Secular and Islamic feminist entrepreneurship in Turkey

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight secular and Islamic feminist approaches to entrepreneurship as potential means to challenge gender inequality in the Turkish context. In Turkey, gender equality remains elusive in a nation where secular and Islamic ideologies compete and produce different solutions to ongoing economic, socio-cultural and political issues. Women’s entrepreneurship has emerged as an important solution toward gender equality and economic development. Design/methodology/approach – Using two women’s organizations that exemplify secular and Islamic feminist ideologies, the author examines whether the entrepreneurship activities they promote give way to challenging patriarchal norms, values and practices widespread in Turkish society. Findings – Through their distinct practices and engagement with entrepreneurship, both secular and Islamic feminist positions allow for praxis and represent an ethico-political commitment to dismantling neo-liberal development ideologies in the Turkish context that perpetuate gender inequality. Social implications – Secular and Islamic feminist practices and entrepreneurship practices have different implications for achieving gender equality including changes in gender norms, economic development policies and women’s empowerment in a Muslim-majority country. In addition, it raises questions around the popular notion of “entrepreneurship as women’s empowerment”. Originality/value – This paper is of value to scholars who want to understand secular and Islamic feminisms and their implications for challenging gender inequality. The Turkish context with its traditional and modern societal norms and values provides a rich case study to examine these issues through the exemplars of entrepreneurship. It is also of value to scholars who want to understand structural constraints associated with gender equality beyond individual-level challenges.

Women MSMEs in times of crisis: challenges and opportunities

“…3.2 External success factors for female entrepreneurial innovators 3.2.1 Culture. Previous studies show that structural and cultural obstacles are the main reasons for low female entrepreneurial activity in patriarchal societies (Marvel et al, 2015;Oko n-Horody nska, 2015;€ Ozkazanç-Pan, 2015). For example, researchers point out that gender biases are some of the obstacles that female entrepreneurs face in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Ahmad, 2011;Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2010;Naguib and Jamali, 2015).…”

A Cross-Country Study on Women Entrepreneurship through the CAGE Analysis: Evidences from China and Turkey

“…Apart from drawing general frames in women entrepreneurship, two types of support, which are credit and/or financial supports and family supports, were also studied by several researchers. Regarding the former support type, Abaci et al (2015) followed the microcredit and finance movement, guided by the Grameen Bank as pointed out in Özkazanç-Pan's (2015) secularism and Islamic feminism-related study, and analysed women entrepreneurship from the financial aspect by exploring women's level of awareness about using microcredits, the required information, and the factors affecting their need. Altan-Olcay's (2014) research was also pertinent to the women support programs, beyond microcredit supports, run by two particular non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey, but not limited to, based on the usage of participant observation and semi-structured interviews.…”

“…Similar to the Chinese culture, investigating the Turkish culture is of paramount importance for entrepreneurship due to the old and rich history of Turks (Batu and Batu, 2018). As a part of its culture, since the main religion in Turkey is Islam, which possesses spiritual and philosophical characteristics, Turkey can be remarked as a Muslim-majority country (Özkazanç-Pan, 2015). Despite this predominant influence of Islam among other religions in Turkey (e.g.…”

“…Lately, there has been a growing surge in attention paid to women entrepreneurs by practitioners, academics, and policymakers (Hisrich and Fan, 1991;Bulsara et al, 2014;Özkazanç-Pan, 2015;Kalafatoglu and Mendoza, 2017). Yet, it is nowadays evident that men have still dominance in various work spheres (Bulsara et al, 2014) and several obstacles faced by women prevent them from entering the working life (Abaci et al, 2015).…”

Toplumsal Cinsiyet Bakış Açısından Türkiye’de Kadın Girişimciliğinin Durumu

“…Karataş-Özkan ve diğerleri (2010) Türkiye'de kadın girişimciliğinin, eğitim ve tecrübe eksikliğine ek olarak, geleneksel cinsiyet rollerini de içeren ataerkil sosyal değerleri olumsuz yönde etkilediğini vurgulamışlardır (aktaran Maden, 2015). Dolayısıyla, neo-liberal ideoloji bağlamındaki ekonomik iyileşme amaçlı dayatılmış (reform) programların, ataerkil sosyal norm ve uygulamalar üzerinde etkili olmasını da beklememek gerekmektedir (Özkazanç-Pan, 2015).…”