Entrepreneurship Driven by Masculine Norms - Assignment Example

Entrepreneurship is driven by a masculine norm Contents Contents 1 Introduction 2 Entrepreneurship driven by masculine norms 3 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Entrepreneurship can be stated as identifying and starting up a business venture. Entrepreneurship even involves sourcing of the required resources and organizing those resources, and even taking the rewards and risks associated with the business venture. Entrepreneurship may result into revitalization of any mature organization or form a new organization depending upon the available business opportunity. The entrepreneurial activities majorly depend on the creativity and type of the organization that is involved. In the recent years the major driver of the economic growth in Western Europe and United States has been entrepreneurship (Allen, Elam, Langowitz and Dean, 2008, pp. 67-68). The entrepreneur is even termed as innovator, or one who is responsible to generate new ideas and new forms of business processes. A successful entrepreneur requires various skills such as strong team building capabilities and management skills which are the essential leadership attributes behind such success. The entrepreneurial activity has been an indispensable factor behind the success of prosperity and social development. Even the countries rely on such entrepreneurships that generate more of revenue for the corporate than relying on the corporate managers. There have been many researches on the entrepreneurial activities and it has been clearly justified that this kind of activities is not for every other individual. There has been a clear gender gap between the prevalence of such entrepreneurial activities, which has drawn a clear distinction between the male and female entrepreneurs. This gender gap can be related to the ongoing gender differences in the society (Bem, 1993, pp. 123-124). The society still relates the start up for business venture as more of masculine activities. Entrepreneurship driven by masculine norms The society of male dominance can also be seen on the workplace. It is believed that the most powerful places are hold by men and women are expected to follow them. The managerial positions or the top positions of companies are no exception. The expectations from the policy makers on innovation and entrepreneurship activities places more emphasis on the high growth, individualistic ventures, and high-tech, these are rather the traditional ways of starting up entrepreneurial activities and often stated as the ‘masculine ways’. The cultural gender gap results into a statistical gap between the genders in entrepreneurship. The gender system is defined as the cultural system of norms that specifically states the social role of women and men. These gender bodies have separate feminine and masculine characteristics, and thus feminine is separated from what is regarded as masculine norms in the society. The most common ways of seeing the difference is that man having more of employment ratios compared to that of women (Billing and Alvesson, 1989, pp. 63-80). Masculine characteristics are associated with more of household work and that of men is to earn the bread for the house. In case of entrepreneurial activities it is clearly seen by males having the best of opportunities to start up their own business venture in relation to the females. It is often considered that the entrepreneurship can be associated with masculine figures which devote entire energy and time to the business operations. There are four ways of viewing genders. Firstly, men and women have equal opportunities. They possess the same democratic right, and depriving an individual of their right to grab an opportunity should not be a result of any societal culture. Secondly, in terms of competence view male and female should possess equal potential to contribute towards further development of the society (Bruni, Gherardi and Poggio, 2005, pp. 101-102). Thirdly, both the genders possess different values towards the life and they should not be deprived of living their lives based on their values just because of any firm societal structures. Fourthly, the genders have specific roles towards the society which states that their complementary contribution would benefit the society some way or the other and they should not be deprived of performing their roles just on the basis of a gender biased society. The entrepreneurial activities differ from one country to another depending upon the forms of ventures. Such activities have a clear distinction when performed in Europe, compared to America, and subsequently there exist differences in such activities in Asia. For instance when it comes to high income economies entrepreneurship can be stated as an alternative to the employment whereas in case of low income economies entrepreneurship is a necessity so as to survive in that economy (Butler, 1990, pp. 82-84). Most companies on recent dates are taking care to fill the gap of gender biasness and can be seen as the way to maintain healthy organizational culture. The most recent example can be of Walmart where they have take the measures to maintain a stable male female ratio between the male and female workers. This can be the path finder for other companies who are striving to maintain organizational culture. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report states that there is a gender gap in the entrepreneurial activities. Women are venturing and running their business in vast number of countries and that too under fluctuating conditions. Such women entrepreneurship is the salient feature behind the economic stabilization of many countries. It has also been the major contributor in areas of Caribbean and Latin America which is low-mid income economy. There still exists a strong gender gap in relation to a business ownership or creation of a new business venture. This gap is very prominent and it considerably varies depending on the region or rather the GDP of the country. The high income countries more clearly depicts the gender differences that prevail in the regions of Europe and Asia (Carter and Rosa, 1998, pp. 225-241). Having a social network which comprises of other entrepreneurs and being employed are stronger predictors of this kind of women entrepreneurship’s rather than the household income. Self-confidence, reduced fear of failure, and optimism are