Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Gendered Entrepreneurship and British South Asian Women in the Culture Industries

Abstract

The 200 Richest Asians Magazines 2000, 2002, 2003 construct the success of British South Asian multi-millionaires in images that foreground their masculine traits and characteristics. And yet, this paper argues, such individual success stories are merely the tip of an “entrepreneurial iceberg”. They mask the existence of clusters of immigrant enterprises concentrated in particular economic sectors and industries. These may be headed by women as well as men. While South Asian men in Britain initially dominated the food, clothing, property and IT economic enclaves, the entry of second- and third-generation migrants into professional self-employment in the media and culture industries has included a substantial number of women as well. Like other South Asian millionaires, however, to understand the rise of South Asian women media millionaires, the paper argues, we need to look beyond individual success stories to the historical formation of a growing South Asian enclave economy in the culture industries in Britain, in which women play a major role.