Abstract
Since the collapse of North Korea's command economy in the 1990s, a large number of women have become entrepreneurs. This remarkable feature of North Korean marketisation cannot be adequately explained by female entrepreneur (FE) deficit premises, which highlight women's supposed shortcomings in what is considered a male enterprise. Based on in-depth interviews with female North Korean defectors, and viewing entrepreneurship as a catalyst for socio-cultural change, this paper questions how FEs emerged in North Korea and whether women's market participation influences gender relations, or attitudes toward the North Korean regime. There have been noticeable changes in gender roles, son preference and choice of marriage partners. Our findings suggest that female entrepreneurship has the potential to both challenge and support the North Korean system. This research significantly advances scholarship on gender and entrepreneurship by adopting a constructionist approach to gender and transcending the prevalence of descriptive analysis of gendered entrepreneurial practices.
Highlights
Scholars on female entrepreneurship have indicated that studies in the discipline must “move away from traditional, broad-sweeping quantitative approaches towards more focused qualitative and innovative methodologies such as in-depth interviews, life histories, case studies, ethnography or discourse analysis” (Henry, Foss & Ahl, 2016, p. 236)
To fill the void in research on FEs and go beyond descriptive analysis of female entrepreneurship as gendered practice, this research is based on in-depth interviews
Consideration of the experiences of North Koreans living in North Korea during each of the three generations of dynastic rule (those of Kim Il Sung (1948-1994), Kim Jong Il (1994-2011) and Kim Jong Un (2012-the present) yields important insights into the changing attitudes toward socialism unfolding in the country
Summary
Scholars on female entrepreneurship have indicated that studies in the discipline must “move away from traditional, broad-sweeping quantitative approaches towards more focused qualitative and innovative methodologies such as in-depth interviews, life histories, case studies, ethnography or discourse analysis” (Henry, Foss & Ahl, 2016, p. 236). “Why would you want to marry a military officer whose only possession is nothing but dust once discharged from the military?” (Kang, 30-year-old female, interviewed May 2015) These changes in women’s attitudes and role within the family may be evidence of how entrepreneurship and related activities can be “generators of change,” both individually and socio-culturally She continued: “I may not understand politics or economics, but this is what I feel” (Lee, 26-year-old female, interviewed May 2015) Noting this wavering loyalty to the regime, another interviewee who was a school teacher who traded primarily in musical instruments revealed: People no longer obey the government . We move on to discuss the likelihood of political change and resistance, and if these changes do not threaten the regime, how it could manage to survive
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