Social Entrepreneurship, Empowerment of Women Experiencing Homelessness and Gender Equality

Abstract

The relationship between social entrepreneurship and social change continues to generate interest among researchers. We apply Kabeer’s conceptualisation of empowerment and additionally, explore intersectionality, paradox of empowerment and change agents for gender equality, to consider the practices of a social enterprise supporting the empowerment of women experiencing homelessness in the UK. We reflect on the motivations and drivers behind its work, the extent to which the women were able to access and control resources, and the change agents enabling this transformation. While the practices of the social enterprise in our case study positively affected women’s empowerment, they also bring to the fore several areas for reflection for social entrepreneurship research; the incorporation of intersectionality into advocacy for marginalised women such as those in our study, the role of male leaders in advancing gender empowerment and the need to find the delicate balance between empowerment on the one hand, and paternalism and suppression on the other.