Women Entrepreneurship and the UN SDGs

Dear Colleagues,

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Women provided the stimulus for advancing women's role in the development process. It stimulated global transnational networking, and forged alliances that led to the formation of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals) in 2000.  However, for many Global South territories the MDG framework was a disappointment, as positive impacts were uneven across countries, regions and social groups. Evaluation of the progress highlighted that the poorest and women, in particular, were bypassed (UN 2012).

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 as successors to the MDGs. They represent the priorities of the global community regarding human development (UN 2021). They guide and support development priorities, as well as actions for the public and private sectors to realize economic, social, environmental development and well-being. At their heart are people, planet and prosperity (UN 2021). The role of women in entrepreneurship, management and corporate governance has been regarded as central to successful sustainable development and welfare of economies (Datta and Gailey 2012; Duflo 2012; Mammen and Paxson 2000), and an increase in women’s economic and socio-political participation improves the wellbeing of the women as societal benefits are increased when women promote social change, innovation and development (Sen 1999). Sen (1999: 201) states that “women are increasingly seen, by men as well as women, as active agents of change: the dynamic promoters of social transformations that can alter the lives of both women and men.” Particularly, the role of women-owned businesses has drawn the attention of national governments and especially international development organizations such as the UN, the World Bank, OECD and others which actively invest in female entrepreneurial capacity building (UN Women 2020, OECD 2017, World Bank 2019). Such efforts also express the conviction that investment into female entrepreneurial capacities will increase women’s empowerment and reduce gender inequality - a pivotal antecedent for any sustainable development (OECD 2017; Sachs 2020).

However, the prevailing view of women’s entrepreneurship for development has been criticized as too US and Eurocentric (Wood et al. 2021; Al-Dajani and Marlow 2010, 2013) and as normatively masculinized (Ahl, 2004; Brush et al. 2009; Ahl and Marlow, 2012) for it reduces female entrepreneurial agency to the recognition and exploitation of business opportunities, driven by pursuit of personal wealth creation (Shane and Venkataraman 2000). Scholars insist that diverse cultural, geographic and institutional contexts lead to multiple entrepreneurial expressions and socioeconomic and political outcomes (Bastian et al. 2019; Welter 2011, Al-Dajani and Marlow 2010, 2013). Furthermore, despite an important body of literature concerned with the role of women ventures for development, to date, we still have little understanding of how women’s entrepreneurship can support sustainable development in the varied contexts of the Global South, especially in the ‘new normal’ Covid-19 era. In fact, the pandemic represents a severe setback for progress in women’s economic participation worldwide and women have been disproportionally harsher hit by the negative fallout compared with men. Recent research by Oxfam (2021) revealed that during the first year of the pandemic, women lost 64 million jobs (in the formal economy), and suffered at least US$800 billion in revenue losses. As yet, these estimates do not account for the millions of women who work in the informal economy, and who have lost their livelihoods because of Covid19. 

Progress towards realizing the UN SDGs by 2030 was already far from reachable before the Covid-19 global pandemic, mainly because of insufficient investments in sustainability (UN 2019). However, the given trends and developments since the pandemic started are a serious setback to gender equality (a central SDG) and sustainable development, and risks holding back global development and reversing the already achieved progress (UN Women 2020).

In this context, the global efforts to promote and support women’s entrepreneurship as a means for enhancing gender equality, social development and innovation are vital. For example, entrepreneurship can help alleviate poverty, enhance health care and education, and reduce environmental destruction (Metcalfe 2011; Metcalfe and Woodhams 2012). There is a need therefore to unravel and explore the extent to which women’s entrepreneurship can contribute to the realization of the UN SDGs.

This Special Issue calls for theoretical and empirical research and especially studies of women’s entrepreneurship as means of supporting sustainability development. This could also include the ways in which sustainability is conceptualized in different contexts. We encourage multi-method, qualitative and quantitative approaches. Please, note that the list of topics below represents propositions and is not exhaustive. We encourage authors to draw on works that are not published in English in order to provide space and give voice to research emerging in a variety of cultural contexts.

