Economic Activism and Feminist Ideals: A Study of Feminist Economic Practices

This paper explores the economic practices of feminist businesses (FBs) operating within neoliberal market structures, challenging the capitalocentric assumption that these businesses are inevitably co-opted by capitalism. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study draws on qualitative interviews with 53 feminist entrepreneurs based in Europe and North America, supplemented by survey data. The open-ended interviews allow participants to define feminist economic practices in their own terms, revealing diverse and often contradictory approaches to "doing feminism" in business. The data is analyzed using NVivo, with a focus on identifying recurring themes, tensions, and innovations in how feminist values are operationalized. The analysis is guided by the diverse economies framework (Gibson-Graham 2014), which aims to make alternative economic activities visible, without over-relying on binary categorizations of capitalist versus anti-capitalist practices.