer studies : identifying women’s interest in TSO After a period of relative ignorance on both sides, feminist activists agreed on the fact that feminism and TSO have « something » in common. In view of the development of "theories for action" (Bard, 2003), feminist activists got interested in TSO as a field of action and (critical) analysis. On the basis of a litterature situating TSO in a social economy (SE) producing both economic value and social change, new questions were raised about the contribution of TSO to women’s emancipation or, on the contrary, about how patriarchal norms were reproduced within them. SE initiatives are now considered, by FE, of great interest for women 1) they are closely linked to social movements and collective action, thus providing an opportunity for women’ social demands to be supported beyond feminism, 2) they create public proximity spaces (Fraisse 2007, Guérin 2007) of promotion of self-confidence and political awareness. In various ways, they are the embodiment of the feminist moto "the personal is political " (Nyland 1995 : 51). Sketching the future. Social innovation as an emergent category of analysis for social change favorable to women Social innovation (SI) becomes a widespread concept in social economy studies and it has an important potential to become a tool for a feminist socio-economics. « SI are, in a significant way, new and disruptive towards the routines and structures prevailing in a given (welfare) system or local setting” (Evers, Ewert et Brandsen 2014, p. 11). The critical question to handle in the future might be, from a feminist socio-economic perspective, whether these new and disruptive practices are effectively ‘innovative’ and ‘social’ ‘for women’. References Adalbert Evers, Benjamin Ewert et Taco Brandsen (dirs.) (2014). Social Innovations for Social Cohesion. Transnational Paterns and approaches from 20 European Cities, final report WILCO project, 420 p. Bard, Christine (2003). « Jalons pour une histoire des études féministes en France (1970-2002) ». Nouvelles questions féministes, 22 (1), 14-30. Beneria, L. (1995). « Toward A Greater Integration of Gender in Economics ». World Development, November, 23(11) Crompton, R. (2006) Employment and the family: The reconfiguration of work and family life in contemporary societies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Defourny, J. and Nyssens, M. (2010) ‘Conceptions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: convergences and divergences’,Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 1 (1): 32–53. Degavre, F. & Nyssens, M. (2008), "L'innovation sociale dans les services d'aide à domicile: les apports d'une lecture polanyienne et féministe", Revue française de socio-économie, 2, 79-98. Elson, Diane (1991). Male bias in the development process. Manchester : Manchester University Press. Gardin, L. (2006), A Variety of Resource Mixes inside Social Enterprises in M. Nyssens (ed.), Social Enterprise - At the crossroads of market, public policies and civil society, London and New York: Routledge, 111-136. Guérin I., 2003, Femmes et économie solidaire, Recherches, La Découverte, MAUSS, SED, Paris, 236 p. Guérin I., 2007. « Économie solidaire et rapports de genre » dans : Laville J.-L. (dir), L’économie solidaire. Une perspective internationale. Paris : Hachette Littératures, p. 245-276. Hakim, C. (2000) Work-lifestyle choices in the 21st century: Preference theory, Oxford: Oxford Harris M., Halfpenny P. and Rochester C. (2003). A Social Policy Role for Faith-Based Organisations? Lessons from the UK Jewish Voluntary Sector. Journal of Social Policy, 32 , pp 93-112 doi:10.1017/S0047279402006906 INSEE (2010), L’économie sociale « aux services » de la population francilienne, A la page, n°338. Isabel André (2014). Gender and Social Innovation: the role of UE policies, in Frank Moulaert, Diana MacCallum, Abid Mehmood et Abelillah Hamdouch (dirs.), The international Handbook on Social Innovation. 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Callorda Fossati, E., Degavre, F., & Saussey, M. (2016). A feminist socio-economic approach of the third sector: a strand of thought to be ? ISTR’s 12th International Conference of ISTR, Stockholm. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270049