This book examines the complexities of mothers who are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. This uniqueness and contribution to the area of women's entrepreneurship presents many challenges. One must historicize context; focus on socio-political realms and on lived realities. All challenging endeavours, when focusing on mothering and entrepreneurship, in different global contexts. What of the workers in these contexts? More specifically what of female workers within these contexts? How have women negotiated gendered roles within old and new structures? What complexities have preconfigured the diverse realities and positionalities of maternal-workers? How have these intricacies shifted the boundaries of work-family interface? This book focuses on a specific subset of work and the economy for mothers who are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. In this edited collection, we examine how mothers are negotiating their entrepreneurial endeavors within the contexts of local and global economic shifts. We explore how the socio-cultural, economic and national contexts that (re)structure and (re)frame multiple nodes of power, difference, and realities for mothers as workers across diverse contexts. This type of contextual analysis allows for new lines of inquiry and questions that move beyond the descriptive profiling and gendered assessment of women entrepreneurs. Lastly, the mother-entrepreneur-worker-life balance frames our discussion. We particularly set the work-family discourse within many points of contentions related to how the researchers have conceptualized work-life interface, the specific assumptions embedded within these investigations, and the implications of these for how we (re)present the dynamics related to mothering and entrepreneurship. The participation of mothers within entrepreneurial space offers a rich site for analyzing the contextual nature of maternal identity, work life relationships and entrepreneurial identities. In so doing,

Adopting an intersectional lens, this book comparatively examines the multiple processes and systems of power that frame the experiences of female entrepreneurs in the Caribbean and the fluid ways in which they respond to these. Specifically, it challenges entrepreneurial scholars who are concerned with the experiences of women within that sector to critically interrogate interlocking structures of power (e.g. gender, race, class, age, industry-based hierarchies) that operate within that space, the marginalizing effects of related processes, and the extent to which these affect their thinking and practices of female entrepreneurs within the region. Through comparative lenses, the book highlights the structural and relational realities and complexities that undergird the entrepreneurial landscape within the region, the effects of these on the entrepreneurial identities, positionalities, and practices of female entrepreneurs. It underscores the many ways in which they navigate that terrain. In so doing, the book offers critical insights into the historical, socio-cultural and economic parameters within which female entrepreneurs in the region engage, the lived realities associated with these, the prospects or possibilities for re-presenting or re-framing such contextual and discursive spaces. It also provides necessary understandings of the motivations, positions, prospects, possibilities and constrains of entrepreneurial women in the region and the policy implications of these realities. This book offers insights for scholars and policymakers that are important for (i) understanding the current gaps in entrepreneurial research and policy, (ii) the tools, methods, and strategies that are needed to address these contextual and discursive realities, and ultimately, (iii) the ways in which policy makers and local governments can promote the authentic empowerment of female entrepreneurs in the region, while giving considerations to precarious realities of women.

What do mompreneurs, angry working-class men, and migrant domestic workers all have in common? They are all gendered subjects responding to the economic, political, and cultural realities of neoliberalism’s global gender order. In this ambitious book, Radhakrishnan and Solari map the varied gendered pathways of a global hegemonic regime. Focusing on the US, the former Soviet Union, and South and Southeast Asia, they argue that the interconnected histories of imperialism, socialism, and postcolonialism have converged in a new way since the fall of the Soviet Union, transforming the post-war international order that preceded it. Today, the ideal of the empowered woman – a striving, entrepreneurial subject who overcomes adversity and has many “choices” – symbolizes modernity for diverse countries competing for status in the global hierarchy. This ideal bridges the painful gap between aspiration and lived reality, but also spurs widespread discontent. Blending social theory, rich empirical evidence, and a multi-sited understanding of neoliberalism, this book invites all of us to question taken-for-granted knowledge about gender and capitalism, and to look to grassroots international movements of the past to chart the path to a fairer future.

This book analyzes women entrepreneurs in Muslim countries who are using Islamic values to develop and run small businesses. As a core case study, the authors are using Indonesia as it is the largest Muslim country in the world by population. The project examines supportive policies and economic programs in detail and considers their effects on the businesses of several women entrepreneurs. Additionally, the authors argue that this work-life balance is critical for the definition of a successful female Muslim entrepreneur. The monograph considers whether this new phenomenon indicates a change in the conception of ideal Muslim womanhood or whether it is a limited phenomenon with few impacts beyond Indonesia. The book will appeal to academic and practitioner audience interested in Islam, gender studies, Middle Eastern and South Asian politics, development, anthropology, and social policy.

The literature in female entrepreneurship has witnessed significant development in the last 30 years, with the research emphasis shifting from purely descriptive explorations towards a clear effort to embed research within highly informed conceptual frameworks. With contributions from leading and emerging researchers, The Routledge Companion to Global Female Entrepreneurship brings together the latest international research, concepts and thinking in the area. With a strong international dimension, this book will facilitate comparative discussion and analysis on all aspects of female entrepreneurship, including start-ups, socio-economic influences, entrepreneurial capital and minority entrepreneurship. Reflecting the subject’s growing importance for researchers, academics and policy makers as well as those involved in supporting women’s entrepreneurship through training programmes, networks, consultancy or the provision of venture capital, The Routledge Companion to Global Female Entrepreneurship will be an invaluable reference resource.

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