BOOK TIPS | Policies for women’s entrepreneurship

The RUT deduction and the marketization of Swedish schools and healthcare are three reforms that some politicians thought would increase equality by giving more women the chance to run businesses.
But these hopes were only partly realized.
– More women did start businesses, but the companies with the largest market shares are owned by men.
The vast majority of women-owned businesses are small and operate in market sectors with a lower chance of profitability.
Women have gone from low-wage work to low-profit entrepreneurship,” says Helene Ahl, Professor of Business Administration at Jönköping University.

Together with professors Malin Tillmar, Karin Berglund and Katarina Pettersson, she has studied 20 years of reforms to promote women’s entrepreneurship in Sweden.
According to the researchers, the neoliberal reforms intended to improve the position of women in society had mixed and often negative results.
– “Even though more businesses were started by women, the policies helped to maintain traditional gender hierarchies,” says Ahl.

Dangerous with a gender-blind policy

The Swedish study can be read in the research anthology Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy – A Global Perspective.
In the book, researchers from all over the world explore and criticize policies to promote women’s entrepreneurship.
At the same time, potential solutions are presented.
In addition to the Swedish contribution, we gain insight into the obstacles that women in Poland face when running businesses.
But also about how entrepreneurship policies for women in Ghana and South Africa are designed, and about the fact that business support in the Czech Republic and the United States is mainly adapted to male-centered business models.
Entrepreneurship research shows that women’s entrepreneurship has a positive impact on growth and development.
And this book addresses issues that are important to consider when designing policy support for women’s entrepreneurship.
The book aims to deepen the understanding of women’s entrepreneurship – and to highlight the dangers of gender-blind policies. Title: Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy – A Global Perspective Editors: Colette Henry, Susan Coleman and Kate Lewis Publisher: Edward Elgar Year of publication: 2023 ISBN: 978-1-80037-465-2