Women Entrepreneurship in Social and Solidarity Economy Through an Islamic Vision
Abstract
The articulation between religious precepts, social norms and individual aspirations is a major issue in contemporary societies, especially for women who are looking to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure. In fact, although the cooperative model as a model of social and solidarity entrepreneurship inspires women who want to undertake together and combine economic and social efficiency to restore lost rights and rebalance their situations. This is hampered by the women’s environment and is in fact influenced by several factors such as religion, values, and societal customs. The aim of this article is to discover how Islam perceives women’s work and their aspiration for economic empowerment in Morocco. Thus, we opt for a qualitative exploratory study that allows us to approach the reality of religious texts and the vision of women entrepreneurs in the field. After a brief review of the literature to contextualize our research, semi-structured interviews are conducted with recognized experts in the field of social and solidarity economy. Then face-to-face interviews were organized with women entrepreneurs in the context of cooperatives. The results showed that experts consider that misinterpretation of religion is a real obstacle to women’s entrepreneurial dynamics, among others. But only 14.42% of interviewed women believe that religious norms are obstacles to entrepreneurship. Whereas, 85.58% of the female entrepreneurs surveyed say that Islam is clear on this point and encourages both women and men to work and to undertake.
Downloads
References
Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. (2004). The Qur’an: A new translation. Oxford University Press. (Original work published 610–632).
Abou Chukka, A. (1990). Women’s liberation in the era of Al-Risalah, Part V: Muslim women’s place in the family. Al-Qalam House.
AFEM. (2004). Femmes entrepreneures : Les contraintes sont sociologiques. L’Economiste. http://www.leconomiste.com/article/femmes-entrepreneurs-les-contraintes-sont-sociologiques.
Akram, K. M. (1987). Methodology of Islamic economics. Journal of Islamic Economics, 1(1), 1–15.
Al-Ghazali, A. H. (2020). Tahrir maʿārif al-risāla (M. A. B. Al-Khalil, Trans.). Islamic Book Trust. (Original work published ca. 11th century).
Althalathini, D., Al-Dajani, H., & Apostolopoulos, N. (2022). The impact of Islamic feminism in empowering women’s entrepreneurship in conflict zones: Evidence from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine. Journal of Business Ethics, 178, 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04818-z.
Amdouni, H. (2004). La famille musulmane : Relations familiales et éducation. Al Qalam.
Bennani, A. (2004). Femme : Agent de développement. Chaire Averroès – Chaire UNESCO d’Études méditerranéennes. http://www.daneprairie.com.
Block, J., Fisch, C., & Rehan, F. (2020). Religion et entrepreneuriat : Une cartographie du domaine et une analyse bibliométrique. Management Review Quarterly, 70(4), 591–627.
Boublal, M., Baba Ammi, M., & Mesdour, F. (2014). Vers une économie zakat solidaire : Décroissance de la pauvreté vs croissance économique. El-Bahith Review, 14(1), 41–54.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5ᵉ éd.). Oxford University Press.
Chemillier-Gendreau, M. (2005). Rôle des femmes et menaces sur la paix autour de la Méditerranée. Chaire Averroès – Chaire UNESCO d’Études Méditerranéennes. https://www.euromedi.org/home/azioni/pubblicazioni/documenti/Chaire2005/4.PDF.
Coşkun, S. (2015). The Prophet (saw) and women in the context of adult education. http://www.ledernierprophete.info/le-prophete-saw-et-les-femmes-dans-le-contexte-de-l-education-des-adultes.
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3ᵉ éd.). SAGE Publications.
Defourny, J., Develtere, P., & Fonteneau, B. (1999). L’économie sociale au Nord et au Sud (1ʳᵉ éd.). Éditions De Boeck.
Delille, G. (2015). L’économie de Dieu : Famille et marché entre christianisme, hébraïsme et islam. Les Belles Lettres.
Demoustier, D. (2016). Compte rendu de Vers une économie « humaine ? » : Desroche, Lebret, Lefebvre, Mounier, Perroux, au prisme de notre temps (L. Loty, J.‑L. Perrault & R. Tortajada, dirs.; Hermann, 2014, 616 p.). Revue internationale de l’économie sociale, (340), 127–129. https://doi.org/10.7202/1037407ar.
Diagne, M. B. (2013). The Islamic economy, a Koranic approach. Etudes en Economie Islamique, 7(1), 99–119.
Eger, C. (2021). Equality and gender at work in Islam: The case of the Berber population of the High Atlas Mountains. Business Ethics Quarterly, 31(2), 210–241. https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2020.21.
Fall Ould-Bah, M. (2011). Islamic financial systems: Anthropological and historical approach. KARTHALA Édition.
Feddad, L. (1997). Al fiqh – waqf: Présentation des différents aspects fiqhistes du waqf. In La Zakat et le Waqf: Aspects historiques, juridiques, institutionnels et économiques (pp. 237–244). Séminaire tenu au Bénin du 25 au 31 mai 1997.