some of the perpetual factors that are the stronger predictors of women entrepreneurship’s. There are different situations that women find themselves to be in compared to that of men, which results into different kinds of perceptions about the world. Under similar situation as the report states women possess different perception in relation to males. The diverse circumstances and perspectives have an implication on the policymaking which leads to customized policies. Statistical reports reveal that there exists high income inequality between male and female working personals. The only reasons which can be stated behind such reports are higher salary which comes from men holding up the higher ranks. However the scenario is vast changing. If the managerial positions of some of the top notch multinational firms are considered it can be found that women are handling the situation at par with men however one can argue whether women can handle the situations as men but such argum3ents are beyond the scope of this paper. The GEM report states that women contribute to one third of the total entrepreneurial activities. In Finland, as per the statistics men are twice more inclined towards starting up a new business venture compared to that of women. The report includes various ratios that state that men are more than twice likely to experience the growth of their entrepreneurship future due to vast business opportunities than just a basic necessity to gain income for survival. The entrepreneurial phenomenon is greatly affected by the cultural norms in the society based on the ways females and males behave and think in respect to a particular situation. The entrepreneurship researchers has summarised various reasons tracked back to the femininity and masculinity that is related to the entrepreneurial activities. As compared to a form necessity in relation to entrepreneurship it is more for women compared to that of men, which implies that females would not enter into a risk of starting a new business venture unless until it is a necessity for survival. The researchers even have stated the concept in their report that entrepreneurship is regarded as a masculine activity. In the recent years entrepreneur has been regarded as a saviour in the context of modern economy. Even the mass media presents the role models that are often decisive, tough, working with technology intensive sectors, and even billionaires who are more of growth oriented. It even reflects o the fact that women in terms of education and employment are observed to be located in other sectors and even if starts up a new venture expects its business to be a source of desirable income, feels themselves to be indifferent towards the masculine concepts of entrepreneurships (Doyle and Young, 2001, pp. 76-77). The masculine norms such as huge capital investment, huge risks, development of new strategies and managing a vast work culture are always the key drivers of entrepreneurship. These drivers are associated with masculinity as it subjects to high tolerance ad power. This kind of perception is usually due to the indifferences that still persist in our society. Females are often considered to be less risk taker and nowadays more of being associated with the corporate environment than to take the risk of starting up their own new business venture. There even exists a strong reluctance from the females to do any kind of negotiations in the venture capital. The women entrepreneurs do not fit into the stereotype that is expected by the providers of the venture capital out of a masculine entrepreneurship. The females are perceived to be not fitting into such stereotype and often regarded as deviating entity. The females are considered to be associated with that part of the sectors in the economy that are less interesting. There is very less chances according to the cultural norms to see the integration of entrepreneurship in the family life. Women have been always considered by the society to be responsible towards the household matters. Thus the main issue of entrepreneurship is to see in reality the integration of the business and the family life. The common view is that women will take care of the household activities while man will focus on earnings. The entrepreneurship research strongly emphasizes on the importance of social networks. Various research reports based on entrepreneurship indicates that women has very small circle of social networks comprising of very close relations (Lotti, 2009, pp. 59-62). This in turn indicates a problematic situation in an economy where the business opportunities and the parameters of growth in the business venture highly depends on the large scale of social networking. Thus this kind of activities of networking and building connections are associated with masculine characteristics as it is not observed much in the females, which makes it an essential masculine norm that drives the entrepreneurial activities. The term entrepreneurship is related to innovation, exploring opportunities, more of an individualistic approach but there even are two specific terms that are strongly related to entrepreneurship which are risk and uncertainty. The business ventures encompasses various risks may that be financial, operational etc. Often a venture may not yield the most desirable outcomes so it is always preferable for the entrepreneurs the list of uncertainties that is directly linked with their business operations. The view on these aspects that is the uncertainty and risk associated with the business venture is different based on the national culture. It has been always stated that males find it easier or are more prone towards going against such cultural norms in relation to the females. The term entrepreneurship is perceived to be located within the symbolic view of masculinity. The entrepreneurial activities are set and are sustained based on the masculinity norms. These norms tend to subject the female entrepreneurs to various cultural barriers. The hegemonic masculinity has impacted the society to a great extent. The term masculinity represented more of a universality which deleted the distinction between the genders. It is always considered that ‘man’ involves all the persons from both the genders. The power, authority, aggression are always related to the masculine features. As entrepreneurship is related to more of power and authority it has strong connections with such masculine