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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer an editorial introduction to the special issue on "Gender and diversity in organizations in South Asia".Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews the state of extant research on equality, diversity and inclusion in South Asia. It also offers an overview of the papers included in the special issue and the unique contributions they make to this field of knowledge.FindingsFindings vary for each paper; however, overall, the special issue brings to the fore theoretical ideas, alternative organizing and organisations and challenges involved in diversity management in South Asia.Research limitations/implicationsThe papers offer fresh insights in theorizing and managing diversity and equality which depart from the dominant Anglo‐centric theorizations in this field.Practical implicationsEducators, policy makers and managers in organisations may take into account various findings and recommendations offered in the papers leading to greater awareness of the challenges and opportunities to formulate context‐sensitive policies and practices of diversity in South Asia.Originality/valueBarring a few exceptions, the topic of gender and diversity management in South Asia, as for example the centrality of national culture and values, remains generally ignored in work and organization studies. Papers that are published appear in a wide variety of journals rarely achieving a critical mass. The current (special) issue of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion addresses these gaps and seeks to strengthen understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion pertaining to the region classified as South Asia.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a "just" enterprise can challenge stigma deeply embedded in culture and in the process develop and prevent a whole new generation of women, in this case the daughters and grand‐daughters of sex‐workers, from being stigmatized.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on fieldwork interviews this paper, through appreciative inquiry analyses and most significant change questioning, examines the development of an Indian based enterprise called Freeset, a company employing women leaving sex work, and examines its history and its possible future trajectory. Freeset challenges the stigma of these Indian sex‐workers, including that perpetuated through patriarchy, by offering alternative work which displays respect for their abilities and dreams and up‐skills them to function as leaders in their communities.FindingsWhile stigma erodes social status by discounting and discrediting persons considered outside the norm, it is possible to challenge that process and change the life trajectory of its victims.Research limitations/implicationsHearing and highlighting the voice of the stigmatized is vital in clarifying a holistic view of stigma and its impact on society.Practical implicationsThere are significant insights into how values based enterprises might establish their ethos in cultures that discount those values the enterprise upholds.Originality/valueFew enterprises focused on producing social change outcomes develop sustainable business practices that challenge the economic root causes of stigma. Freeset provides new insights into managing diversity issues in a South Asian context to achieve that goal.

PurposeInformed by a relational theorisation of equal opportunity, this paper seeks to focus on multi‐level experiences and observations of women working in Pakistan's formal employment sector considering issues and challenges facing them at three levels of analysis, i.e. macro‐societal, meso‐organisational and micro‐individual.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on in‐depth qualitative interviews with 30 working women in Lahore, the paper examines multi‐level issues of women working in Pakistani organisations.FindingsThe study reveals that focusing exclusively on organisations and holding them solely accountable for equal opportunity may be inadequate as organisational structures and routines of equal opportunity are affected by both macro‐societal factors (e.g. legal, socio‐cultural) and micro‐individual factors (e.g. intersectionality, agency). In particular, the study highlights unique socio‐cultural and structural challenges facing working women in Pakistan and the ways in which these women are able to negotiate and overcome some of these challenges.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on six Pakistani organisations located in Lahore, Punjab, and may not be generalized to represent issues and challenges of equal opportunity in other provinces of Pakistan.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that employers may pay special attention to socio‐cultural issues facing women to promote gender equality at the workplace.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the equal employment opportunity literature by exploring gender equality issues in a Muslim majority country's context.

PurposeThis paper seeks to analyze the manner in which an immigrant community (South Asian Shia Muslims) deploys religious institutions as a coping mechanism to survive in a demanding and culturally alien environment.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is derived from an ethnographic examination of a community of South Asian Shia Muslims in the United States.FindingsThe paper focuses on three elements of organizational coping. First, communities struggle with the promises and perils of transnationalism. Second, the coming of age of children, whose life experiences do not involve dislocation, produce interesting generational engagements. Finally, the community is often challenged by the nuanced task of political engagement with the broader society.Research implicationsAn in‐depth focus on employment‐related experiences of Shia Muslim diaspora in the West may be a fruitful area for future research.Practical implicationsEmployers and governments ought to pay attention to internal heterogeneity of Muslims in understanding and managing diversity.Originality/valueThis is a seminar paper on Shia Muslim diaspora in the USA and relates the study to the realm of workplace diversity.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of a company's diversity strategy on employees' attitudes and behaviors at the workplace. Specifically, the paper seeks to test the relationship between perceived diversity climate and employee's organizational loyalty with mediating role of perceived organizational support.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on survey based empirical research. Measurements of predictor and criterion variables were temporally separated and the hypothesized relationships were investigated by using a structural equation modelling approach.FindingsThe findings show that perceived organizational support mediates the positive relationship between perceived diversity climate and employee's organizational loyalty, after controlling for the demographic factors.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper relies on self‐report surveys for data collection from a single organization. Future studies should consider multiple organizations for generalizability and collect data through multiple methods to avoid common‐method bias.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that management should adopt a strategic approach to diversity management for building employees' organizational loyalty, which will help them counter talent attraction and retention problems.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the diversity management literature by investigating how the company's diversity strategy influences employees' attitudes and behaviors at the workplace.