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2017). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2ᵉ éd.). SAGE Publications.
Hassan, N. M. (1987). Zakat in Malaysia: Present and future status. In A. H. Sadeq, A. H. Pramanik, & N. M. Hassan (Eds.), Development & finance in Islam (pp. 1–15). International Islamic University Press.
Himrane, M. (2018). L’analyse des déterminants de l’entrepreneuriat féminin au Maroc. Revue Africaine de Management, 3(2), 13–26.
IRFAM, (2024). Rapport d’activités 2024. IRFAM. https://www.irfam.org.
Karimi, H. (2020). Des musulmanes entrepreneuses en réseau en France: Faire face aux discriminations multiples. Travail, genre et sociétés, 44, 107–123.
Kian, A. (1995). Gendered occupation and women's status in post-revolutionary Iran. Middle Eastern Studies, 31(3), 407–421.
Kian, A. (2000). Women's religious seminaries in Iran. ISIM Newsletter, (6), 23.
Kian, A. (2018). Low-income Islamist women and social economy in Iran. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3ᵉ éd.). SAGE Publications.
Lamrabet, A. (2016a). Femmes et hommes dans le Coran : Quelle égalité ? [Women and men in the Quran: What equality?]. ECLM (Éditions Collectif Lieu Commun).
Lamrabet, A. (2016b). Directrice du Centre d'Études et de Recherche sur la Question des Femmes en Islam (CERFI) à Rabat. Entretien avec S. Zouak. La Lallab. http://www.lallab.org/asma-lamrabet/.
Laville, J.-L., & Nyssens, M. (2001). The social enterprise: Towards a theoretical socio-economic approach. In C. Borzaga & J. Defourny (Eds.), The emergence of social enterprise (pp. 312–332). Routledge.
Lemaître, A. (2009). Organisations d’économie sociale et solidaire. Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
Majidi, E. (2016). La finance islamique et la croissance économique : Quelles interactions dans les pays de MENA ? (Thèse de doctorat, Université Bordeaux, France).
Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample size in qualitative interview studies: Guided by information power. Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1753–1760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315617444.
Maududi, S. A. A. (1999). Economic system of Islam (4ᵉ éd.). Islamic Publications Ltd.
Mernissi, F. (2003). The forgotten queens of Islam (M. J. Lakeland, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Mostain, A. E. (2016). Women in the Muslim West: Bright and impending challenges and questions en suspens) الصفحات المشرقة والتحديات المحدقة والاسئلة العالقة المرأة في الغرب الاسلامي) CRFE, Afrique-Orient.
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847.
Ramadan, T. (2007). In the footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the life of Muhammad. Oxford University Press.
Saheeh International (Trans.). (2004). Translation of the meaning of the Qur’an. Al-Muntada Al-Islami.
Souaqi, H. (2021). Women’s empowerment through social and solidarity entrepreneurship in Morocco: The case of women’s cooperatives (Thèse de doctorat, Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco).
Souaqi, H., & Bennani, Y. B. (2020, novembre 4–5). L’entrepreneuriat coopératif féminin au Maroc : Quelle autonomisation génère-t-il pour les femmes ? Communication présentée à la 36ᵉ Conférence IBIMA, Grenade, Espagne.
Tlaiss, H. A. (2014). Between the traditional and the contemporary: Careers of women managers from a developing Middle Eastern country perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(20), 2858–2880. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2014.914054.
Tlaiss, H. A. (2015). Globalization, development, and Islamic business ethics: Special issue. Journal de l’éthique des affaires, 129(4), 859–877.
Torrekens, C., et al. (2023). Being “both”: Identifications of second and third generation Brussels Muslim youths towards the country of origin and the country of residence. Social Sciences, 12(6), 350. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12060350.
Wanza, M., et al. (2021). Effet de l’entrepreneuriat féminin sur la croissance économique en Afrique. Revue Internationale du Chercheur, 5(4), 527.
Yassine, A. (1996). Al-Manẓūma al-Waʿẓiyya. تنوير المومنات (الجزء الأول والثاني). Dār al-Āfāq.
Yassine, N. (2010). Ancienne responsable de la section féminine du mouvement Al Adl Wa Alihsan. Entretien avec un journaliste américain. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_-s1vm8dfA.
Yassine, N. (2016, March 12). Nadia Yassine: Lo Statuto della Donna nell'Islam [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soyBthCajdQ.
Zmmar, R., & Ntep, F. (2020). Catalyseur de transformation économique et approche de réussite. Moroccan Journal of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Management, 5(2), 103.
Zouhair, H., & Lhajji, S. (2016). Coopératives de femmes : Une forme d’entreprendre autrement. Revue Marocaine des Coopératives, (6), 67–77.
