TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how female entrepreneurs navigate complex and challenging institutional environments. It draws on institutional theory and the concept of response strategies to institutional pressures to explore the institutional barriers that female entrepreneurs encounter and highlights the strategies women employ to overcome them.Design/methodology/approach This paper builds on a case study of female entrepreneurs engaged in food processing in Tanzania. It draws on semi-structured interviews with nine female entrepreneurs, one focus group discussion with six female entrepreneurs and two semi-structured interviews with representatives from women’s business associations (WBAs).Findings This paper reveals a repertoire of active strategies enacted by women entrepreneurs, including advocacy through WBAs, bootstrapping, semi-informal operations, co-location of home and business, spouse involvement in the business, downplay of gender identity, reliance on persistence and passion and networking through WBAs. While these strategies involve various degrees of agency, the findings indicate that collective efforts through WBAs offer women the most promise in terms of influencing institutional structures.Originality/value While there is a growing body of literature examining how institutions influence female entrepreneurs, there is a dearth of knowledge on how women experience institutional complexities and actively react to institutional barriers, complexities and contradictions. This paper shows the value of analytical attention to female entrepreneurs’ agency by highlighting women’s active responses and documenting a repertoire of strategies.
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
SN  - 1756-6266
DO  - 10.1108/IJGE-02-2018-0015
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-02-2018-0015
AU  - Langevang Thilde
AU  - Hansen Michael W.
AU  - Rutashobya Lettice Kinunda
PY  - 2018
Y1  - 2018/01/01
TI  - Navigating institutional complexities: The response strategies of Tanzanian female entrepreneurs
T2  - International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 224
EP  - 242
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -