Where are the women? Empowerment and female participation in social and solidarity economy.

This article intends to reflect on the phenomenon of empowerment in organizations of social and solidarity economy, pointing out its possibilities and limitations within the contemporary society. For that, we are going to stick to the story of two women, both occupying leadership positions and involved in handicraft in the organizations for which they work. These organizations are based in the cities of Blumenau and Florianopolis, both in Santa Catarina State, South of Brazil. In order to increase the scope of interpretation and the search for greater contextualization, we have opted for oral history as a research method.

The article is then sectioned as follows: we will draw out some considerations on the social and solidarity economy theme, to then discuss about social and solidarity economy and gender issue, and empowerment and gender. After these theoretical developments, we will draw out methodological procedures that will help us to conduct the research based on oral history. In sequence we will analyze the data according to the theoretical perspectives developed, so in the end we are able to deliver some final remarks on the cases along with the researched themes.

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