characteristics. These norms relates to more of rationalization, sustainability, control and authority (Hausmann, Tyson and Zahidi, 2007, pp. 92-93). The interaction between structure in business and individuals in the society are responsible for the evolution of entrepreneurship. The set of structures that affects that entrepreneurship model is the gender structures that differentiate the male gender from the females. Various researches has stated that women entrepreneurs often starts their new business venture in the service sectors compared to male entrepreneurs who starts up their new business ventures in high tech industries and industrial manufacturing. The societal norms have resulted into such gender segregation into various sectors. The current research on entrepreneurship has stated that women entrepreneurship on the basis of the feminine characteristics is becoming invisible in the present scenario. The masculine norms are dominating the practice and research associated with entrepreneurship. 30% of the new ventures are started off by women entrepreneurs but yet there is no significant success and growth of their entrepreneurial activities. This invisibility is mainly due to more of a male dominated society or perceptions towards masculine and feminine characteristics. The societal impact of not giving the females the chance to explore their ways of dealing with business opportunities have given more advantage to the males of setting the business policies and structure accordance to masculine norms. The clear distinction between the genders has resulted into relating terms such as risk undertaking, venture capital usage, building strong network connections, and performing high tech operations as masculine norms that are essential for the business to run successfully. Whether it may be leadership or entrepreneurial activities have specific gender connotations. The male hierarchical model in the business operations makes it very difficult for the women to reach into the top positions of the pinnacle. Entrepreneurs are often regarded as a group that is homogeneous which possess similar entrepreneurial mindset and similar characteristics. This states that there is one right way of being a successful entrepreneur which has always been traditionally linked with masculine behaviours. This has posed a challenge for the female entrepreneurs to built in themselves such masculine abilities and require help so as to change their entire mindset related to the entrepreneurial activities. This kind of mindset has greatly impacted the success of the female entrepreneurs. Though there has been a significant growth in the entrepreneurial activities in the various economies but it still greatly dominated by the males. The less risk undertaking nature of the females has related the whole group as a deviating norm in the business venture. The traits and behaviour of the female entrepreneurs such as trust worthiness, loyalty, and sincerity do not match to the significant policies and activities of an entrepreneur (Maxfield, 2005, pp. 114-117). Over the years business ventures have always been considered to be only for males simply because the aggression and power that is needed to drive a business to some extent is not present in the female entrepreneurs. The necessity of operating a business is linked with the masculine characteristics more of a ‘go-getter’ attitude. On the contrary there exists the innovative skills in the females of starting up a different kind of venture but they lack the power of bearing with huge risks and uncertainties as per the social discrimination. This has resulted into making the whole idea of entrepreneurship linked with masculinity rather than femininity. Conclusion Entrepreneurship is strongly related to the masculine space and is regarded as a gender role stereotype. The growth oriented approach, decisive nature, handling of various modern technology and systems, and being tough attitude are some of the characteristics that well defines the entrepreneurial approach. This kind of traits is well observed in males which have resulted into stating the entrepreneurial attitudes as masculine norms. According to societal differences between the males and females that have created perceptions that males are more comfortable in entering into a business venture compared to that of women. The smaller local networks of females, and less possibility of integration of the family life with the business activities makes it very challenging for the females to sustain their business venture. On the contrary males have the inbuilt characteristics in them to overcome in any risk or undesirable outcome of their business operations which makes such traits the driving force behind the entrepreneurial activities which is a major factor behind the revenue generation of any country. Thus, masculinity norms actually drive entrepreneurship, and though there are females emerging in this field but it still highly dominated by males and their set of standards and policies. References Allen, I. E., Elam, A., Langowitz, N., and Dean, M. 2008. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. 2007 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. Wellesley, MA: Babson College. Bem, S. L. 1993. The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality. London: Yale University Press. Billing, Y. D., and Alvesson, M. 1989. Four ways of looking at women and leadership. Scandinavian Journal of Management. Vol. 5(1), pp. 63-80. Bruni, A., Gherardi, S., and Poggio, B. 2005. Gender and Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Approach. New York: Routledge. Butler, J. 1990. Gender trouble – feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge. Carter, N., and Rosa, P. 1998. The Financing of Male- and Female-Owned Business. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. Vol. 10 (2), pp. 225-241 Doyle, B., Young, P. 2001. Entrepreneurial Networks in the Micro Business Sector: Examining Differences across Gender and Business Stag. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hausmann, R., Tyson, L. D., and Zahidi, S. 2007. The Global Gender Gap report 2007. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Lotti, F. 2009. Entrepreneurship: Is there a gender gap. Rome: Bank of Italy. Maxfield, S. 2005. The entrepreneurship gender gap in global perspective. Boston: Simmons School of Management, Centre for Gender in Organizations. Read More