IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v27y2020i4p507-526.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uneasy passages between neoliberalism and feminism: Social inclusion and financialization in Israel's empowerment microfinance

Author

Listed:
  • Adriana Kemp
  • Nitza Berkovitch

Abstract

This article focuses on feminist non‐governmental organizations advocating for economic empowerment of women (EEW) through microfinance, using Israel as a case study. Through fieldwork, interviews and documents, we investigate the institutional practices, cultural discourses and struggles that EEWs develop in order to expose the particular ways in which feminist organizations interact with the world of finance and state institutions. Our analysis points to the complex power dynamics of mediation, suggesting that there are ‘uneasy passages' between neoliberalism and feminism, ones that help re‐signify the meaning of financial discourses while re‐politicizing women's social and economic exclusions. Simultaneously, however, this relation induces a series of compromises, whereby EEWs adopt neoliberal modes of governance. Rejecting the notion that contemporary feminism has simply been co‐opted by neoliberalism or the perception of EEW microfinance as a mere expansion of neoliberal rationalities, we reveal new sites and ways in which feminism both colludes and collides with neoliberalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriana Kemp & Nitza Berkovitch, 2020. "Uneasy passages between neoliberalism and feminism: Social inclusion and financialization in Israel's empowerment microfinance," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 507-526, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:4:p:507-526
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12400
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12400?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 2005. "The New Spirit of Capitalism," Post-Print hal-00680089, HAL.
    2. Karin Berglund & Helene Ahl & Katarina Pettersson & Malin Tillmar, 2018. "Women's entrepreneurship, neoliberalism and economic justice in the postfeminist era: A discourse analysis of policy change in Sweden," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 531-556, September.
    3. Radhakrishnan, Smitha, 2015. "“Low Profile” or Entrepreneurial? Gender, Class, and Cultural Adaptation in the Global Microfinance Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 264-274.
    4. Harvey, David, 2007. "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283279.
    5. Fischer, Stanley, 1987. "The Israeli Stabilization Program, 1985-86," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 275-278, May.
    6. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 2005. "The New Spirit of Capitalism," Post-Print hal-00678024, HAL.
    7. Fourcade, Marion & Healy, Kieran, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 559-572.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Omika Bhalla Saluja & Priyanka Singh & Harit Kumar, 2023. "Barriers and interventions on the way to empower women through financial inclusion: a 2 decades systematic review (2000–2020)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Kirsten Locke & Rebecca W. B. Lund & Susan Wright, 2021. "Rethinking gender equity in the contaminated university: A methodology for listening for music in the ruins," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 1079-1097, May.
    3. Francesco Paolo Lagrasta & Barbara Scozzi & Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo, 2024. "Feminisms and entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review investigating a troubled connection," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 3081-3112, December.
    4. Haifa Asif & Sana Fayyaz, 2023. "Sustainable Development and Women’s Personal Empowerment for Becoming Socially Inclusive: A Study from the Informal Sector in Lahore, Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 115-133, Jan-June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pinkerton, Evelyn & Davis, Reade, 2015. "Neoliberalism and the politics of enclosure in North American small-scale fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 303-312.
    2. Baker, Darren T & Brewis, Deborah N, 2020. "The melancholic subject: A study of self-blame as a gendered and neoliberal psychic response to loss of the ‘perfect worker’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 14-24.
    4. Bigoni, Michele & Mohammed, Sideeq, 2023. "Critique is unsustainable: A polemic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    6. Jesús Manuel Palma-Ruiz & Julen Castillo-Apraiz & Raúl Gómez-Martínez, 2020. "Socially Responsible Investing as a Competitive Strategy for Trading Companies in Times of Upheaval Amid COVID-19: Evidence from Spain," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Benzecry, Claudio E., 2022. "Traduttore, traditore: The expert work of producing global (yet local) market classifications," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 23(2), pages 5-9.
    8. Louis Moreno, 2012. "Looking backward," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 345-354, June.
    9. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project†Based Work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 370-394, June.
    10. Stéphane Debenedetti & Isabelle Huault & Véronique Perret, 2015. "Resisting the power of organizations in Modern Times : May we all be Charlot? [Résister au pouvoir des organisations dans les Temps Modernes : Peut-on tous être Charlot ?]," Post-Print hal-01525807, HAL.
    11. Sikka, Prem & Lehman, Glen, 2015. "The supply-side of corruption and limits to preventing corruption within government procurement and constructing ethical subjects," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 62-70.
    12. Sikka, Prem, 2015. "The corrosive effects of neoliberalism on the UK financial crises and auditing practices: A dead-end for reforms," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-18.
    13. Neman Muradli & Fariz Ahmadov, 2019. "Managing contradiction and sustaining sustainability in inter organizational networks through leadership: a case study," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 6(3), pages 1255-1269, March.
    14. Philippe Batifoulier & Jean-Paul Domin & Maryse Gadreau, 2011. "Market Empowerment of the Patient: The French Experience," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(2), pages 143-162.
    15. Milena I. Kremakova, 2014. "Trust, Access and Sensitive Boundaries between ‘Public’ and ‘Private’: A Returning Insider's Experience of Research in Bulgaria," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(4), pages 148-161, December.
    16. Luppi, Roberto, 2023. "Die Einsamkeit des Prekariats und die Bedürfnisse des "Wir": Warum es notwendig ist, das Konzept der gemeinsamen Bedürfnisse in die Definition des Prekariats aufzunehmen," Discussion Papers 01/23, Europa-Kolleg Hamburg, Institute for European Integration.
    17. Justin O'Connor, 2015. "Intermediaries and Imaginaries in the Cultural and Creative Industries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 374-387, March.
    18. Philippe Batifoulier & Rainer Diaz-Bone, 2022. "Perspectives on the economics and sociology of health. Contributions from the institutionalist approach of economics of convention -an introduction," Working Papers hal-03584852, HAL.
    19. Robin Holt & Yutaka Yamauchi, 2023. "Ethics, Tradition and Temporality in Craft Work: The Case of Japanese Mingei," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(4), pages 827-843, December.
    20. Münnich, Sascha, 2016. "Note from the editor: Economic sociology and capitalism," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 18(1), pages 2-5.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:4:p:507-526. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.