Mums with cameras: Technological change, entrepreneurship and motherhood

Robyn Mayes, Penelope Williams and Paula McDonald

Gender, Work and Organization, 2020, vol. 27, issue 6, 1468-1484

Abstract: This article examines the discursive framing of motherhood and entrepreneurship in the context of the Australian photography industry. Drawing on interviews with both male and female professional photographers, we analyse framings of ‘the mumtographer’ and ‘mums with cameras’. Moving beyond the emphasis in the extant literature on mother business owners in general, our analysis delineates an industry‐specific articulation of the mumpreneur and expands debates around the gender politics of the juxtaposition of entrepreneurship and motherhood. In doing so, we offer insights into the hitherto neglected dimensions of technological change and feminization informing constructions of mumpreneurship. We elucidate masculine constructions of mumpreneurship, adopted in part by female interviewees, and highlight women's understandings of their experiences in the industry as occurring in response to this masculine framing. In concluding we argue that this industry framing not only situates mumpreneurship as feminized practice but demonstrates a broader politicization of motherhood and entrepreneurship in which the entrepreneurial work of mothers is negated if not vilified.

Date: 2020
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