Women's rural businesses: for economic viability or gender equality? – a database study from the Swedish context

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss to what extent and why women's entrepreneurship contributes to rural economic viability and gender equality in an advanced welfare state.Design/methodology/approach The authors use detailed register data to explore men's and women's rural businesses in the most common industries for rural women entrepreneurs in the Swedish welfare state. Based on a literature review, the authors develop hypotheses and analyse how family, business and industry factors influence earnings.Findings Women's rural entrepreneurship is important for rural viability, as women's businesses provide a wide range of services necessary for life in rural areas. Although women's rural businesses are not significantly smaller than those of men, women's income is lower and more sensitive to business and industry variables. Marriage has positive effects for the earnings of men but negative effects for the earnings of women. The authors argue that the results are contingent on the gendering of entrepreneurship and industries, as well as on the local rural gender contracts. For these reasons, the importance of women entrepreneurs for rural viability is not reflected in their own incomes. Hence, women's rural entrepreneurship does not result in (economic) gender equality.Originality/value Entrepreneurship scholars rarely explore women's rural entrepreneurship, and particularly not in the Global North or Western welfare states. Therefore, this empirical study from Sweden provides novel information on how the gender order on the business, industry and family levels influences the income of men and women entrepreneurs differently.

Female entrepreneurship in family business: bibliographic analysis

“…Tillmar et al. (2022), in the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship , examine the extent to which women's entrepreneurship contributes to rural economic viability and gender equality in Sweden.…”

“…, 2022), and how traditional rules and roles have been challenged over time (Hollander and Bukowitz, 1990; Frishkoff and Brown, 1993; Cole, 1997). For some authors, female entrepreneurship in rural areas has favored women's position in society and benefited gender economic equality (Tillmar et al. , 2022; Agarwal et al., 2021), yet for others it is a false promise for women (Marlow et al ., 2019).…”

“…As a result, more women became self-employed or helped run family businesses related to tourism, the hotel and restaurant industry, design, fashion and the arts (Muñoz and P erez, 2007). Scholars investigated both the critical issues hindering women's participation in family business, such as stereotypes and discrimination, women's attitudes towards their role (Salganicoff, 1990;Tillmar et al, 2022), and how traditional rules and roles have been challenged over time (Hollander and Bukowitz, 1990;Frishkoff and Brown, 1993;Cole, 1997). For some authors, female entrepreneurship in rural areas has favored women's position in society and benefited gender economic equality (Tillmar et al, 2022;Agarwal et al, 2021), yet for others it is a false promise for women (Marlow et al, 2019).…”

“…Overall, the papers provide insights into the complex interplay between women's entrepreneurship and family business, highlighting the importance of understanding the unique challenges and opportunities presented by these contexts Liguori et al, 2018;Arzubiaga et al, 2018;Welsh and Kaciak, 2019). Tillmar et al (2022), in the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, examine the extent to which women's entrepreneurship contributes to rural economic viability and gender equality in Sweden. They find that women's businesses are important for rural viability, but their income is lower than men's and more sensitive to business and industry variables.…”

“…5.2.5 Cluster 3. women entrepreneurs in humanitarian family businesses. Cluster 3, shown in green in Figure 5, contains 21% of the articles that study women's entrepreneurship in emerging economies through the creation of humanitarian family businesses (Fairlie and Robb, 2009;Zainalaludin, 2012;Tillmar et al, 2022;Raman et al, 2022). Some keywords in this group are human, article, female and entrepreneur.…”