Gender, intersecting identities, and entrepreneurship research: an introduction to a special section on intersectionality

Abstract

Guest editorial Gender, intersecting identities, and entrepreneurship research: an introduction to a special section on intersectionality We are delighted to present this special section of IJEBR. It brings together a collection of innovative research addressing gender and entrepreneurship from an intersectionality perspective. An intersectional perspective recognizes that no single identity category can satisfactorily explain how we respond to our social environment or are responded to by others. People experience multiple identities and these identities are both fluid and stable. We focus on gender as the common identity category in this special section because, while it is not always and everywhere the most important social identity, gender is the most pervasive, visible and codified (Shields, 2008). Many feminist authors follow an intersectional research approach because of their strong belief in its radical potential to change social practice and its ability to "free individuals and social groups from the normative fix of a hegemonic order" (McCall, 2005, p. 1777). In entrepreneurship, researchers may be drawn by the promise of intersectionality in enabling more complex and inclusive understandings of experience. These convictions are particularly palpable in the first two papers presented in this collection. First, in their conceptual paper, "New direction for entrepreneurship through a gender and disability lens," Williams and Patterson examine the neglected nexus of disability and gender. They bring together literature on women's entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and disability, and feminist disability to identify a number of theoretical synergies and variances in the extant work. Different ways of construing intersectionalityby different researchers and within and between disparate disciplinesoften make it difficult to ensure that the academic conversation begins from the same pointof reference (Shields, 2008). Patterson and Williams paper succeeds in bridging research across a number of disciplines and reconciles the reader with the tremendous potential of intersectionality for instigating real social change. Following this, in their article, "Intersectionality and mixed methods for social context in entrepreneurship," Dy and Agwunobi explore the conceptual possibilities of intersectionality and connect with recent calls for more contextualized entrepreneurship research throughout the field (Welter, 2011; Zahra and Wright, 2011). They propose intersectionality as a powerful interpretive frame for understanding social context, entrepreneurial activity and outcomes with a particular regard for agency and resource access. While many gender and entrepreneurship researchers have recognized the importance of studying varying social identity intersections in context, not many have yet taken up the challenge. In conventional social and behavioral research, intersectionality is frequently defined as a methodological challenge (Shields, 2008). Indeed, the suite of methodological tools available can impede the "r...

Everyday prejudices: an intersectional exploration of the experiences of lesbian and gay entrepreneurs

“…Overlapping and intersecting markers of identities are informed by prevailing social stereotypes resulting in a narrowing of the characterisations available to one's enacted subjectivity (Butler, 1993;Gill and Ganesh, 2007). Accordingly, it is a useful analytical framework as it can aid the illumination of differences, contractions and ambiguities when multiple identities connect to construct the entrepreneurial identity (Crenshaw, 1997;Essers and Benschop, 2009;Abbas et al, 2019;Martinez Dy, 2020).…”

Exploring differences in the antisocial behaviors of adolescent rule-breaking that affect entrepreneurial persistence

“…We have argued that gender and socioeconomic status are expected to independently moderate the relationship between antisocial behavior and entrepreneurial persistence. However, intersectionality theory calls attention to the way in which social structures are often comprised of three interlocking systems of power and oppression based upon class, gender and race [2] (Abbas et al. , 2019; Crenshaw, 1989).…”

“…It is particularly important to integrate intersectionality theory into entrepreneurship research since these interdependent identities intersect to shape resource access, which is often a foundation to entrepreneurship (Valdez, 2016; Wang, 2019). Yet, among entrepreneurship scholars there has been little consideration of intersectionality and how it may relate to entrepreneurial activity (Abbas et al. , 2019; Valdez, 2016).…”

“…, 2013). To develop a more complex understanding of the relationship between antisocial behavior and entrepreneurial behavior, scholars need to examine this relationship from the frame of intersectionality and be attentive to the varied power dynamics and social norms that differ based on race, gender, and class (Abbas et al. , 2019; Crenshaw, 1989).…”

Mobilising Identity: Entrepreneurial Practice of a ‘Disadvantaged’ Identity

“…Thus, the disadvantage of gender combines with problems of ethnic otherness that contrasts and clashes with socially constructed perceptions of the heroic white male entrepreneur (Nadin et al, 2020). Intersectionality recognises the overlap of multiple social identities, including gender, race, ethnicity, social class and religion (Abbas et al, 2019). Collins (2015, p. 2) argues that intersectionality not only references multiple social identities, but 'shapes complex social inequalities'.…”