Utilising a comparative/doing gender approach and thematic narrative methodology, we examine how copreneurs – romantic business partners – construct business and caring responsibilities. We interviewed male-female partners separately from 12 couples in the Czech Republic (CR) and 13 in the United States (US), countries with diverse entrepreneurial histories, norms and family policies. We ask: (1) How do copreneurs construct/‘do’ business and family? (2) How do copreneurs credit contributions of partners? (3) How are constructions of business, caring and credit embedded in country contexts? Results show that business tasks did not align with strict gender stereotypes. Task characterisations of CR respondents shifted according to doer’s sex category. CR men claimed business leadership; US men gave women equal credit. In both countries, domestic responsibilities were attributed to women. Women’s narratives addressed blending business and care; men’s narratives concentrated on business. We document how these gendering practices referenced country employment opportunities, gender norms and family-leave policies.
Purpose This paper aims to utilize a mixed-embeddedness approach to examine how state welfare policies, employment conditions and gender norms shape orientations to divisions of business and domestic labor among Czech copreneurs, i.e. romantic couples involved in businesses together. Design/methodology/approach Twelve copreneur couples were interviewed; male and female partners were interviewed separately. Women’s narratives are centered in analyzing motivations for business, divisions of labor, orientation to business/family and state policies. After detailing women’s orientations, correspondence with male partner orientations is considered. Findings Analysis reveals how state policies, employment conditions and gender norms inform copreneur narratives about business and family life in the Czech Republic. Female respondents expressed three orientations: business as opportunity, business for family and business/home as teamwork. Women tended both business and family, whereas most male partners focused exclusively on business. Research limitations/implications Although the small, purposive sample was not representative of all Czech copreneurs, findings detail how social context frames business/family dynamics. Practical implications This mixed-embeddedness perspective demonstrates how gender norms, state taxation and welfare shape the organization of Czech copreneurships and can support or discourage women’s entrepreneurship. Social implications Mechanisms producing gender inequality in copreneur businesses are revealed. Originality/value Findings identify connections between female copreneur business/family orientations and the context of gender regimes, state policy and employment practices in a post-socialist country. Also revealed are changing orientations across family and business stages.
The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is generally accepted as an overarching framework to cope with various global challenges. Many of them are manifested locally and need to be solved at the regional or local level. National strategies of regional development and top-down funding are important drivers of the activities of various regional actors. However, the integration of the regional development strategies and the sustainable development agenda is not straightforward and may fail to acknowledge the local context and potential for bottom-up activities. In the European Union's (EU) context, the local action groups (LAGs) are an important driving force of regional development, but little is known about their perception of the sustainable development agenda. The article presents a research case study of Czech LAGs realized in 2021. LAGs were approached with questionnaires focusing on their understanding of the sustainable development agenda and their own role in the process of its implementation. In this paper, we show that the LAGs' representatives are aware of the sustainable development concept and work with relevant governmental strategies, but they feel that they cannot contribute to the fulfillment of many particular sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially those related to the environment. This contrasts with their reflection of the goals with an economic and social focus in which they feel relatively more empowered, especially in education. Our findings reveal that there is a high risk of mismatch between the bottom-up potential of LAGs for regional sustainable development and top-down conditions of national strategies. The results of the research contribute to the contemporary discussions about the SDGs and regional development and thus could be used by both academics and practitioners. Notably, national policymakers and regional authorities could benefit from our insights into LAGs' perspective of SDGs' implementation.
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