Family as a eudaimonic bubble: Women entrepreneurs mobilizing resources of care during persistent financial crisis and austerity

Abstract

Drawing on the conceptualization of family as a eudaimonic bubble, the study explores how women entrepreneurs mobilize familial resources to navigate the gendered challenges faced during persistent financial crisis and austerity in Greece, a country affected by acute socioeconomic crisis. Through qualitative interviews with women who started their own business during the financial crisis, it investigates how the allocation of resources and opportunities built on care enabled women to start and sustain their own business and achieve a degree of normative conformity, creating social cohesion in the here and now. The analysis reveals the transformational potential of familial care by illustrating three modes of resources of care that contribute to business viability, and positions the family, an organizing principle, in the centre of research on gendered mobilizations in crisis economies. In that way, the study critically contributes to debates regarding gender, entrepreneurship and austerity.