Shaking up and unleashing the power of alternative, gendered stereotypes

Robert Smith

Entreprendre & innover, 2021, vol. n° 49-50, issue 2, 24-34

Abstract: The treatment of gender issues in entrepreneurship and civil society generates contradictory feelings of discrimination and inequality centered around the dominance of the heroic male entrepreneur which crowds out alternative gendered stereotypes and role models. In literature and in practice, the stereotypical entrepreneur is assumed to be male, successful, and heterosexual, and to conform to a heroic social script enshrined in the classic entrepreneur story of overcoming obstacles and hardships. Gendered, ethnic, or class-based groupings that do not conform to this eulogized narrative are considered suspect. Yet, gender is a dual-sex construct including many positive entrepreneurial stereotypes and role models, such as ?the Diva? and ?the Matriarch,? among others, for women. These are role models that can be adopted and performed in opposition to the heroic entrepreneurial narrative. Building on the author?s published stream of work, this review demonstrates the power and utility of such alternative social constructs to shake up the established gendered social order as differing forms of gendered social capitals. Entrepreneurship is a life choice and identity position and there should be no gender-based barriers or obstructions to the construction of entrepreneurial careers?only differentiated, storied entrepreneurial identities which reposition the entrepreneurial narrative as non-gendered, complementary, and inclusive. Adopting differentiated entrepreneurial identities helps reconstruct an entrepreneurial identity that is representative of individualized circumstances.

Date: 2021
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