Entrepreneurial feminism
Open-knowledge reference entry
Entrepreneurial feminism, developed from social feminism, is a theory that explains how feminist values are enacted through the venture creation process to improve the position of women in society. Coined by Barbara Orser and Catherine Elliott, entrepreneurship is viewed as a mechanism to create economic self-sufficiency and equity-based outcomes for girls and women. Entrepreneurial feminists enter commercial markets to create wealth and social change, based on the ethics of cooperation, equality, and mutual respect.
Orser was further inspired to explore the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship after a number of scholars raised concerns over the "masculinization" of entrepreneurship, along with the publication of numerous studies demonstrating the effects of one's gender with respect to their self-image as an entrepreneur. As noted by Orser, the studies demonstrated that the entrepreneurial domain is dominated by a masculine discourse, and that the reinforcement of gendered stereotypes has led to the personification of the entrepreneur as a masculine entity.
Through their research and literature on the subject, Barbara Orser and Catherine Elliot aim to merge the studies of feminism and entrepreneurship, which have historically remained distinct areas of study and discourse. The majority of the existing research conducted by Orser, Elliot, and Leck aims to analyze how feminist values are enacted and manifested throughout the process of venture creation. Through their work, they aim to contribute to the literature by broadening the general understanding of entrepreneurial identity while simultaneously debunking the gendered constructs of entrepreneurship. In her research on "Feminist Attributes and Entrepreneurial Identity", Orser notes that "few studies have questioned the validity or applicability of a binary masculine/feminine nomenclature used to portray the entrepreneur".
In their studies of entrepreneurial feminism, Orser and Elliot employ a qualitative method of research, as they contend that it is particularly useful in order to derive the meaning of particular phenomena.
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