The Gendering of Entrepreneurship Context

Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (Hrsg.): Working Paper 01/14, Bonn

25 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2015

See all articles by Friederike Welter

Friederike Welter

University of Siegen - School of Economic Disciplines; IfM Bonn

Candida Brush

Babson College - Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship

Anne de Bruin

Massey University

Date Written: February 1, 2014

Abstract

The paper builds on the understanding of context as suggested by Welter (2011) who introduced different dimensions of context along a continuum of where entrepreneurship takes place and when this happens. Where context has been studied in relation to gender and women, the focus has been on the influence of social contexts such as networks, family and household embeddedness of women entrepreneurs or the institutional environment for women’s entrepreneurship. We contribute to the literature by identifying three further themes, based on a systematic literature review: how to conceptualise the spatial and institutional contexts for women’s entrepreneurship and their intersections, as informed by entrepreneurship, gender and geography studies; the paradox of empowering women and the debate around mumpreneurship.

Our analysis highlights the influence of spatial-institutional contexts on entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial behaviour is gendered because of place which itself is gendered, reflecting local institutions such as accepted gender norms which may “force” women into specific industries or business sizes. We also highlight the agency of women entrepreneurs in influencing their spatial-institutional contexts.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship, gender, entrepreneurship context

JEL Classification: J16, L26, M13

Suggested Citation

Welter, Friederike and Brush, Candida and de Bruin, Anne, The Gendering of Entrepreneurship Context (February 1, 2014). Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (Hrsg.): Working Paper 01/14, Bonn, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2557272 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2557272

Friederike Welter (Contact Author)

University of Siegen - School of Economic Disciplines ( email )

Unteres Schloss 3
Siegen, 57068
Germany

IfM Bonn ( email )

Maximiliansstrasse 20
Bonn, 53111
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.ifm-bonn.org

Candida Brush

Babson College - Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship ( email )

Babson Park, MA 02457-0310
United States

Anne De Bruin

Massey University ( email )

School of Economics and Finance
Albany Campus
Auckland, 0632
New Zealand

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