Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Nordic Welfare Model: barrier or facilitator of women's entrepreneurship in Denmark?

The Nordic Welfare Model: barrier or facilitator of women's entrepreneurship in Denmark? Purpose – The welfare states of Scandinavia have been regarded as forerunners of gender equality, but structural barriers to women's participation in the labour market may discriminate against women and create opportunity costs delimiting women's career choices. Family policies are defined to include maternity/paternity leave, benefits, childcare and leave to take care of sick children. The aim of this paper is to increase awareness and elucidate the impact of welfare policies on women's entrepreneurship because it may impact on women's entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence, it seeks to investigate the reasons underlying this apparent anomaly so that future policies in Scandinavia and Europe may be tailored to suit the needs of female entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses publicly available statistical data combined with unique survey data from a sample of 1,000 sole proprietors (men and women), all members of the Danish Association for the Self‐employed, to identify the problems encountered by female entrepreneurs. The survey findings are illustrated with three interviews with female entrepreneurs that have been published in the Danish newspapers discussing the problems encountered by self‐employed female entrepreneurs. Findings – Even though the various Scandinavian models provide for ample maternity leave, benefits and childcare, on the whole, the Nordic Welfare Model is too heavily grounded in the ideals of employment favouring employment over entrepreneurship. For example, in Denmark, a sole proprietor is not allowed to work whilst on maternity leave. If she does so, her maternity allowance is reduced. This may be tantamount to closing the business down if you have a child, and may account for the fact that women are generally much older than men when starting a business. The majority of women in the survey are critical of the maternity leave system and 30 percent perceive the childcare system as a significant barrier to starting a business. Research limitations/implications – Future research needs to compare the Danish evidence with that from other Nordic countries to establish whether the problem is restricted to Denmark. Additionally, research should focus on identifying whether child‐bearing and ‐rearing influences on the age at which women start a business. Originality/value – So far, it has been taken for granted that the initiation of public childcare would facilitate increased entrepreneurship among women. This study shows that this is not necessarily so, and that there is a schism between welfare models that facilitate employment and those that facilitate entrepreneurship. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship Emerald Publishing

The Nordic Welfare Model: barrier or facilitator of women's entrepreneurship in Denmark?

Download PDF
17 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-nordic-welfare-model-barrier-or-facilitator-of-women-s-fE2zLWsPL2
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1756-6266
DOI
10.1108/17566261111140189
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The welfare states of Scandinavia have been regarded as forerunners of gender equality, but structural barriers to women's participation in the labour market may discriminate against women and create opportunity costs delimiting women's career choices. Family policies are defined to include maternity/paternity leave, benefits, childcare and leave to take care of sick children. The aim of this paper is to increase awareness and elucidate the impact of welfare policies on women's entrepreneurship because it may impact on women's entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence, it seeks to investigate the reasons underlying this apparent anomaly so that future policies in Scandinavia and Europe may be tailored to suit the needs of female entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses publicly available statistical data combined with unique survey data from a sample of 1,000 sole proprietors (men and women), all members of the Danish Association for the Self‐employed, to identify the problems encountered by female entrepreneurs. The survey findings are illustrated with three interviews with female entrepreneurs that have been published in the Danish newspapers discussing the problems encountered by self‐employed female entrepreneurs. Findings – Even though the various Scandinavian models provide for ample maternity leave, benefits and childcare, on the whole, the Nordic Welfare Model is too heavily grounded in the ideals of employment favouring employment over entrepreneurship. For example, in Denmark, a sole proprietor is not allowed to work whilst on maternity leave. If she does so, her maternity allowance is reduced. This may be tantamount to closing the business down if you have a child, and may account for the fact that women are generally much older than men when starting a business. The majority of women in the survey are critical of the maternity leave system and 30 percent perceive the childcare system as a significant barrier to starting a business. Research limitations/implications – Future research needs to compare the Danish evidence with that from other Nordic countries to establish whether the problem is restricted to Denmark. Additionally, research should focus on identifying whether child‐bearing and ‐rearing influences on the age at which women start a business. Originality/value – So far, it has been taken for granted that the initiation of public childcare would facilitate increased entrepreneurship among women. This study shows that this is not necessarily so, and that there is a schism between welfare models that facilitate employment and those that facilitate entrepreneurship.

