A Gender-Aware Framework for women Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

Summarizing and analyzing the article “A gender-aware framework for women’s entrepreneurship” The contributions of women entrepreneurs to society andto the family’s coffers have often been understudied and not as well appreciated as the achievements of their male counterparts. In their article entitled “A gender-aware framework for women’s entrepreneurship”, Brush, Bruin and Welter (2009) discussed the many problems that women entrepreneurs face at home and it their jobs. The authors suggested and offered a new framework for a more holistic understanding of women’s entrepreneurship. In studying and coming up with their new entrepreneurial framework for women, the authors build on the traditional “3Ms” of entrepreneurship namely, markets, money and management and proposed that the “3Ms” need to evolve and include gender-awareness in meso and macro environment (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). To prove their theory that gender-awareness plays a vital role in understand the entrepreneurial developments of women, the authors reviewed related literatures from 1996-2006. The goal of the authors is to study the evolution of women entrepreneurship and come up with a framework that will serve a springboard for further discussions regarding the issue (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). Based on their study, the authors came up with the “5M” framework which covers the traditional “3Ms” of business plus two others namely, motherhood and meso/macro environment (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). In defining motherhood, the authors refer to this term as a metaphor which represents the family context. By defining motherhood as part of the entrepreneurial framework for women, the authors hoped to draw the attention of the readers to the fact that family and the household may have more impact on the entrepreneurial activities of women and it has on men (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). Since most women have to balance their family activities and responsibilities with their entrepreneurial ventures, there is a big possibility that women may have to make a choice between expanding their business and spending more time with their families. The issue of gender gap between men and women does not only affect the way that women conduct business, it also affects the way they socialize (Jennings & McDougald, 2007). When it comes to the meso and macro environment, the authors said that “factors such as expectations of society and culture norms” affect the way women conduct their business. The meso/macro environment “reflects the regional support polices, services and initiatives” and if these support systems are not gender sensitive, in effect, these support systems may affect the business activities of women including their access to money, market and management (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). Women are still bound by their traditional roles as homemakers and since these women are still bound by their traditional roles as homemakers, they usually do not enjoy enough support from their community when it comes to their entrepreneurial activities (Goodwin, Stevens & Brenner, 2006). The gender biased policies of governments and institutions often make it even harder for women entrepreneurs to expand their business and become more competitive. Without proper support mechanisms, accessing money, market and management become very difficult for women entrepreneurs. The authors pointed out in their article that gender inequality and gender structured roles often affect women entrepreneurs more than their male counterparts (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). I wholeheartedly agree with this observation and I believe that many women entrepreneurs are unable to realize their full potentials because of gender inequality. The child bearing and the child rearing roles of women have hindered many women entrepreneurs from achieving more. In fact, a lot of women entrepreneurs surrender their business ventures in favor of child bearing and child rearing (Goodwin, Stevens & Brenner, 2006). Although child bearing and child rearing are very important roles and it is not wrong for women to favor these roles above others, the problem here is that in some cultures, women are left alone by their spouses to take care of the children. In effect, women entrepreneurs who are still in their child bearing and child rearing years need to balance their roles as mothers with their roles as businesswomen (Goodwin, Stevens & Brenner, 2006). For women entrepreneurs to stay competitive despite their other roles in society, the authors suggested that gender roles need to be reevaluated and the society’s understanding of women entrepreneurs need to “move from the individual to fit in the family by assuming utility maximization of a joint utility function and simple optimality of household division of labor and distribution of income” (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). This means that if we take women entrepreneurship more in the context of family business, it would be easier for the women to thrive and excel in their business without compromising their roles as mothers and homemakers (Brush, Bruin and Welter, 2009). Technically, this is the ideal situation but the problem with this idea presented by the authors is that in many places around the world, shared parenting is not being practiced and it may take generations before the ideas of shared parenting becomes the norm in these places. Still, the ideas presented by the authors are good springboards for discussions especially on the areas of legislation. The general implication of the article is that if legislators understand the roles of women better, they will be able to come up with policies that provide support to women entrepreneurs and give them better access to money, market and management. Moreover, there is a need for other sectors of society, especially the media to promote and uplift the status of women entrepreneurs in the eyes of the public. Supporting women’s economic ventures do not just help put more money on the family coffers it can also help build society and stimulate the economy. By supporting the activities of women entrepreneurs, we do not only empower women, we also build stronger and more economically viable society. Works Cited Brush, C.G., Bruin, A. , Welter, F. (2009), “A gender-aware framework for women’s entrepreneurship”, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 8-24 Goodwin, L., Stevens, C., Brenner, N. (2006) “Forced to play by the rules? Theorizing how mixed-sex founding teams benefit women entrepreneurs in male-dominated contexts” Entrepreneurship Theory & practice, Vo. 30 No. 5, pp. 623-42 Jennings, J.E. and McDougald, M.S. (2007), “Work-family interface experiences and coping strategies: implications for entrepreneurship research and practice”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 747-60 Read More