Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
June 4, 2026
Summary:
In this article, we evaluate the gendered implications of the expansion of part-time self-employment (PTSE) for women who use this option as a form of flexible working. Using panel data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey, we confirm that unsurprisingly, women dominate PTSE, given it enables them to combine household work and income generation. However, we also find that PTSE incurs a significant penalty compared to the incomes of both men and women in full-time self-employment or waged work. Relatedly, in households with women in PTSE, there is also a greater dependency upon state welfare benefits to supplement low incomes. Theoretically, we contribute to current debates by conceptualising this evidence as the ‘housewifization’ of PTSE: a feminised form of work afforded low visibility, value and status leading to greater precarity and poverty, the detriment of which is camouflaged by the socio-cultural positivity attributed to entrepreneurship in the contemporary era.
Published in
International Small Business Journal
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426261448171
ISSN
2662426
Subjects
Notes
© The Author(s) 2026.
Online Early
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
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