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From Microfinance to Middle Class? How to Improve Female Entrepreneurship Programs in China and India makes important contributions to the literature on “women and entrepreneurship” as well as “women and economic development” more generally. Through discussions of different conceptual frameworks for the analysis of female entrepreneurship programs, the experiences of female entrepreneurship programs in China and India, and the challenges facing efforts to assist female entrepreneurs, Tonia Warnecke provides a constructively critical evaluation of the current state of such programs and efforts, as well as suggestions for moving forward in the development of gender-sensitive programs that contribute to women's economic status and well-being. Warnecke begins by situating the exploration of programs to promote female entrepreneurship in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the International Labour Organization's (ILO) definition of “decent work”—work that “contributes to sustainable livelihoods, supports worker safety and security, promotes worker rights, and enables human dignity” (pp. 3–4). The conceptual frameworks, real-world examples, and policy strategies for promoting female entrepreneurship discussed throughout the book are rooted in and build on these concepts and goals. The discussion throughout the book is very detailed and well structured, organized into three parts. Part 1 (Chapters 1–3) sets the stage for the exploration of entrepreneurship, development, and gender by introducing the topic of female entrepreneurship, defining the core concepts to be explored, and introducing conceptual frameworks for the consideration of gender and entrepreneurship. Part 2 (Chapters 4–7) provides an in-depth examination of entrepreneurship and gender in China and India, beginning with a history of the evolution of entrepreneurship in each country over the 20th and 21st centuries, followed by discussions of the gender dimension of employment and entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and programs for female entrepreneurs in each country. Part 3 (Chapters 8–12) focuses on a variety of challenges facing efforts to assist women entrepreneurs in the informal sector and identifies “best practices” for entrepreneurship programs. The book concludes by emphasizing the goal of achieving upward mobility for informal sector entrepreneurs with approaches consistent with the UN SDGs and decent work. In Chapter 1 Warnecke begins by asking the reader, “When you think of entrepreneurship, what comes to your mind?” to make the point that preconceptions of what constitutes entrepreneurship are often overly narrow and gendered. Consequently, a significant portion of entrepreneurial activity “falls under the radar” and is in many ways “invisible.” In the context of growing inequality and the invisibility of the type of work undertaken by many of the most vulnerable, Warnecke seeks to “make the invisible visible” in order to better document and understand the role of entrepreneurial activity in economic development and establish strategies to improve entrepreneurship as a source of upward mobility for women (pp. 2–3). As a starting point, she argues, this requires an understanding of the diversity of entrepreneurial activity, which reveals that some forms of entrepreneurship do not conform to the ILO's definition of decent work. Taken together, the 12 chapters of this book provide an exploration of the possibilities and challenges associated with identifying and promoting entrepreneurial activities that constitute decent work for women. The chapters that follow in Part 1 provide many of the core definitions and conceptual frameworks for the discussions in the book. Emphasizing the role of institutions and cultural norms, Chapter 2 illustrates how diverse economic and social circumstances contribute to diverse motivations for engaging in entrepreneurship, something Warnecke emphasizes must be acknowledged in considerations of the impacts of female entrepreneurship programs. This introduces an important distinction made throughout the book between “opportunity-based” and “necessity-based” entrepreneurship. The former refers to entrepreneurship associated with higher levels of education and business experience, access to professional business networks and financial capital, and formal sector business operations that contribute to broader economic growth. The latter refers to entrepreneurship associated with little or no formal education or business experience, reliance on informal networks, lack of access to standard bank loans, and informal business operations with no association with broader economic growth. Chapter 2 also explores how entrepreneurship can affect economic growth in different ways. While economic growth is seen to be important, Warnecke argues that economic growth should not be the main goal of entrepreneurship, establishing another important premise of the book. Drawing on Amartya Sen's “human development theory” and Martha Nussbaum's “capabilities approach,” Warnecke argues that the focus of programs to promote entrepreneurship should be on people's “capabilities”—where genuine personal choice influences “what people are actually able to do and to be” (p. 22). Ideally, in this framework, entrepreneurship