Women’s Entrepreneurship and Culture

Women's entrepreneurship is an effective way to combat poverty, hunger and disease, to stimulate sustainable business practices, and to promote gender equality. Yet, deeply engrained cultural norms often prescribe gender-specific roles and behaviors that severely constrain the opportunities for women's entrepreneurial activities. This excellent new volume of work from the Diana Group explores this paradox.

As women-entrepreneurs circumvent challenges and obstacles, they also ameliorate the cultural context for future women entrepreneurs. In this book, studies covering 40 countries document how culture affects women’s entrepreneurship, and how women's entrepreneurship, in turn, shapes the cultural milieu. The work is organized into three main themes: (1) the socio-cultural context for women's entrepreneurship; (2) women’s entrepreneurship as emancipation from traditional family roles; and (3) government policies and programs and self-determination in women's entrepreneurship.

This illuminating and inspiring book offers valuable insights for students of women's entrepreneurship, practicing entrepreneurs, and public policy makers interested in promoting women’s entrepreneurship in different cultural contexts around the world.