How stigma, fear and the UK welfare system harm women in informal self-employment

By Sally Jones, Reader in Entrepreneurship and Gender Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University

Self-employment is often championed as a route out of poverty for the unemployed and those on low incomes, offering independence, flexibility and financial autonomy. However, for informally self-employed women in the UK, the reality is very different to these kinds of entrepreneurial success stories.

These women, working for themselves and “off the books”, can find they are trapped in a grey area – neither fully unemployed nor officially…

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