PurposeThis article aims to look first at how entrepreneurial identity fits into the picture we currently have of social and health care professionals who most often work in paid employment in the public sector, and second, how entrepreneurial identity is constructed. We discuss whether professional identity and entrepreneurial identity can be separated, and how meaningful that question is. Is the role of entrepreneurship limited in the context of health and social care professional services, or can we see the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneurial identity with special features related to the complexity within the provision of services in social and health care?Design/methodology/approachThe materials from two previous studies by the authors are used in the article as empirical data to investigate the questions of identity and professionalism. The methodology is based on re‐reading and re‐interpretation of both empirical studies and theoretical literature.FindingsThere are differences and different logics of work‐related identity building among the entrepreneurial groups and among professional groups. Despite this and even if part of the research tradition emphasizes this difference and the separateness of these identities, we argue that identities are fluid, changing, layered and overlapping. As identities cannot be predetermined or classified according to economic earnings logic only, but that they are malleable, evolving, interconnected, and intertwined. In addition, the paper raises the contradiction of stereotypically "masculine" entrepreneurial goals and the stereotypically "female" ideology of care existing as tension within entrepreneurship in social and health care.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitations relate to the research design of not using ethnographical data.Practical implicationsThe article has no direct practical implications. The results might have relevance to education.Social implicationsThe article has social implications in the ways the identities are discussed through various discourses in the societies.Originality/valueThe article has both originality in the settings and value in bringing different discussions together, as well as in its ability to widen the theoretical discussions and empirical studies on identities, paid employment and entrepreneurship.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to approach women's entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the entrepreneurial phenomena and to its development as a field of research.Design/methodology/approachThe gender aspect of entrepreneurship is essentially socio‐psychological in nature. First, the authors define the social psychology research scope and present a selection of social psychology theories that are particularly relevant to the domain of women's entrepreneurship. Concepts such as stereotypes, stereotype threat and role models are introduced. Second, the authors instantiate how the social psychology experimental method can address core questions in the women's entrepreneurship field, such as women's under‐representation in entrepreneurial positions.FindingsThe conclusion of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, social psychology theories can address crucial issues in women's entrepreneurship and on the other hand, experimentation as a research methodology enables us to determine causal relationships. However, given the specificities of both social psychology and women's entrepreneurship, we strongly recommend collaborative research between researchers in the two areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors propose concrete though non‐exhaustive areas of study in women's entrepreneurship research, where social psychological theories can be successfully employed.Social implicationsUsing applied social psychology research, the authors suggest practical ways to reject negative stereotypes that prevent women from being entrepreneurs.Originality/valueAlthough women's entrepreneurship is a social psychological phenomenon, this field of study still rarely makes reference to social psychology as a discipline for theorizing the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to direct attention to recent research on women's entrepreneurship, focusing on Nordic countries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper encourages research that investigates how context, at the micro, meso and macro level, is related to women's entrepreneurship, and acknowledges that gender is socially constructed.FindingsThis paper finds evidence that recent calls for new directions in women's entrepreneurship research are being followed, specifically with regard to how gender is done and how context is related to women's entrepreneurial activities.Originality/valueThis paper assesses trends in research on women's entrepreneurship, mainly from the Nordic countries.

PurposeAfghanistan is an ethnically diverse country which has suffered from many negative consequences caused by mismanagement of diversity, low levels of education, and political acrimony among different groups. The paper seeks to discuss how cultural and ethnic diversity can lead to civil unrest and make management of a country more complex. When diversity is not managed well, its consequences can be high levels of conflict, animosity, discrimination, corruption, and distrust among different ethnic groups.Design/methodologyThis is a conceptual paper. It covers the realities of ethnic, religious and language diversity in Afghanistan based on first hand observations and experience along with findings from the literature.FindingsThe paper suggests that diversity education along with an ethical climate is especially crucial for Afghanistan if the aim is to create an inclusive culture where everyone's voice is heard, understood and integrated for implementation. A diversity continuum model for inclusivity is created for managers, expatriates, diversity officers, government officials, and educators so they can use it for their training and development programs in their efforts to create a fair work climate in Afghanistan.Research limitationsThis paper is limited to personal observations and experiences along with a review of literature from experts who write about diversity and corruption.Practical implicationsManagers, employers, and employees can use this material for training to create diversity awareness, provide diversity management skills, and to reduce unfair, discriminatory, and corrupt practices.Social implicationsEmployees of all ethnicities should know their rights and work toward the creation of an inclusive culture in Afghanistan.OriginalityThis is an original paper and the inclusivity model is created by the author for this study.

