Abstract
In marginalized rural areas of Europe and Mediterranean basin, women actively participate in shaping local economic activities, fostering a more human and cooperative work environment. In turn, female participation helps them to be more autonomous and have a better status in their households and their communities (Coughlin and Thomas, 2012). In the contribution, we have selected initiatives in which women are the agency (i.e. the driver) of social innovation in rural areas for self and community empowerment towards sustainable development and resilience. These initiatives deal with a wide range of activities, including social farming, promotion of local products, forestry. The paper aims to analyse the process of reconfiguring/transformation of existing community social practices (social networks, governance arrangements, and attitudes). Moreover, it investigates the outcomes and impacts of such initiatives on women’s empowerment and wellbeing as well as on community resilience.
Leading research questions are:what characterizes women as agency of social innovation in terms of motivation, goals and social transformations they seek to create? What characterizes women-led social innovation in terms of the process of transformation, outcomes and impacts on community resilience? What conclusions can be derived on enabling or hindering contextual factors influencing the emergence of women-led social innovation?
By using a case study approach, the paper performs an analytical comparison of five social innovation initiatives, which were evaluated using the methodology developed in the EU funded H2020 project SIMRA – Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas (www.simra-h2020.eu).