From Equality to Economic Development
Culture, Intersectionality, and Justifications for Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy in the United States, 1973–1988
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12426494 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G Lee (0000-0003-4847-2421, Yale University, corresponding author), Gracia J Lee (0000-0003-4735-7130, Yale University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1029-1055 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1072-4745 • E-ISSN: 1468-2893 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/sp/jxaf012 |
| OpenAlex | W4408257462 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
This article examines the discursive strategies underpinning advocacy for women’s entrepreneurship policy in the United States between 1973 and 1988. It demonstrates a shift in policy justifications from equality to economic development leading up to the passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act in 1988. This discursive shift shows how women evoked the cultural ideas of gender sameness and equal opportunity, yet their claims were further shaped by the masculine logics of small business, policy changes, and pushback against affirmative action in the 1980s. Bridging ideas from the civil rights, anti-poverty, and women’s movements in the United States and abroad, advocates also addressed the problems and interests of intersectionally marginalized poor mothers and Black women, alongside middle-class White women. The case of women entrepreneurs thus highlights the need for attention to the interplay between cultural ideas, the sociopolitical context, and intersectional dynamics when analyzing gender as a political category
Economic growth · Economics · Entrepreneurship · Gender equality · Intersectionality · Political science · Sociology · Women entrepreneurs · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Race, History, and American Society · Gender Studies · Law
In Pursuit of Equity
How policy positions women entrepreneurs
Gendered States Made and Remade
Women’s business ownership and women’s entrepreneurship through the lens of U.S. federal policies
Intersectionality and coalitions in social movement research—A survey and outlook
An argument for context‐driven intersectionality
The Construction of Gendered Citizenship at the Welfare Office
Redefining Compassion to Reform Welfare
Independent Workers, Dependable Mothers
Reagan’s “Gender Gap” Strategy and the Limitations of Free-Market Feminism
Feminist Institutional Activists
Women of Color and Public Policy
Big Government and Affirmative Action
Mapping the Margins
The Paradox of Gender Equality
The Politics of Disgust
The Cultural Impacts of Social Movements
Hybrid Activism
From Protective to Equal Treatment
| Highly cited | No |
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