Gendered Entrepreneurship

The gendering of business and entrepreneurship, with restrictive stereotypes and social norms, has real consequences for women. Yet the gendering of entrepreneurship is a taboo subject, avoided by educators of entrepreneurs and seldom critically analysed by entrepreneurship academia. This book explores gendering of entrepreneurship, first by the social practices of business and entrepreneurship, then by the business and entrepreneurship academia. In-depth interviews with six successful Australian women entrepreneurs provide rich data for a discourse analysis informed by feminist theories of identity and agency. Binary concepts such as public versus private are challenged; domestic and business interests are interwoven. Gendered domestic disruption plays a powerful role in the women’s decision to ‘become’ entrepreneurs, with domesticity continuing to affect their business choices. Masculine ideas of business value are rejected for more subjective measures such as personal fulfilment, strong relationships and autonomy. This book is essential reading for educators of entrepreneurs, women who aspire to be entrepreneurs and academics interested in the sociology of entrepreneurship.