would not only contribute to increasing women's income levels but would also increase their capacity to make meaningful choices that improve their quality of life. Further, Chapter 2 addresses how the institutional environment and structural barriers (such as those associated with informal versus formal sector employment) can impede the process of human development. Chapter 3 deepens the discussion of the institutional environment and structural barriers with a review of different approaches to feminist theory (liberal, standpoint, and post-structural) to connect the study of women and entrepreneurship to a discussion of “culture, context, and power.” Warnecke argues that conceptual frameworks informed by feminist theory support an exploration of the ways “cultural practices and social norms influence the entrepreneurial environment, shaping our understanding of gender and the ways it translates into action” (p. 29). Part 2 focuses on entrepreneurship and gender in China and India, applying a gender lens to an examination of the history of entrepreneurship, women's employment and entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and programs for female entrepreneurs. The discussion of history (Chapter 4) emphasizes the importance of context (culture and power) in the levels and forms of entrepreneurial activity in China and India. In Chapter 5, analysis of changes in women's labor force participation—noting the role of gender norms, religious traditions, social and economic policy—provides the context for exploring the complex relationship between women's labor force participation and women's empowerment. Data on women's labor force participation, employment, and entrepreneurial activity is included throughout the chapter. In Chapter 6, an examination of “social entrepreneurship”—entrepreneurship emphasizing social or environmental impact—in China and India finds women are more likely to be social entrepreneurs than traditional entrepreneurs and identifies different pathways to support women through social entrepreneurship. Chapter 7 reviews programs for female entrepreneurs in China and India, describing an “entrepreneurial ecosystem” that includes many types of organizations and actors which influence the development of programs to support female entrepreneurs, highlighting the differences between programs aimed at formal sector entrepreneurs and informal sector entrepreneurs. In Part 3 (Chapters 8–12), the focus is on confronting challenges and identifying best practices for entrepreneurship programs in the informal sector, incorporating examples from China and India. In Chapter 8, Warnecke provides the foundation for the remainder of the book, focusing on the challenge of designing “gender sensitive” entrepreneurship programs and introducing the method of “human centered design thinking” in combination with an intersectional perspective. This discussion also emphasizes that while meeting basic needs is essential, female entrepreneurship should also work toward upward mobility, improving women's economic status. Further, human-centered design thinking is participatory and collaborative in nature—an approach to program development where process is important. Chapters 9, 10, and 11 focus on the many different aspects to be addressed in such an approach to program development. Chapter 9 focuses on strategies for organizing informal sector workers and building networks, recognizing that female entrepreneurs are often isolated. Chapter 10 focuses on ways to address the “digital gender gap,” recognizing that female entrepreneurs may lack digital literacy and access to information and communications technology. Chapter 11 calls for integrating a greater focus on environmental sustainability into entrepreneurship support programs. Noting the seriousness of environmental challenges and the contributions environmental challenges make to gender inequality, the chapter discusses a variety of approaches for addressing both gender equity and environmental sustainability goals. In Chapter 12, Warnecke calls for action to support upward mobility for informal sector entrepreneurs in ways consistent with the UN SDGs and addressing the goal of making everyone's work decent work. She notes that given the struggles of people lacking decent work, it is natural for entrepreneurship programs to focus on the “here and now.” But she argues that in addition to economic advancement, “dignity, a sense of belonging, and power to make life decisions” are critically important goals associated with upward mobility (p. 187). Warnecke also emphasizes the importance of recognizing that “gender matters in this discussion” (p. 188). She notes that women are more likely than men to engage in the most vulnerable forms of entrepreneurial activities, something strongly influenced by the traditional division of labor (the allocation of most unpaid household labor to women). Consequently, policies and actions not specifically targeted to entrepreneurship programs—such as improved infrastructure for sanitation, water, and energy; childcare provision; adequate social protections—are also critically important for promoting women's entrepreneurship in conjunction with the goals of gender equity and sustainable development. The author declares no conflicts of interest. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.