Entrepreneurship initiatives in Bolivia - A helpful or a harmful tool for indigenous women towards empowerment and gender equality?
Authors
Koldsø, Sofia Juliana Mata Chavez ; Widén, Veronica Linnéa
Term
4. term
Publication year
2021
Submitted on
2021-05-27
Pages
98
Abstract
Entrepreneurship has been promoted as a pathway out of poverty in the Global South, especially for women, yet its effects remain contested. This study examines whether and how entrepreneurship initiatives in Bolivia help or hinder indigenous women in achieving empowerment and gender equality. Guided by postcolonial and Marxist feminist theory and an intersectional lens, we analyze the historical, social, and economic power structures shaping indigenous women’s lives and assess entrepreneurship within this context using a qualitative research design. Our analysis indicates that context-specific initiatives that center indigenous women’s needs and interests can strengthen their agency and support progress toward gender equality. At the same time, entrepreneurship can introduce constraints, including economic dependency on bank loans and vulnerability to foreign markets, and it rarely challenges entrenched colonial, racialized, and gendered power relations. Overall, we conclude that entrepreneurship can contribute to empowerment and gender equality for indigenous women in Bolivia to a certain extent, but it does not, on its own, transform the structures that systematically marginalize them.
Iværksætterinitiativer er blevet fremhævet som en vej ud af fattigdom i det Globale Syd, særligt for kvinder, men deres virkninger er omstridte. Dette studie undersøger, om og hvordan iværksætteraktiviteter i Bolivia hjælper eller hindrer oprindelige kvinder i at opnå empowerment og ligestilling. Med udgangspunkt i postkolonial og marxistisk feminisme samt et intersektionelt perspektiv analyserer vi de historiske, sociale og økonomiske magtstrukturer, der præger oprindelige kvinders vilkår, og vurderer entreprenørskab i denne kontekst gennem et kvalitativt design. Analysen peger på, at kontekstspecifikke indsatser, der tager udgangspunkt i oprindelige kvinders egne behov og interesser, kan styrke deres handlekraft og muligheder for at forfølge ligestilling. Samtidig viser studiet, at iværksætteri også kan skabe barrierer, herunder økonomisk afhængighed af banklån og sårbarhed over for udenlandske markeder, samt at det sjældent udfordrer de dybereliggende koloniale, racialiserede og kønnede magtforhold. Overordnet konkluderer vi, at iværksætteri i et vist omfang kan bidrage til empowerment og ligestilling for oprindelige kvinder i Bolivia, men at det ikke i sig selv ændrer de strukturer, der systematisk marginaliserer dem.
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Keywords
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Koldsø, Sofia Juliana Mata Chavez:
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