Gendering The Knowledge Economy

Comparing the UK, US, Germany and Japan, this book draws on innovative concepts of varieties of gender regime as well as varieties of capitalism. The volume re-thinks the processes of de-gendering and re-gendering of working practices in the context of both de-regulation and re-regulation of employment.

This collection explores the apparent gender neutrality of knowledge generation and dissemination through knowledge networks in the various subfields of international political economy. The contributions present the gender knowledge concept, which starts from the assumption that every form of knowledge is based upon a specific form of gender knowledge. That knowledge is power and that traditional knowledge has been constructed in the interests of the powerful has been a critique of contemporary feminist scholarship from the start. The individual contributions in the book address not so much the gendered effects of different policies, but rather the imprint that "gender knowledge" leaves both on the academic knowledge justifying and underpinning the policies, and normative assumptions of the policy community. Focusing on gender knowledge as a research agenda is all the more important, since, at the Lisbon summit of the EU Council in 2000, it was agreed to make the EU 'globally the most competitive knowledge-based economy' by 2010. The key question is: What is the epistemic and philosophical foundation of the knowledge economy and through what channels and networks is the scientific knowledge disseminated? Who decides what knowledge is, where the knowledge is produced, and who are the knowledge producers?

This volume presents current research on gender studies in the specific context of the knowledge economy. Featuring contributions from the 2017 Annual Ipazia, the Scientific Observatory for Gender Studies Workshop on Gender, this book investigates gender issues and female entrepreneurship from social, economic, corporate, organizational, and management perspectives, with particular emphasis on advancing the understanding of gender in business and economic research. The post-industrial knowledge economy is characterized by an emphasis on human capital as the real engine of sustainable growth and development. With women comprising an increasing share of the global workforce, gender studies play a central role in exploring and understanding the attitudes and skills of women in business and their impact on economic and social development. Gender inequality in public and private contexts is decreasing due to an increase of women in leadership roles in business, the expansion and diversity of females in education, and a larger presence of women in policymaking roles. Ipazia, the Scientific Observatory for Gender Studies, aims to define an updated framework of research, service and projects on women and gender relations to highlight the evolution of gender in business and economics. This volume features contributions on female-owned family business, gender diversity in organizations, gender capital, and immigration from the 2017 Ipazia workshop.

Knowledge-for-development is under-theorised and under-researched within development studies, but as a set of policy objectives it is thriving within development practice. Donors and other agencies are striving to improve the flow of information within and between decision-makers and so-called ‘poor and marginalized groups’ in order to promote economic and social development, including the empowerment of women. Gender, Power and Knowledge for Development questions the assumptions and practice of the knowledge-for-development industry. Using a qualitative, multi-site ethnographical study of a Northern-based gender information service and its ‘beneficiaries’ in India, the book queries the utility of the knowledge paradigm itself and the underlying assumption that a knowledge deficit exists in the Global South. It questions the value of practices designed to address this presumed deficit that seek to increase information without addressing the specific problems of the knowledge systems being targeted for support. After reviewing the evidence, the book recommends that international organisations, governments and practitioners move away from the belief that information intermediaries can employ progressive correctives to ‘tinker at the edges’ and thus resolve the shortcomings of on-going attempts to use knowledge alone as a driver of development. Gender, Power and Knowledge for Development will be of great interest to researchers, students in development studies, gender studies, and communication studies as well as INGOs, donor agencies and groups engaged in information for development (i4D), ICT for development (ICT4D), Tech4Dev, knowledge mobilization and knowledge-for-development (K4D).

Do the new Asian economies encourage gender equality? Ann Brooks provides a unique insight into this question by assessing the impact of the new economy and the changing labour market on women in Asia. Theoretical debates around globalization, gender and social change are combined with empirical research on professional women in two cosmopolitan cities: Hong Kong and Singapore. The author's research shows that even in such cosmopolitan cities where women tend to have a strong advantage there is a 'new dynamic of inequality'. This makes the examination of women's labour market participation and ambition in these environments very different to previous research. The research is set against the backdrop of Southeast Asia more generally and international comparisons are also drawn. It will be of interest to scholars in sociology, economics, gender studies, business studies and Asian studies.

In this book, leading gender scholars survey the contribution of feminist scholarship to new norms and knowledge in diverse areas of political science and related political practice. They provide new evidence of the breadth of this contribution and its policy impact. Rather than offering another account of the problem of gender inequality in the discipline, the book focuses on the positive contribution of gender innovation. It highlights in a systematic and in-depth way how gender innovation has contributed to sharpening the conceptual tools available in different subfields, including international relations and public policy. At the same time, the authors show the limits of impact in core areas of an increasingly pluralised discipline. This volume will appeal to scholars and students of political science and international relations.

Gender is now recognized as a fundamental organizing principle for economic as well as social life, and related research has grown at an unprecedented pace in the recent decades across branches of economics. The volume takes stock of this research, proposes novel analytical frameworks and outlines further research directions. It grew out of the Summer School of International Research in Pontignano (University of Siena) that traditionally brings together the most representative scholars in the chosen field. The thirteen essays included in the volume cover recent advances in gender related issues across disciplinary branches, from Economic History and the History of Economic Thought to Macroeconomics, Household Economics, the Economics of Care Work, Labour Economics, Institutional and Experimental Economics. The volume is primarily addressed to graduate students in Economics and is an essential companion for researchers in the area of Gender Economics. As most essays are written in a non-technical language it is also of interest to a wider audience, including specialists in Sociology, Demography and History.