PurposeThis paper aims to present a meta‐analysis of available statistical data and literature for gender‐related practices concerning women in business and education across countries, comparing the patriarchal belt and South Asian countries in the belt to the rest of the world. The purpose of the project is to investigate the progress of enhancement of opportunities for women to engage in non‐agricultural work in the belt, and, as women's participation in tertiary education is touted as an impetus in enhancing women's opportunities, investigate its effect.Design/methodology/approachThe existence of a belt of countries from North Africa through Bangladesh and rural China is well known, with societies demonstrating a consistent pattern of restriction and suppression of women. No development of theory treating the patriarchal belt as a whole has been published. The authors earmark this as a future endeavour. They employ ten years of statistical summaries of percent of women in the non‐agricultural labour force and ratios of women to men in tertiary education provided by the United Nations in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals to compare changes in these activities in countries in the patriarchal belt, South Asia, and the rest of the world. The method is to carry out statistical comparisons of trends derived from annual averages for the two measures.FindingsThe literature review indicates that for millennia in the patriarchal belt societal practices have institutionalised women's lack of access to participation in the labour market and generally from participating in much of public life. The analyses indicate that participation in non‐agricultural employment has decreased over the past decade in the belt compared to the rest of the world. Opportunities for women to participate in tertiary education have on average been increasing during this period for most countries of the world including those in the patriarchal belt. However, this circumstance has not led to increased participation in the non‐agricultural work force.Practical implicationsThe practical implications seen are that the UN Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) are important to improving the lot of individuals, some goals that purport to lead to improvements in human and gender rights in regions such as the patriarchal belt may have no real effect, and other, more useful goals need to be investigated. Economically, the exclusion of women from voluntary productive labour as detrimental to the development of a nation is seen.Social implicationsIn the patriarchal belt societal practices institutionalise negative discrimination concerning women, often codified in laws that prohibit women from participating in much of public life or fully competing in the labour market. The evaluation of these conditions using European and North American standards proposes that these women are abused and denied their rights. Nonetheless, initiatives such as agreements on the UNMDG appear to have no effect, and other solutions need to be pursued.Originality/valueThe originality and value of this paper is that it investigates the complete set of patriarchal belt countries, across countries that include both Muslim and Hindu majorities. It concludes that while religions tenets are employed to justify patriarchal practices, long‐standing tribal practices appear to be far more influential.

PurposeWhile numerous comparative studies have measured women's participation in starting or owning a business, the factors stimulating their engagement in highly productive entrepreneurial activity have been understudied. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature.Design/methodology/approachThis study compares country‐level data on the institutional and cultural factors that affect a woman's decision to start and grow a business with country‐level measures of the entrepreneurial environment, innovative activity and access to opportunity.FindingsIt was found that three institutional and cultural factors influence the decision calculus of women to found and expand enterprises: legal and social status; institutional presence; and economic empowerment. Women who have the requisite support exploit market opportunities and translate their ideas, creativity and skills into high potential, high growth ventures. This in turn generates entrepreneurial activity, job creation and prosperity at the country level.Research limitations/implicationsComparable data on variables of interest, including the number of female‐founded high‐growth businesses and child care support, for example, are not available across countries. This study uses proxies and indices where data are missing and makes recommendations on improving data collection for future scholarship.Practical implicationsImproving access to collateral by strengthening the property rights of women, increasing the representation of women in banking, business, government and academia, and providing greater economic empowerment of all women produces more productive entrepreneurial activity and prosperity for the entire population.Originality/valueWomen entrepreneurs are a missing link that explains variation among countries in the quality and quantity of entrepreneurial activity.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the kinds of contacts and networks women find supportive in their role as business leaders, and which also support their willingness to grow their business. The approach is to investigate the context of women entrepreneurs and the kinds of supporting social networks of which they are part. This is seen in relation to their willingness to grow.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were sent to women entrepreneurs in mid‐Sweden and mid‐Norway, relating to supportive assets and willingness for growth.FindingsThe results show: that personal networks are seen as a more supportive asset than business networks; that personal contacts with other entrepreneurs are regarded as valuable; and that women entrepreneurs who are positive towards new networks already have a more heterogenic network than those who do not express this willingness.Practical implicationsWithout a relational attitude and a willingness to put oneself into a relational interplay, women entrepreneurs will have a hard time succeeding in growing their businesses.Originality/valueThis study is unique in three ways: first, it combines different theoretical perspectives, above all a variety of network perspectives seen in an entrepreneurial context. Second, from a huge set of data containing women entrepreneurs, the paper presents valid findings about social network configurations among this group. Third, it introduces the term "willingness", and discusses the effects related to this and to network expansion and business growth. These dimensions help us to increase the understanding of networking and growth in women‐owned enterprises.