decisions, and the dual demands of family – where they are often expected to be wives and mothers first and foremost – and business can be the opposite of liberating. In general, the impediment to women’s empowerment is the fact they are women, and this manifests itself across the Global South in different ways. MANY DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE SAME PROBLEM The picture is non-uniform: 15%of businesses in Jordan are femaleowned; in Saudi Arabia the figure is 4%. Yet in Sub-Saharan Africa, half of entrepreneurs are female; and in Latin America and the Caribbean, 50%of businesses are owned by women, with female entrepreneurship wide-ranging. But look closer and you see that more than 54%of those women’s businesses in Latin America and 48% in the Caribbean are informal – even where there appear to be positive aspects, it is not always so clear-cut. In some Islamic countries, conservative interpretations of Sharia Laws act against them, yet some women are inspired by Islamic precepts: Prophet Mohammed’s first wife, Khadija, was a successful business owner. Likewise, issues arguably emanating from Confucianism leads to female subordination in countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. In contrast, in many Global South nations, women are constitutionally equal – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Paraguay are among those with anti-discriminatory legislation – yet, the number of women entrepreneurs trail behind that of men. They may not encounter legal blocks on their ability to enter business, but they come across restrictive cultural practices – in Saudi Arabia, women must have permission from a familial male authority to start a business, and they are often compelled to engage in family business rather than sole proprietorship; in parts of India and Africa, women are considered their husband’s property once married, and husbands can instruct them to close their businesses. Conservative social structures, patriarchal norms, political and religious systems accentuate male dominance, and choices must often be made to respect traditional gender norms and religious guidelines. There are problems with the social acceptance of women entrepreneurs, male chauvinism or machismo cultures are prevalent, and poverty in some countries – such as India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka – is explicitly feminised. Across the sphere, there are gendered biases in lending models – financial institutions are often unwilling to lend to women, and more than 70%of women entrepreneurs in developing countries lack access to suitable finance. Access to microfinance is a key enabling factors, which can reinforce confidence and provide empowerment. Without this, attempts to use women’s entrepreneurship as a key to empowerment and emancipation are weakened. CAUSE FOR HOPE There are reasons for optimism throughout the Global South. In India, women high in the Hindu caste system engage in training and empowering women in rural communities. In countries that formed part of the former Soviet Union, Soviet ideology had a progressive effect on women’s lives, though the demise of communism saw a rebirth of the patriarchy and strengthened male guardianship. Entrepreneurship has some power to challenge male hegemony, oppression, power imbalance and deeply entrenched cultures that marginalise women’s enterprises and make it much harder for women to seize the power to reshape their futures and improve their wellbeing. However, the process is slow, and progress is modest. Most women’s entrepreneurship is at the micro level, informal, and unlikely to grow; liberation is limited, and the dynamics of cultures, institutions, regions, and individuals mean it may be impossible to arrive at a universal solution for the Global South. The liberating powers of entrepreneurship are overstated; it may create the ability to make decisions, but it does not necessarily mean women will make them. Those women who venture into the sphere do gain some independence and have begun to erode those cultural bastions, chipping away at the social order. They serve as role models for change, demonstrate how things can and should be done, open doors for others to follow, and undermine the patriarchy; but total emancipation is a long, slow game. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 21 Funmi Ojediran is a PhD student in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, studying how Black women become established as wine entrepreneurs in South Africa. Alistair Anderson was a Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy until his sudden death following a short illness shortly after the submission of this article. He will bemissed across theManagement School as a friend, a kind and generous colleague, and an inspirational and world-leading researcher. Their paper, Women’s entrepreneurship in theGlobal South; Empowering and emancipating? is published in Administrative Sciences. f.ojediran@lancaster.ac.uk
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