Representações sociais do empreendedorismo no feminino e no masculino: investigação com estudantes

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is considered a process that is socially constructed by social cognitions and everyday practices that shape and are shaped by gender relations. The aim of this study was to understand social representations of entrepreneurship, an activity generally formulated as a masculine one. The expectation was that gender representations and stereotypy influenced the conceptions about men and women entrepreneurs. We used the method of free word association, with analysis of central and peripheral representations. A valuation of attributes was found, such as leadership, dynamism, creativity and innovation. These attributes are associated with the Schumpeter ideology of entrepreneurship. However, the peripheral core representations come with more complex and critical nuances. An association between attributes of entrepreneurship and male stereotype was found, whereas a greater heterogeneity emerged in representations of entrepreneurial women, evoking attributes associated with the female stereotype (friendliness, beauty, elegance, vanity).