Call for papers: CIRIEC International - Social Economy and Gender Working group

International Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy (CIRIEC-International) and OIBESCOOP (Observatorio Iberoamericano del Empleo y Economía Social y Cooperativa) jointly published a book and a special issue of an academic journal focusing on gender and social economy issues such as Annals of Public of Cooperative Economics. For these two publications, we invited abstracts of high-quality papers pre-selected by the coordinating team.

Coordinating team

• Juan Fernando Álvarez, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, President Scientific Commission, CIRIEC-Colombia
• Marie J. Bouchard, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada, President, International Scientific Commission on Social and Cooperative Economy, CIRIEC-International
• Carmen Marcuello, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain, President OIBESCOOP

Guide for authors

Articles can be theoretical, empirical or experimental. The call is open to studies from all countries, although the working languages are English, French and Spanish. (Spanish papers selected for the journal will most likely need to be translated to English or French.) These two publications will enrich and contribute to the knowledge issues related to gender and social economy and will provide information to policy makers to design appropriate policy instruments in this field.

Justification

The principles and values of the social and cooperative economy promote equality in all areas and for all types of participants. The democratic decision-making model, voluntary and open membership, and the defense and application of the principles of solidarity and responsibility are fundamental principles for the functioning of social economy organizations. Likewise, gender equality has been a relevant issue for the cooperative movement since 1995, when the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) approved a resolution on "Gender Equality in Cooperatives" in which ICA members stated that gender equality is a global priority for the cooperative movement. As well, the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) highlights the importance of the Social and Solidarity Economy for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda (Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy, 2014 and 2015) and in the empowerment of women.
 
Different studies show that there are differences between theoretical values and reality (Meliá et al. 2020; Nippierd, 2012; Dicapua et al., 2020; Arando et al., 2021). In this sense, social economy entities are also a reflection of the society that creates them. Even though the principles and values promote equality and equity, imbalances are often observed around gender. Thus, we can highlight that there is a low level of active participation of women in some sectors and little representation in decision-making and leadership. As indicated by Nippierd (2012 p. 2): "cooperatives cannot claim to be truly democratic if women do not participate in decision-making". Dicapua et al. (2020) open a debate on gender and social and solidarity economy in which they address gender equity mainstreaming, legal forms, public policies and experiences.
 
From a theoretical perspective we find various approaches to address the gender issue in the social economy ranging from political economy and economic sociology. For example, the theories of social justice (Guérin 2003, Guérin, Hersent & Fraisse 2011), the feminist critique of capitalism and its alternative forms in various economies (Gibson-Graham 1996, Smith 1989, Verschuur, Guérin, & Hillenkamp 2021), the community development movement (Bergeron & Healy 2015). Other complementary visions with that of the plural economy (Polanyi), such as in the theories of solidarity economy, somewhat ignore the role of the domestic sphere and its interaction with social economy (Degrave & Lemaître 2008, Hillenkamp 2018), also the application of this reflection, beyond women, to new forms of free labor in the neoliberal context (Simonet-Cusset 2010).
 
Numerous fields of study address the issue of gender, such as the analysis of the presence of social economy in certain specific sectors of the economy (Degrave & Nyssens 2008), the role it plays (and its failures) in social inclusion and the promotion of women (Parente & Martinho 2018, Shenaz Hossein 2013 & 2017, UNRISD 2018), in the democratization of production (Hillenkamp & Bessis 2012) or in the redefinition and reorganization of social reproduction (Verschuur, Guérin, & Hillenkamp 2021). From more critical perspectives, several issues are raised. For example, the problem of women's working conditions in the care sector or the analysis of the relationship between gender and volunteering, and its less friendly face, when it is transformed into a system of exploitation of free labor by market or public sector agents. Adding to this, the analysis of the management models of the entities themselves according to their size or sector of activity is important (Mastracci & Herring 2010) as well as, of course, taking into account the cultural and symbolic diversity of the gender issue in different national contexts (Kuokkanen 2010, Razavi 2007, Sätre Åhlander 2000, Turcotte 2011). We must also pay attention to practices and initiatives that promote social and solidarity economy practices without using these terminologies. This is the case either when these terms are not in use for historical or cultural reasons or when the promoters of these initiatives do not recognize themselves in the local definitions of social and solidarity economy (Kalpana 2021; Thara 2021; Nandi 2021).

Topics of interest

Participants are encouraged to submit their papers aligned with the following topics, although they can be expanded, and others can be proposed from the perspective of gender and social economy (and related experiences): Redefining and reorganizing social reproduction; Community development; Rural development; Social inclusion and promotion of women; Specific sectors of the social economy; Working conditions; Volunteering and care; Entrepreneurship, leadership and responsibilities in the social economy; Democracy, participation and representation in social economy organizations; Cultural and symbolic diversity in different national contexts and the social economy; Research and knowledge transfer on the social economy.

Timeline

Reference

Bergeron, S. & S. Healy, 2015, Beyond the business case: a community economy approach to gender, development and social economy, chap 3 in: Peter Utting (ed.), Social and solidarity economy, beyond the fringe, London: UNRISD and Zed Books.

Dash, A. & L. Morais, 2015, Mapping the SSE Landscape in India and Brazil through South-South and triangular cooperation: a focus on gender-based initiatives in social and solidarity economy, Geneva, ILO (first 2015).

Degavre, F. & M. Nyssens, 2008, L'innovation sociale dans les services d'aide à domicile. les apports d'une lecture polanyienne et féministe. Revue Française De Socio-Économie, 2 (2), 79–79 DOI: 10.3917/rfse.002.0079.

Degrave, F. & A. Lemaître, 2008, Approches substantives de l’économie : des outils pour l’étude des organisations d’économie sociale, [Substantive Approaches to the Economy: Tools for the Study of Social Economy Organizations], Revue interventions économiques/ Papers in political economy, (38), available online: https://doi-org.proxy.bibliotheques.uqam.ca/10.4000/interventionseconomiques.313

Dicapua, M. a., Senent, M. J., Fajardo, G., 2020, Economía Social y Solidaria y Género. Aportes transdisciplinarios desde Europa y Latinoamérica, Valencia, Tirant lo Blanch.

Gibson-Graham, J.K. (1996), The End of Capitalism (as we knew it): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy, Oxford and Cambridge Mass.: Blackwell.

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Healy, S., 2013, Beyond the business case: a communities economy approach to gender, development and social economy, UNRISD.

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Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (2015): Declaración de posición del Grupo de Trabajo Interinstitucional de las Naciones Unidas sobre Economía Social y Solidaria, visto en: http://unsse.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ES_Final_Position_Paper_SSE…, revisado en Marzo de 2019.

Kalpana, K. 2021. “Forging Solidarities: Women Workers in the Informal Sector in Tamil Nadu.” In Social Reproduction, Solidarity Economy, Feminisms and Democracy, edited by Christine Verschuur, Isabelle Guérin, and Isabelle Hillenkamp, 65–86. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kuokkanen, R., 2011, Indigenous Economies, Theories of Subsistence, and Women: Exploring the Social Economy Model for Indigenous Governance, American Indian Quarterly , 35 (2) (Spring 2011), 215-240.

Martinho, A. & C. Parente, 2015, Which “place and non-place” do women occupy in social economy organisations?, online: https://recipp.ipp.pt/bitstream/10400.22/7971/1/COM_AnaMartinho_2015_1.pdf

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Meliá-Martí E, Tormo-Carbó G, Juliá-Igual JF., 2020. Does Gender Diversity Affect Performance in Agri-Food Cooperatives? A Moderated Model. Sustainability. 12(16):6575. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166575

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Nandi, R.. 2021. “Solidarity at the Crossroads: Struggles and Transformations of Domestic Workers in Kerala.” In Social Reproduction, Solidarity Economy, Feminisms and Democracy, edited by C. Verschuur, I. Guérin, and I. Hillenkamp, 145–68. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nippierd, A.B. (2012): “Gender issues in cooperatives”, visto en: https://www.aciamericas.coop/IMG/pdf/genderissues.pdf, revisado en octubre de 2021.

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Razavi, S., 2007, The Political and Social Economy of Care in a Development Context. Conceptual Issues, Research Questions and Policy Options, Gender and Development, Programme Paper Number 3, Geneva: UNRISD

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Shenaz Hossein, C,. 2013, The black social economy: perseverance of banker ladies in the slums, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 84/3, 423-442.

Shenaz Hossein, C., 2017, A Black Perspective on Canada’s Third Sector: Case Studies on Women Leaders in the Social Economy, Journal of Canadian Studies, 51/3, pp. 749-781.

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Thara, K., 2021. Alternative Market Systems: Mutual Dependence for Collective Welfare in a Fish Market in Udupi. Social Reproduction, Solidarity Economy, Feminisms and Democracy, edited by C. Verschuur, I. Guérin, and I. Hillenkamp, 187–209. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Turcotte P.-A., 2011, Régulation sociale, production économique et symbolique sociale dans les rapports de genre africains. Questions de théorisation et de méthode analytique ». Social Compass, 58 (1), 69–76.

UNRISD, 2018, Revalorization of Social Reproduction through Social and Solidarity Economy Practices, Brief 1 (of 3), Geneva: UNRISD, https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/httpNetITFramePDF?ReadForm&parentunid=C1B78534E0849F02C12582F2002E5F6F&parentdoctype=brief&netitpath=80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/C1B78534E0849F02C12582F2002E5F6F/$file/FASSE---Brief-01-August-2018.pdf

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