Woman's entrepreneurship as a gendered niche : the implications for regional economic development policy

Harrison, Richard and Leitch, Claire and McAdam, Maura (2020) Woman's entrepreneurship as a gendered niche : the implications for regional economic development policy. Journal of Economic Geography, 20 (4). 1041–1067. ISSN 1468-2702

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Abstract

In this paper we argue that entrepreneurship is a socio-spatial embedded activity and that the social construction of gender, time, space, economy and culture is manifest in the masculinities that are ascribed a normative role in entrepreneurship development policies. Drawing on feminist approaches to articulate and perform resistance to the hegemonic ‘masculinist’ discourses on entrepreneurship, we argue that women’s entrepreneurship is contextually embedded in institutional and social structures that both limit and provide opportunities for its enactment. Regional economic development policy has focused, inter alia, on stimulating and supporting women’s entrepreneurship through the establishment of women-only entrepreneurial networks to provide support, role models and access to resources. Grounded in feminist geography and based on a detailed qualitative study of network managers and members of formally established women-only networks, we provide evidence of the disconnect between the emancipatory intent and the actual impact of these initiatives. While these networks aim to empower and encourage women into entrepreneurship, in practice they perpetuate women’s marginalisation and ghettoization in gendered niches.