Inequalities, Gender and Culture: A Cross-Country Context

AIM: This study undertakes a holistic approach of women entrepreneurship phenomenon, by investigating multiple factors impact on women entrepreneurs’ success, in a cross-country context. The purpose of the study is to propose a theoretical framework on intertwined and multiple factors effect on women entrepreneurs’ success.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Higher Education Institutions, Women Entrepreneurs, Policy Makers, Governments, Researchers, Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses, Business Associations, Academics, PhD Researchers and experts in the field of management, entrepreneurship, strategy, inequalities, gender and culture.
OBJECTIVES:
1) To explore the effect of each concept (inequalities, culture, gender) upon women entrepreneurs’ success;
2) To identify intertwined relationship between the main concepts of the research;
3) To propose a comprehensive theoretical framework on the multiple effect on women entrepreneurs’ success.
CONTENT:
Inequalities are a major concern and a complex phenomenon which requires an in depth analysis. Hence, there are many types of inequalities. According to previous research (Picketty, 2014; Milanović, 2018; Tomos et al., 2019), the authors of this research classified inequalities into three categories: a) internal inequalities (between rich and poor); b) global inequalities (between countries); c) gender inequalities (between men and women). In line with Tomos et al. (2019), gender inequality is part of the global inequality and refers to the social construction of gender that regards women as an inferior social category, comparing to men. Recently, Milanović (2018) argued about a shift from global inequality, towards internal inequalities within the richest countries, which are divided in two categories: 1) class-based inequalities and 2) location-based inequalities. The authors of the study argue about two more categories, which must be included within the internal inequalities. These are gender inequality, which is a recurring concern, mostly perceived in the patriarchal richest countries (Tomos et al., 2019). The next is the inequality between women belonging to different economic systems and social strata (Tomos et al., 2016).
The second concept investigated by this research is Culture and its various aspects across countries. Culture are “a set of values, norms and beliefs” (Handy, 1985, p. 185). There are many types of cultures, and authors enumerate four of them: national, organisational, popular and entrepreneurial. They can have positive effects on women entrepreneurs’ success or can be barriers to women entrepreneurship phenomenon.
The next concept approached by this research is Gender, defined by Oxford Dictionary (Pearsall, 1999, p. 590) as “the state of being male or female” and is studied by different feminist school of thought (Storey, 2006).
The last concept of this research is women entrepreneurs’ success, in different country contexts. Although, there are many definitions about women entrepreneurs’ success, as an intricate phenomenon, the authors accepted for its interpretation the following dual perspective: extrinsic (quantitative or financial aspect) and intrinsic (qualitative aspect) which embeds wealth, self-esteem, networking, family-work balance, independence and achievement. The authors of the research argue about an intertwining relationship of the independent variables: inequalities, culture, gender and their differential effects upon the dependent variable – women entrepreneurs’ success