IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jic/wpaper/231.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unpacking the Influence of Business Approaches to Development on the Expansion of Women’s Choices and Empowerment: A Case Study of a Handicraft Business in the Kyrgyz Republic

Author

Listed:
  • Yukimi Shimoda

Abstract

Over the last decade, collaboration with the private sector in international development has accelerated to empower target populations and realise a sustainable society without inequality and poverty. Existing studies show that paid work could empower vulnerable people, such as women, by expanding their opportunities and the lifestyles to which they have access. However, interrelationships between economic (e.g. income) and non-economic (e.g. empowerment) benefits are not as straightforward as the literature on inclusive business suggests. This paper explores the case of a development project in the Kyrgyz Republic supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in collaboration with a Japanese retail and manufacturing corporation. The felt business upon which they collaborated eventually involved hundreds of women (producers) in villages scattered around Lake Issyk-Kul. This study analyses interviews with local stakeholders, especially felt producers and their families, and reveals both the economic and non-economic effects of the business and their impacts on producers, families, and communities at large. Paid work allows producers to contribute to their household economy, which, in turn, enhances their self-respect. In contrast, the data also show that women’s decisions to participate in the business depended on their individual circumstances, such as the availability of family support and particularly the understanding of their husbands. The paper suggests that the application of business approaches to development has both potential benefits and limitations, since the creation and maintenance of choices and empowerment for women are affected by the intricate relationships between the economic and non-economic aspects of their lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Yukimi Shimoda, 2022. "Unpacking the Influence of Business Approaches to Development on the Expansion of Women’s Choices and Empowerment: A Case Study of a Handicraft Business in the Kyrgyz Republic," Working Papers 231, JICA Research Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:jic:wpaper:231
    DOI: 10.18884/00001063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://doi.org/10.18884/00001063
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://jicari.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1086&file_id=22&file_no=1
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18884/00001063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Regine A. Spector & Aisalkyn Botoeva, 2017. "New shop owners in old buildings: spatial politics of the apparel industry in Kyrgyzstan," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 235-253, May.
    2. Vegard Iversen, 2003. "Intra-Household Inequality: A Challenge For The Capability Approach?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 93-115.
    3. Rai, Shirin M. & Brown, Benjamin D. & Ruwanpura, Kanchana N., 2019. "SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 368-380.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bastos, Amélia & Casaca, Sara F. & Nunes, Francisco & Pereirinha, José, 2009. "Women and poverty: A gender-sensitive approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 764-778, October.
    2. Maddox, Bryan, 2007. "Worlds Apart? Ethnographic Reflections on "Effective Literacy" and Intrahousehold Externalities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 532-541, March.
    3. Elizabeth Stanton, 2007. "Engendering Human Development: A Critique of the UNDP’s Gender-Related Development Index," Working Papers wp131, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    4. Lorena Espina-Romero & Jesús Guerrero-Alcedo & José Gregorio Noroño Sánchez & Angélica Ochoa-Díaz, 2022. "What Are the Topics That Business Ecosystems Navigate? Updating of Scientific Activity and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Gram, Lu & Skordis-Worrall, Jolene & Mannell, Jenevieve & Manandhar, Dharma S. & Saville, Naomi & Morrison, Joanna, 2018. "Revisiting the patriarchal bargain: The intergenerational power dynamics of household money management in rural Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 193-204.
    6. Barbara Hobson & Susanne Fahlén, 2009. "Competing Scenarios for European Fathers: Applying Sen's Capabilities and Agency Framework to Work—Family Balance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 624(1), pages 214-233, July.
    7. Katharina Mader & Alyssa Schneebaum, 2013. "Zur geschlechtsspezifischen Intrahaushaltsverteilung von Entscheidungsmacht in Europa," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 39(3), pages 361-403.
    8. Weber, Heloise & Weber, Martin, 2020. "When means of implementation meet Ecological Modernization Theory: A critical frame for thinking about the Sustainable Development Goals initiative," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    9. Fernandez, Antonia & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2017. "Shared agency: The dominant spouse’s impact on education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 182-197.
    10. Patrik Richnák & Helena Fidlerová, 2022. "Impact and Potential of Sustainable Development Goals in Dimension of the Technological Revolution Industry 4.0 within the Analysis of Industrial Enterprises," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Sunil Kumar & Renuka Mahadevan, 2008. "Construction of An Adult Equivalence Index to Measure Intra-household Inequality and Poverty: Case Study," Discussion Papers Series 363, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    12. Paola Belingheri & Filippo Chiarello & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicatorr," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    13. Fernandez, Antonia & Della Giusta, Marina & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2015. "The Intrinsic Value of Agency: The Case of Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 92-107.
    14. Yunus Zengin & Serkan Naktiyok & Erdoğan Kaygın & Onur Kavak & Ethem Topçuoğlu, 2021. "An Investigation upon Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 within the Context of Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, March.
    15. Dunne, Máiréad & Humphreys, Sara, 2022. "The edu-workscape: Re-conceptualizing the relationship between work and education in rural children’s lives in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    16. Ivan Gudev, 2020. "Creative Accounting – Definition, Types, Purposes and Impact on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 328-341, June.
    17. Schneebaum, Alyssa & Mader, Katharina, 2013. "The gendered nature of intra-household decision making in and across Europe," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 157, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    18. Jackson, Emerson Abraham & Jabbie, Mohamed, 2019. "Understanding Market Failure in the Developing Country Context," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-10.
    19. Shriya Thakkar, 2024. "Exploitation, Harassment and Violence: Lived Experiences of Women Paid Domestic Workers in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 19(1), pages 44-60, April.
    20. Luisa Fernanda Tovar, 2022. "Social reproduction, the popular economy and informality: Feminist reflections from Latin America," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 41(86), pages 367-392, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jic:wpaper:231. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Japan International Cooperation Agency Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jicgvjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.