Beyond the Western Archetype: Intersectionality and Power in Women’s Entrepreneurship in a Poverty Context

Abstract

The Western archetype of women's entrepreneurship, grounded in neoliberal values, pervades the literature on women's entrepreneurship in poverty contexts. This dissertation critically examines the prior literature and highlights the limitations of a Western archetype as the standard for women's entrepreneurship and empowerment in poverty contexts.

The dissertation employs intersectionality and post-structuralist feminist theory to examine how the interplay between power and intersecting identities contributes to the heterogeneity of women's experiences of, and struggles with, entrepreneurship in a poverty context. The three articles that constitute this dissertation problematize dominant assumptions in the literature by delving into the microprocess of women entrepreneurs' discourses.

Article 1 examines the variety of interpretative repertoires leveraged by women entrepreneurs in a poverty context to legitimize their entrepreneurial activity. It demonstrates that intersecting identities grant women access to a distinct array of discursive resources that both challenge and maintain existing power structures.

Article 2 delves into the process of subjectification through post-structuralist discourse analysis to understand how women make sense of their position as mothers who are also entrepreneurs. It shows that women draw on multiple, sometimes conflicting, discourses to negotiate their fluid positions.

Article 3 employs a phenomenology of place to enhance the contextualization of research, including entrepreneurship research, in non-Western contexts. It incorporates 'place' as a dynamic and experienced concept, demonstrating that Western perspectives may not always align with local viewpoints.

Collectively, these articles reveal a unique form of empowerment that diverges from the Western archetype. Instead, women's empowerment involves the skillful utilization of discursive resources derived from their intersecting identities and fluid, subjective positions. Accordingly, the dissertation proffers theoretical contributions for a more nuanced understanding of women's entrepreneurship in poverty contexts. It also provides methodological and critical reflections on conducting research in poverty contexts that pave the way towards a more inclusive type of theory development in women's entrepreneurship research.