Entrepreneurship and the reorganization of the public sector: A gendered story

Abstract

This article is about how the international New Public Management (NPM) trend is influencing the cleaning unit and cleaners employed in a Swedish municipality. Before the change, more than 500 cleaners were employed. The municipality wanted former employees to become the providers of the cleaning services. One male manager did so and was welcomed by the leading actors of the municipality. Although the law obliged employees to be transferred to the new provider, they were not. Instead, more than 140 employees, a great majority of them women, established a joint stock company together with the municipality as a temporary co-owner. This company had problems from the very beginning. Both new companies were sold after some years – the man’s at a profit and the women’s at a loss. This article analyses their story drawing on theories on incentives for entrepreneurship, networks, social capital and gender. The study was conducted for more than 10 years using multiple methods.