Social Entrepreneurship and Partial Empowerment: Examining Women Farmer Groups in Indonesia

Abstract Book of the 11th International Conference on Research in Social Sciences

Year: 2026

[PDF]

Social Entrepreneurship and Partial Empowerment: Examining Women Farmer Groups in Indonesia

Siti Munawaroh, –

ABSTRACT:

Women’s empowerment has become a central agenda in rural development programs across the Global South, including Indonesia. Women Farmer Groups (Kelompok Wanita Tani or KWT) are increasingly promoted by the government as community-based organizations that integrate food security, women’s participation, and social entrepreneurship. While existing literature generally portrays KWTs as successful mechanisms for economically and socially empowering rural women, limited research critically examines the extent to which this empowerment is genuinely transformative. This paper explores the dynamics of social entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment through a qualitative case study of KWT Puspa Gemari in Bantul, Yogyakarta. Drawing upon the concept of social entrepreneurship and Naila Kabeer’s empowerment framework, this study analyzes how KWT generates social value, collective participation, innovation, and economic activities, while simultaneously reproducing structural limitations. The findings reveal that KWT provides women with access to knowledge, skills, social networks, and public participation. Nevertheless, women’s economic autonomy remains constrained by collective financial control, dependence on government programs, and persistent patriarchal norms within households. This study argues that empowerment within KWT is best understood as partial empowerment, wherein women gain social recognition and collective agency without fully achieving financial independence or transformative gender relations. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the critical discourse on rural development, social entrepreneurship, and gender empowerment in Indonesia.

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship, Women Empowerment, Rural Development, Women Farmer Groups, Indonesia