A Gender Integrative Conceptualization of Entrepreneurship

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Volume 18, Number 1

15 Pages Posted: 30 May 2016

See all articles by Susan Clark Muntean

Susan Clark Muntean

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Asheville

Banu Ozkazanc-Pan

University of Massachusetts Boston

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

Guided by feminist perspectives, we critique existing approaches to the study of women’s entrepreneurship on epistemological grounds and suggest that the entrepreneurship field needs to recognize gendered assumptions in theorizing. Deploying a feminist framework, we suggest that understanding the ‘gender gap’ in entrepreneurship requires focus on institutional and structural barriers women entrepreneurs face. Existing studies of women entrepreneurs often compare women with men without considering how gender and gender relations impact the very concepts and ideas of entrepreneurship. We propose, therefore, a conceptualization of entrepreneurship that illuminates gender bias and calls attention to the interrelated individual, institutional, and structural barriers in the entrepreneurial process that arrive out of societal and cultural gender norms. Through praxis or engaged practice, we redirect scholarship in the entrepreneurship field, while proposing ways that can promote gender equality in entrepreneurial activities. In all, our gender integrative conceptualization of entrepreneurship contributes to the entrepreneurship field by recognizing and addressing a more expansive realm of influential factors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem that have previously been researched separately.

Keywords: women entrepreneurs, gender, feminist, ecosystem

Suggested Citation

Clark Muntean, Susan and Ozkazanc-Pan, Banu, A Gender Integrative Conceptualization of Entrepreneurship (2015). New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Volume 18, Number 1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2785469

Susan Clark Muntean (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Asheville ( email )

Asheville, NC 28804
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://mgmtacct.unca.edu/faces/faculty/susan-clark-muntean

Banu Ozkazanc-Pan

University of Massachusetts Boston ( email )

100 William T Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125
United States
617-287-7754 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.umb.edu/academics/cm/faculty_staff/faculty/banu_oezkazanc_pan

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