“This Place Makes me Proud to be a Woman”: Theoretical explanations for success in entrepreneurship education for low-income women

Abstract

Despite serving women who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and despite being chronically under-funded and short-staffed, Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) in the United States have been extraordinarily successful in helping women start businesses [Langowitz, N., Sharpe, N., & Godwyn, M. (2006). Women’s Business Centers in the United States: Effective entrepreneurship training and policy implementation. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 19(2)]. The purpose of this research is to determine the social mechanisms that explain the success of WBCs. Two theories are applied: the macro-theory of middleman minorities [Bonacich, E. (1980). The Economic basis of ethnic solidarity: Small businesses in the Japanese American community. Berkeley: University of California Press; Butler, J. S. (2005a). Entrepreneurship and self-help among Black Americans: A reconsideration of race and economics. NY: State University of New York Press; Butler, J. S. (2005b). Regional wealth creation and the 21st century: Women and “Minorities” in the tradition of economic strangers. Unpublished manuscript. IC@ Institute/Herb Kelleher Center. The University of Texas at Austin], and the microconcept of stereotype threat [Steele, C. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape the intellectual identities and performance of women and African-Americans. American Psychologist, 52, 613–629]. Through survey, focus group and interview data analysis, this study extends the application of middleman minority theory to capture gender solidarity and demonstrates the conceptual applicability of stereotype threat to professional identity. Techniques used by WBCs to engender intra-group solidarity and neutralize the stereotype threat experienced by many female entrepreneurs may be applied to a variety of educational and workplace environments to create “identity safety” for groups whose performance is at risk. Additionally, the methodology used here provides both qualitative and quantitative measurements that are readily transferable to other settings.