The sexual division of labor and the organization of family and firm in an overseas Chinese community

Abstract

Scholars of the Chinese entrepreneurial ethic describe married women's primary entrepreneurial strategy as an indirect one—motivating sons to work hard for the family. Research in a community of overseas Chinese entrepreneurs, however, reveals diversity in married women's strategies. After cross-tabulating a number of variables, including family type, spatial organization, and firm size, this article concludes that firm size is the most influential factor with respect to women's strategies and roles. Its impact is explained in terms of the relationship of entrepreneurial ideology to Chinese family relationships and sex roles. [China, women, entre-preneurship, developmental cycle, sexual division of labor]