Journal

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 28, 2011

Keywords: Women; Entrepreneurialism; Maternity leave; Welfare; Denmark

References

  • Rewriting class, race, and gender: problems in feminist rethinking
    Acker, J.
  • Similarities and differences across the factors associated with women's self‐employment preferences in the Nordic countries
    Arenius, P.; Kovalainen, A.
  • Statistical Yearbook 2010
    Bisgaard, M.P.
  • Working lives and family lives in Western Europe
    Borchorst, A.
  • Welfare state regimes, women's interests and the EC
    Borchorst, A.
  • Feminist thinking about the welfare state
    Borchorst, A.
  • The public‐private split rearticulated: abolishment of the Danish daddy leave
    Borchorst, A.
  • Scandinavian gender equality: competing discourses and paradoxes
    Borchorst, A.
  • Women and the advanced welfare state: a new kind of patriarchal power
    Borchorst, A.; Siim, B.
  • The women‐friendly welfare states revisited
    Borchorst, A.; Siim, B.
  • Separation anxiety: a critical review of the literature
    Bowlby, J.
  • Changing the subject: gender and welfare regime studies
    Brush, L.
  • Women's organizational exodus to entrepreneurship: self reported motivations and correlates with success
    Buttner, E.H.; Moore, D.
  • Equality between women and men – 2009: report from the commission, accompanying document
    COM
  • Parenthood, gender and work‐family time in the United States, Australia, Italy, France, and Denmark
    Craig, L.; Mullan, K.
  • Danish fathers lag behind their Nordic brothers (Danske faedre halter efter deres nordiske brødre)
    Dalgaard, M.; Andreasen, S.
  • Why gender equality? A research commentary (Hvorfor ligestilling? En forskningskommentar)
    Dallerup, D.
  • Politicising Parenthood in Scandinavia
    Ellingsaeter, A.L.; Leira, A.
  • The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
    Esping‐Andersen, G.
  • Why We Need a New Welfare State
    Esping‐Andersen, G.
  • A statistical view of the life of women and men in the EU25
    Eurostat
  • Social justice in the age of identity politics: redistribution, recognition and participation
    Fraser, N.
  • The welfare state and the home: regime differences in domestic division of labour
    Geist, C.
  • Mothering in Europe: feminist critique of European policies on motherhood and employment
    Guerrina, R.
  • Equal opportunity policies in Sweden: sex discrimination and equal opportunity
    Gustafsson, S.S.
  • Childcare and types of welfare states
    Gustafsson, S.S.
  • Child care subsidies and labor supply in Sweden
    Gustafsson, S.S.; Stafford, F.
  • Women's life style preferences in the 21st century: implications for family policy
    Hakim, C.
  • Women and the welfare state: the transition from private to public dependence
    Hernes, H.
  • Welfare State and Woman Power: Essays in State Feminism
    Hernes, H.
  • The gender system. In Democracy and Power in Sweden (Genussystemet. In Demokrati och makt i Sverige)
    Hirdman, Y.
  • The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality
    Jacobs, J.; Gerson, K.
  • Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights
    Kymlicka, W.
  • Gender and the development of welfare regimes
    Lewis, J.
  • Gender and the Evolution of European Social Policies
    Lewis, J.; Ostner, I.
  • The state and the oppression of women
    McIntosh
  • Child care: toward what kind of ‘social Europe’?
    Mahon, R.
  • Family policies, wage structures, and gender gaps: sources of earnings inequality in 20 countries
    Mandel, H.; Semyonov, M.
  • A safety net or ties that bind; women, welfare and self employment
    Marlow, S.
  • Female entrepreneurs – success by whose standards?
    Marlow, S.; Strange, A.
  • Does the gap in family‐friendly policies drive the family gap?
    Nielsen, H.S.; Simonsen, M.; Verner, M.