Social enterprise & Gender

Duration: 1 hour

Learning Outcome: The students will acquire basic knowledge about the social and solidarity economy, the social enterprise and its relationship with gender

Personal story

Anna was born in Belarus in 1959. She married an army officer and had one daughter with him. However, her husband was killed during the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Anna had no savings and no particular hard skills except for repairing and mending clothes. Thereon, she was forced to work as seamstress. In 2005, she visited a friend of hers in Greece who encouraged her to move in Piraeus, in Greece. Anna decided to go for it. In only a few months, she launched her own local business of designing and selling hand-knitted socks.

Anna notes that she had witnessed gender discrimination against other female entrepreneurs, but she has not faced such behaviours herself.

Introduction to the Learning Unit

With this unit we intend to briefly introduce certain concepts within the business world, which are a specific alternative that attends to criteria and values that are more respectful of people’s realities and that have a much more social value:

• Social enterprise
• Social and Solidarity Economy
• Circular Economy
• Types of social enterprises
• Social enterprise and gender