性別、經濟、與社會地位---客家地區微型創業婦女的生活世界

Abstract

本研究以內灣及南庄兩地的客家婦女微型創業者為研究對象，探討在客庄社會的地方經濟體系、社區網絡、及性別結構中，產業活動的變遷如何影響女性在性別、家庭、及社區領域中的自我定位與權力協商。研究方法以深度訪談及生命史建立為主，蒐集創業婦女的生命故事，剖析其創業的動機與歷程，以及創業過程背後所涉及的家庭決策、社會運作法則、與性別文化邏輯。近年來國際發展組織咸認為婦女創業能有效地提高弱勢女性的經濟收入及性別地位，但我們認為，婦女創業與女性賦權的關聯，必須回到在地的文化邏輯與社會關係中去詮釋。因此本研究特別注意創業婦女的經濟行為如何鑲嵌在當地的社會關係及文化邏輯中：婦女創業者如何在客家傳統的性別角色與強調個人能動性的創業文化之間協商其自我認同？她們在地方經濟體系中的生產及交換，是不是能構成社會行動的集結基礎，進而提昇婦女在公共領域裡的地位？

In the project proposed here, we will study women petty entrepreneurs that are active in two Hakka villages—Neiwan in Hsinchu County and Nanzhuang in Miaoli County. We will investigate whether the increase of women’s economic resources affects their status in the domestic and public spheres, and how these entrepreneurial women construct their self-identity and negotiate their power at the interface of local economy, community networks, and gender structure. The main research methods used are in-depth interviews and life history research; we will collect the life stories of the women entrepreneurs, analyze their motivation and experience of starting the entrepreneurship, as well as record the challenges and rewards embedded in this process. In recent years, entrepreneurship has been appraised by international development organizations and leading economists as a most effective way to empower women in the developing countries. Anthropologists’ field observations, however, have revealed that the accumulation of economic capital of women does not necessarily lead to the rise of their social status. We thus contend that the correlation between women's entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment cannot be taken for granted. To analyze what “empowerment” means to the grassroots, we must take their cultural logic and social context into consideration. Therefore in this study we will pay special attention to how the economic activities of women entrepreneurs are embedded in local social relations and cultural logic: How do the women entrepreneurs negotiate their power between the Hakka traditional gender roles and the individualist entrepreneurial culture? Would the women’s relations of production and exchange in the local economy be transformed into a collective basis for social action for the women? How might the rise of economic income lead to an enhancement of women’s status in the public domain of the local community?