Toward a “reconfiguration of the material and ideal foundations” of gendered entrepreneurship?

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze social sex relations by hypothesizing a reconfiguration, in a future time, of the “material and ideal foundations” of gendered entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach consisted in adopting the gender approach in order to identify, on the one hand, the material and ideal elements that underlie the dominant entrepreneurial ethos; on the other hand, to question, starting from a “heuristic hypothesis”, the emergence, in a future time, of representations, behaviors and practices opposable to the dominant entrepreneurial ethos.

Findings

The research outcomes reveal that by investing in traditionally male bastions, women develop entrepreneurial dynamics detached from any gendered approach. This approach suggests how the representations, behaviors and practices related to the dominant entrepreneurial ethos can be modified.

Originality/value

At a great distance from some “naturalization of competences”, this paper deals with the modalities that contribute to overcoming the principles of gender differentiation. It proposes a theoretical framework to understand how the mobilization of the gender approach, characterized by the lack of differentiation of skills, invites, from a “heuristic hypothesis”, a questioning of the dominant entrepreneurial ethos.

Citation

Etogo, G. (2019), "Toward a “reconfiguration of the material and ideal foundations” of gendered entrepreneurship?", Society and Business Review, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 264-272. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-09-2018-0099