A personal reflection on repositioning the masculinity entrepreneurship debate in the literature and in the entrepreneurship research community

Abstract

PurposeDespite the healthy growth in studies and publications in recent years in relation to the expanding paradigm of gender and entrepreneurship, and notwithstanding the success of this very journal, from the perspective of the author, the field remains overly dominated by a focus on female and women's entrepreneurship. Conversely, there are few studies on masculinity and entrepreneurship and the role of men in shaping gendered entrepreneurship. In addition, few male entrepreneurship scholars choose to write in this niche and specialised field. Indeed, there is a discernible imbalance in the literature in relation to what can be termed as “silent” and “silenced” masculinities. In this reflection, the study aims to look back at his career as an entrepreneurship and gender scholar, considering why this situation exists.Design/methodology/approachThis is an invited, reflective essay written in an auto-ethnographic style containing personal viewpoints.FindingsIn the feminist-inspired gender and entrepreneurship literature, “Patriarchy” and the entrepreneurial “strawman” are blamed for the problems associated with the “silent” and silenced female entrepreneur. Much of the gendered literature concentrates on gendered female stereotypes and in particular on negative elements of these. The main finding is that the common assumption of the female as proxy for gender has, to date, prevented the consideration of the full spectrum of gendered identities. These issues are explored, and a call is made for more in-depth research into masculinity and entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis reflection presents some novel thoughts on how to advance the debate on gender scholarship and in particular masculinity.

Entrepreneurial Masculinity: A Fatherhood Perspective

“…To do so, we leverage the postfeminist tradition of doing gender studies (Gill, 2007; West & Zimmerman, 1987) and extant theorizing on men and masculinities (Connell, 2005; Hearn, 2014; Rumens, 2013, 2017). Doing gender scholars investigate gender as a “routine accomplishment […] constituted through everyday interactions” (West & Zimmerman, 1987, p. 129), uncovering how men entrepreneurs perform multiple masculinities at work and in private settings (Giazitzoglu & Down, 2017; Smith, 2010, 2022). Among other qualitative approaches used to uncover doing gender mechanisms, constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) is acknowledged as a method particularly relevant for “taking conceptual analyses into theory development” (Charmaz, 1996, p. 48).…”

“…Moving beyond the “axiomatic association between gender and women” (Marlow, 2014, p. 104) and its corollary belief—the conceptualization of men as genderless (Ahl & Marlow, 2012; Marlow, 2014)—this study re-directs scholarly attention to how men entrepreneurs enact entrepreneurial masculinities (Giazitzoglu & Down, 2017; Smith, 2010, 2022). Critical developments on men and masculinity emphasize masculinities as diverse and multiple, acknowledging that different forms of hegemonic, hybrid masculinities coexist and are enacted by men (Collinson & Hearn, 1996; Messerschmidt, 2018).…”

“…The gender literature has long investigated the relationship between fatherhood and work for men employees and managers (see Gatrell et al, 2022 for a review). However, although men entrepreneurs may also be husbands and (prospective) fathers, research on gender and entrepreneurship (Ahl & Nelson, 2010; Smith, 2022) has not elaborated extensively on how fatherhood affects men’s lives as entrepreneurs. In comparison, we find a plethora of studies investigating motherhood and entrepreneurship (Greene et al, 2013; Hughes & Jennings, 2020), showing how being a “good” mother and an entrepreneur needs to be accommodated into women’s lives in non-intrusive ways (Brush et al, 2009; Duberley & Carrigan, 2013).…”

“…This article makes three important contributions to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship by advancing a doing gender perspective of entrepreneurial masculinities enacted by (prospective) father entrepreneurs (Giazitzoglu & Down, 2017; Smith, 2010, 2022). First, we make men entrepreneurs visible as gendered subjects by empirically documenting three enacted entrepreneurial masculinities that accommodate concurrent entrepreneurship and fatherhood normative ideals.…”

Forging an entrepreneur – gendered ideas and ideals

“…This paper contains an ethnographic story of masculine ideas and ideals, answering the call from Giazitzoglu and Down (2017) and Smith (2022) to focus on male entrepreneurs and their construction. As is customary in ethnographic studies, we follow inductive reasoning, where our analysis not only answers initial questions but also poses new questions, which we further investigate (Johnstone, 2007).…”