What we Know about the Mothers of Invention’Women’s Entrepreneurship Research:

Past Trends, Future Directions

Professor Anne de Bruin

Presentation at Best of ESTRAD, 11 June 2007Stockholm

The Phenomenon of Women’s Entrepreneurship

WOB are a significant and important presence in the world economy

WOB is one of fastest growing populations of entrepreneurs around the world

WOB contribute to innovation, employment, wealth, in all economies

YET….

A continuing Gender Gap in academic research

Research Perspectives: Chronology

1970’s -1980’s - Gender as a Variable

1990s - 2000’s Gender as a Lens A lens with which to conduct research not just a variable to

measure Context and feminist perspectives important

(Greene, Brush & Gatewood, 2006)

Mitigating the Gender Gap

Propose a new gender-aware framework to provide a springboard for future research and policy(de Bruin, Welter and Brush 2007)

Extends existing framework of ‘3Ms’ of venture creation and growth: market, money, management to a ‘5M’ framework to enable the study of women’s entrepreneurship in its

own right

Women’s Entrepreneurship 5M Framework

Assume that all entrepreneurship is socially embedded Explicitly explore this embeddedness through

incorporation of two facets: ‘Motherhood’ - metaphor to represent the

household/family context Draws attention to the fact that family/household contexts

might have a larger impact on women than men

‘Meso’ and ‘Macro’ Environment to represent socio-economic and cultural context of entrepreneurship

Interconnectedness of the 5 FacetsCentre M’HER Spotlights ‘gender as a process integral

to business ownership’Top Venn Circle ‘Market’ -

Encapsulating also opportunity, the well-spring for all entrepreneurship.

Bottom circles - Entry and survival in the market, requires money and management - enablers of opportunity exploitation

Surround - Encompassing influences mediate and shape other facets e.g. macro social norms, gender socialization mediate M’Her or Market; sex segregated networks mediate Money etc.

The Future Research Agenda5 Questions

1. What Approaches should be used to study Women’s Entrepreneurship?

2. Do we need a Separate ‘theory’ of women’s entrepreneurship?

3. How can the Legitimacy of studying women’s entrepreneurship by elevated?

4. Should we build a separate Scholarly Community?5. How do we grow Synergies between researchers,

policy-makers and also women entrepreneurs themselves?