Avon’s apparent success in using entrepreneurship to help women escape poverty, as well
as its staying power in circumstances where similar efforts have failed, has captured the
attention of the international development community. This study, the first independent
empirical investigation, reports that in South Africa, Avon helps some impoverished women
earn a better income and inspires empowerment among them. The authors introduce a new
theory, pragmatist feminism, to integrate past work on women’s entrepreneurship and argue
that feminist scholars should reexamine the histories of the market democracies for replicable
innovations that may have empowered women.