Networking towards (in)equality: Women entrepreneurs in technology

Informal Networks, Informal Institutions, and Social Exclusion in the Workplace: Insights from Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations in Korea

Drawing on interviews with decision makers in multinational corporations (MNCs) in South Korea, we examine the role of informal networks in the social exclusion of women in the workforce. Although legislation in the country is in favor of gender equality, we found that informal barriers in the workplace remain difficult to overcome. Informal networks in Korea, yongo, present an ethical issue in the workplace, as they tend to socially exclude women, limiting possibilities for their participation and career progression. We found that informal networks are pervasive and strong because of the informal institutions in which they are embedded and that there is a complex interplay between informal networks and informal institutions that socially excludes women. Due to difficulties accessing yongo, women appear to build inmaek, a network type that is more open and accessible. We also found that MNCs in Korea can compensate for the lack of local informal networks for their female employees. However, despite providing a more supportive environment for women at work, gender equality policies in MNCs are not yet as effective as they could be due to the dynamics of the workplace and the fact that the policies are not tailored to the local context. We have seen evidence in recent years that MNCs can serve as role models for implementing gender equality policies by creating a more inclusive work environment and demonstrating leadership commitment and support.

Care in times of the pandemic: Rethinking meanings of work in the university

In this paper, we challenge the meanings of work that marginalize academic activities associated with care and contribute to inequitable gender divisions of academic labor. We argue that the pandemic crisis and the revision of the meaning of "essential work" that accompanied it has served as a catalyst for such concerns to get a hearing. But while there has been significant attention paid to domestic care demands and their impact on academic labor, there is less focus on the caretaking work we do in the university even though the gender unequal distribution of teaching, mentoring and service work has also intensified in the pandemic. We argue that this is in part due to the institutional discourses and practices that continue to devalue many components of everyday academic labor. In order to challenge these limits, we extend ideas from Feminist political economy (FPE) to university settings in order to reframe academic labor and revalue care as an essential part of it. We offer two suggestions, connected to FPE methodologies, for gathering and reconceptualizing data on academic work to push the project forward. We conclude with the argument that this project of revaluing caring labor is essential for achieving goals of equity, faculty well-being, and the sustainability of universities.

Antecedents and outcomes of ICTs adoption by mompreneurs: Empirical evidence from Brazil

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been an ally of women wishing to engage in entrepreneurial activity, especially of the mompreneurs. Within this context, this study aims to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of the use of ICTs by mompreneurs. The data were collected in Brazil through an online questionnaire and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that perceived usefulness, social influence, and trust are antecedent factors of the use of ICTs by these women. Moreover, the use of ICTs has a positive impact on the perception of mompreneurs regarding the financial performance of their ventures in relation to competitors. The results also show that more than 97% of the mompreneurs use smartphones and WhatsApp to manage their business, suggesting that social media and mobile devices have assumed a predominant role in female ventures, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, period in which the data were collected.