A Web of opportunity or the same old story? Women digital entrepreneurs and intersectionality theory

Abstract

This article critically analyses the manner in which intersectionality and related social positionality shape digital enterprise activities. Despite popular claims of meritocratic opportunity enactment within traditional forms of entrepreneurship, ascribed social characteristics intersect to influence the realisation of entrepreneurial potential. However, it is purported that the emerging field of digital entrepreneurship may act as a 'great leveller' due to perceived lower barriers to entry, disembodiment of the entrepreneurial actor and the absence of visible markers of disadvantage online. Using an interpretivist approach, we analyse empirical evidence from UK women digital entrepreneurs which reveals how the privileges and disadvantages arising from intersecting social positions of gender, race and class status are reproduced online. This analysis challenges the notion that the Internet is a neutral platform for entrepreneurship and supports our thesis that offline inequality, in the form of marked bodies, social positionality and associated resource constraints, is produced and reproduced in the online environment.

Relational practices and reflexivity: Exploring the responses of women entrepreneurs to changing household dynamics

“…In doing so, we cast our gaze on not just the individual, as a reflexive individual, but also the relationships that inform and constitute the context within which new futures are imagined and actualized (Ramoglou and Tsang, 2016). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 shows that there is more inequality and exclusion in relation to individual's position within social hierarchies, which affects resource accrual (Jayawarna et al, 2014, Dy et al, 2017. In this article, we argue that it is essential to maintain the analytical distinction of structure and agency (Archer, 2003), which allows us to explore the capacities needed to navigate household gendered structures.…”

“…However, such arguments are not 'a cause for celebration' (McRobbie, 2009: 157) as there are detailed accounts of how domestic and care responsibilities are not something that women overcome on the way to entrepreneurial success (Lewis, 2015). Women entrepreneurs may commonly conduct business while caring for children/elderly persons simultaneously or invest nonstandard hours in their business (Dy, Marlow and Martin, 2017). Gender roles are therein built into the organization of life, with mostly women to retain the organizational role of the household (Acker, 2006), regardless of woman's income or career status (Thébaud, 2016).…”

“…We aim to explore women's gendered selves, and enable their experiences to be studied without comparison to an 'unmarked male template' (Jackson, 2012:1001) which negatively affects how their actions are perceived (De Bruin, Brush and Welter, 2007;Ahl, 2006). We recognize that women entrepreneurs are a heterogeneous population (Hughes et al, 2012), their household resources do vary (Dy et al, 2017) and the character of women's entrepreneurial activity itself, including the size and location of their ventures, is often contingent on their family situation (Aldrich andCliff, 2003, Losocco andBird, 2012 In this sense, we see considerable value in exploring entrepreneurship as a reflexive process of engagement revealing the deliberative capacities of individuals in different circumstances as opposed to a largely economic endeavor (Suddaby et al, 2015). To explain this process, data were collected by means of in-depth biographical interviews, through a life history methodology (Chamberlayne, Rustin and Wengraf, 2002).…”

‘I’m a migrant, but I’m the right sort of migrant’: Hegemonic masculinity, whiteness, and intersectional privilege and (dis)advantage in migratory academic careers

“…Recent work has begun to reveal the usefulness of intersectionality as a lens to reveal privilege as well as oppression. Both Dy et al () and Adamson and Johansson () use intersectionality to understand patterns of advantage and disadvantage within forms of skilled employment. Specifically, though, there is a need to consider whiteness, and its relationships with other forms of privilege, through an intersectional lens (Levine‐Rasky, ).…”

Rendering sexism invisible in workplace narratives. A narrative analysis of female entrepreneurs’ stories of not being talked to by men

“…However, contrary to these Discourses, there is growing evidence that female entrepreneurs still experience discrimination and domination, and that sexism is as evident in the entrepreneurial world as it is in any other business activity (Gherardi & Perrotta, ; Patterson & Mavin, ). Therefore, following Marlow () who argues that ‘there is a growing need to critically evaluate the potential offered by entrepreneurship as emancipation’ (p. 107), we seek to add to the debate, already initiated by researchers such as Gill (), Marlow and McAdam (), and Dy, Marlow, and Martin (), concerning the observation that entrepreneurialism may not offer the promised escape from sexism. As Marlow () argues, while ‘there is now a focus on how not if gendered assumptions affect women's entrepreneurial behaviour, considerable scope still remains to critically analyse the how aspect’ (p. 103).…”