“Bloody Wonder Woman!”: Identity performances of elite women entrepreneurs on Instagram

Abstract

Critical scholarship has challenged traditional assumptions of entrepreneurship as a ‘neutral’ economic activity; demonstrating instead how entrepreneurship is a cultural phenomenon. In particular, enterprise culture has been exposed as fundamentally masculinist, so that women entrepreneurs are said to be measured against gendered values and ideals. What remains relatively unexplored, however, are the ways the identity performances of women entrepreneurs on social media reflect and reproduce inequalities that extend beyond gender. In this article, we examine how highly privileged Australian women entrepreneurs perform their identities on Instagram. In applying intersectionality theory, our study finds that the entrepreneurs produced idealised feminine identities by leveraging the intersections of white, elite class, heteronormative, able-bodied power within a broader neoliberal discourse. In doing so, our analysis points to how romanticised ideals of women’s economic empowerment in digital spaces may obscure the perpetuation of systemic and structural oppression.

Fashioning an elite entrepreneurial identity via the endorsement of gendered, designer dress codes and artefacts of success

“…Entrepreneurial identity [EI] is a topical research stream in contemporary entrepreneurship research circles, particularly in relation to the performance of identity (see Jones et al, 2019;Kašperová et al, 2018;Lewis, 2004;Manning et al, 2019;Pitt, 2004;Warren, 2004Warren, , 2005. This study relates to a specific sub-set of EI, namely that associated by the super-rich, 'Entrepreneurial Elite' (see also Heizmann and Liu, 2020;Kantola and Kuusela, 2018;Nadin et al, 2020) in a UK/US context. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial identities are diverse and specific identity constructs are only relevant to their entrepreneurial sub-set.…”

Experiencing liminality: At the crossroads of neoliberal and gendered experiences

“…First, it theoretically contributes to the critical women entrepreneurship literature by theorizing the tensions experienced by middle to upper-middle-class women entrepreneurs in India through the concept of liminality. Previous literature on women entrepreneurship studies have highlighted the challenges of neoliberal ideology among women entrepreneurs as well as the policymakers (Ahl & Marlow, 2021;Heizmann & Liu, 2020;Nadin et al, 2020), however, they did not explore the experiences of women entrepreneurs at the crossroads of neoliberal and gendered experiences, something that the present study does. Also, none of the previous studies use the lens of liminality to illuminate the experiences of women entrepreneurs.…”

“…In the face of globalization, women in India, especially those from a particular socio‐economic section such as the educated urban middle to upper‐middle class, are increasingly experiencing a different upbringing and lifestyle (Bhuimali & Kumar, 2007). Studies in the past have shown that gender interacts with class and other social categories in the way women experience entrepreneurship (Dy et al., 2017; Essers et al., 2010; Heizmann & Liu, 2020). Middle to upper‐middle‐class women entrepreneurs in India are not brought up as submissive discriminated entities anymore but as independent individuals who are encouraged to earn higher education, to participate in familial decision‐making processes, to promote their views and opinions, and more importantly to control their own lives (Dutta, 1999; Lahiri‐Dutt & Sil, 2004).…”

“…Heizmann and Liu (2020) in their study among elite Australian women entrepreneurs found the performance of “idealized” feminine identities on social media within a broader neoliberal discourse. Likewise, Nadin et al.…”

“…In that sense, neoliberalism upgrades the focus on "individualized entrepreneurial femininity" and downgrades the role of social categories including age, ethnicity, class, gender, or race, thereby, normalizing the prevailing gender stereotypes and discriminatory treatments toward women entrepreneurs (Byrne et al, 2019). Heizmann and Liu (2020) in their study among elite Australian women entrepreneurs found the performance of "idealized" feminine identities on social media within a broader neoliberal discourse. Likewise, Nadin et al (2020) analyzed the representation of women entrepreneurs in a UK newspaper from 2008 to 2016 and found a "heroic" entrepreneurial femininity "equivalent of the mythologized male hero-accomplished, hard-working and successful at work and home" (p. 557).…”