Ties that Bind or Blind? The Role of Identity and Place in Understanding Women Entrepreneurs Support

Abstract

Women operating in male-dominated spaces face challenges to their legitimacy as entrepreneurs. These legitimacy challenges trigger reflections into who they are as authentic entrepreneurs, and where they belong within entrepreneurial contexts. To address these legitimacy claims, they enact identity work to construct their identities at the intersection of gender and entrepreneurship. Thus, we ask how do women entrepreneurs’ role identities, personal identities and identity work shape their perception of gendered support places such as WBCs? Our findings detail the challenges women experience when navigating enterprise support and how this triggers reflections into the legitimacy of their entrepreneurial identities. On one hand, women work to create socially validated identities as women entrepreneurs, advocating gendered spaces and approaches to enterprise support. On the other hand, women work to create a coherent and resilient sense of self, advocating integration into mainstream enterprise support environments.