Abstract
Entrepreneurship is often considered a male-gendered concept, and carries masculine connotations. However, the importance of women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the economy has recently been realized. Nonetheless, there is limited research about female entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship in the developing countries context. This paper challenges the implicit masculinism of the traditional entrepreneurship research, and aims to explore the enablers and constraints of female social entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country. Our theoretical focus is based on institutional and feminist perspectives, thus developing logic through reconciling predictions from these two competing theories. This integration contributes by offering novel insights about social entrepreneurship. Utilising an interpretive qualitative research approach, data from in-depth interviews with ten female social entrepreneurs of KP, Pakistan were analyzed using thematic analysis. Empirically, we identify and discuss a number of interesting and explanatory themes affecting female entrepreneurship such as “women empowerment, patriarchal culture, role of culture and societal norms, religious extremism and terrorism, forced entrepreneurs, change creators, unique institutional constraints, institutional corruption and security issues”. The findings highlight female entrepreneurs’ struggle for sustainability, and explain how this occurs. The paper also provides an interesting insight into how context determines social entrepreneurship in KP, Pakistan.
Highlights
Today, many women contribute to government, business, and politics
This paper challenges the implicit masculinism of the traditional entrepreneurship research, and aims to explore the enablers and constraints of female social entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country
Mrs A states, “We are living in 21st century, a century of advancements and opportunities, where women have even gone into the space, whereas in Khyber Pukhtunkhawa (KP) Pakistan seeing a woman driving on the road is still a surprising view for us”
Summary
Many women contribute to government, business, and politics. Recently we have seen a rapid expansion of the number of female entrepreneurs. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, and almost half of its population is women. It presents exemplary cases of women struggling with challenges of dynamic modernization, heritage, and conviction. Women are often thought best suited as “home makers” rather than being breadwinners. They are encouraged to stay at home and refrain from indulging in such pursuits. A small number of women still start entrepreneurship ventures; some have social objectives in mind. For these women, the dynamics of the context create interesting enablers and constraints for managing a business in Pakistan
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