• The impact of women run businesses and female venturing on poverty alleviation and poverty reduction.
• The influence of poverty contexts on women’s entrepreneurial opportunities and their potential for wealth creation and sustainable growth.
• The identification and analysis of innovative projects by women-led businesses that support SDGs.
• Technological and digital gender divides with regards to women’s access, use, as well as exposure to technology and related consequences regarding sustained gender inequalities in entrepreneurship.
• The impact of new technology platforms on female entrepreneurs.
• Actual and potential consequences of technology choices on women entrepreneurs and the impact on sustainable and inclusive growth.
• Prevailing systems of Intellectual Property Rights (IPS) challenging entrepreneurial and entrepreneuring women (e.g. within the agricultural context traditional rights of rural women as conservationist of seed and farm knowledge is eroded by international corporations’ patent holders and plant breeders) and creating threats for sustainable development.
• The potential of female social entrepreneurship in addressing SDGs.
• The critical evaluation of environmental and climate crises and market-based approaches regarding women entrepreneurship to address sustainability issues.
• Research addressing international neoliberal development discourses and women empowerment through entrepreneurship.
• Case studies from different industry sectors or geographies addressing the role of female entrepreneurs in advancing SDGs (analyzing impact factors, business models, entrepreneurial aspirations, etc.).
• Effects of sustainable or unsustainable urban environments on female venturing experiences.
• Analysis of gendered entrepreneurial ecosystems and the consequences for the implementation of sustainable and equitable policies.
• Theoretical exploration of equality, equity, and sustainable dynamics of women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship.
• Institutional frameworks in countries and their effect on SDGs and women entrepreneurship.
• Research on broader forms of entrepreneurship and venturing, such as social entrepreneurship, eco-entrepreneurship, mumpreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and their contribution to SDGs.
• The role of women’s associations and networks in addressing the UN SDGs and supporting women-owned ventures.
• The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in nurturing women’s entrepreneurship and sustainability.
• Women entrepreneurship contributing to clean energy solutions for sustainable development.
• Case studies/ narratives of women entrepreneurs encouraging and pursuing conscious and responsible consumption.

References

Ahl, H. (2004), The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality: A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women’s Entrepreneurship, Liber, Stockholm.

Ahl, H. and Marlow, S. (2012), Exploring the dynamics of gender, feminism and entrepreneurship: advancing debate to escape a dead end? Organization, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 543-562.

Al-Dajani, H. and Marlow, S. (2010), The impact of women’s home-based enterprise on marriage dynamics: evidence from Jordan, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 470-487

Al-Dajani, H., & Marlow, S. (2013). Empowerment and entrepreneurship: A theoretical framework. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 19(5), 503-524.

Bastian, B. L., Metcalfe, B. D., Zali, M. R. (2019). Gender Inequality: Entrepreneurship Development in the MENA Region. Sustainability, 11(22), 6472.

OECD (2017), Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment in fragile and conflict affected situations: a review if donor support. OECD Development Policy Papers, October 2017, No.8, retrieved on 14.1.2020, from: https://www.oecd.org/dac/conflict-fragility-resilience/docs/Gender_equality_in_fragile_situations_2017.pdf

Sachs, J. D. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2206-2211.

Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of management review, 25(1), 217-226.

UN (2012), UN System Task Team on the post-2015 UN Development Agenda Review of the contributions of the MDG Agenda to foster development: lessons for the post-2015 UN Development Agenda 16 March 2012, retrieved from: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/untaskteam_undf/group_a_mdg_assessment.pdf

United Nations (2019), Attaining Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 Will Be Impossible at Current Investment Rate, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Global Compact CEO Event, retrieved from: https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/dsgsm1347.doc.htm

UN women (2020), COVID-19 and its economic toll on women: The story behind the numbers, retrieved from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women

United Nations (2021), The 17 goals, https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Welter, F. (2011), Contextualizing entrepreneurship – conceptual challenges and ways forward, Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 165-184.

Wood, B. P., Ng, P. Y., & Bastian, B. L. (2021). Hegemonic Conceptualizations of Empowerment in Entrepreneurship and Their Suitability for Collective Contexts. Administrative Sciences, 11(1), 28.

World Bank (2019), World Bank Group Gender Strategy (FY16–23): Gender Equality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth, Retrieved. On 7.10.2019, from:  http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/820851467992505410/World-Bank-Group-gender-strategyFY16-23-gender-equality-poverty-reduction-and-inclusive-growth (accessed on 7 October 2019).

Dr. Bettina Lynda Bastian
Dr. Haya Al Dajani
Prof. Dr. Beverly Dawn Metcalfe
Dr. Poh Yen Ng
Dr. Bronwyn P Wood
Guest Editors

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• SDGs
• sustainable development
• women entrepreneurship
• sustainable entrepreneurship
• gender
• women
• gender equality
• development
• human potential
• humane entrepreneurship
• poverty alleviation
• human well-being