From Emancipation to Social Change

(Photo by iStock/M_a_y_a)

In Latin America, women entrepreneurs remain underrepresented, not only facing broad societal backlash against taking leadership roles but also struggling with the “double burden” of maintaining both professional and private responsibilities. In our fieldwork in Guatemala and Costa Rica—where we met with 25 young women entrepreneurs who started businesses in different industries, ranging from architecture to fashion to social enterprise—we found, unsurprisingly, that a lack of respect and doubt about their capabilities can be emotionally straining to those women, and that some men refuse to accept them as leaders, or to work with their firms. Yet while women entrepreneurs often face barriers to new venture creation—especially in raising capital—an ever-growing number defy the obstacles to start their own opportunity-driven businesses, even in contexts where traditional gender norms lead to high levels of gender inequality.

Our participants confirmed the difficulty of being embedded in strong, traditional societal expectations around the role of women in society, particularly as mothers. But they also focused on the positive aspects of being a woman; in fact, they continually highlighted the power they perceive in their gender by using the same terminology, energía feminina, or “feminine energy.” In countering the challenges that faced them, we identified three mechanisms that these women entrepreneurs used to foster a sense of emancipation. But these “emancipating mechanisms,” as we refer to them, not only helped them cope with the negative experiences as women entrepreneurs; as they told us, individual empowerment only sharpened their desire to actively re-shape societal gender norms. In other words, by countering gender-related challenges in the creation of their own ventures, these women began to perceive themselves as change agents more broadly. As one entrepreneur explained:

“My role as a woman is to bring feminine energy to this environment, to be like a mother, not only to the people in this business, but also to our natural resources ... and to really anchor this mindset into everyone’s head.”

In particular, the following three emancipating mechanisms helped them to feel strong and capable rather than not fulfilling  societally-prescribed male image of an entrepreneur.

1. Make the business a “safe space” for femininity. Within a business, being a woman can have favorable connotations, like being detail-oriented, multi-tasking, and caring; these can be exactly the characteristics needed to run a company, manage employees, or perform organizational tasks. Such gendered assumptions frame feminine qualities as relevant rather than insufficient and/or inappropriate for success in business. When representing the business to outsiders, of course, female entrepreneurs often must act quite differently, consciously setting aside their femininity through masculine clothing and overly professional and unemotional behavior—almost distant—so as to adhere to gendered assumptions around entrepreneurship and avoid negative gender-based judgments. But we discovered that by deliberately designing such contrasting approaches, women entrepreneurs could acknowledge their business as a place to feel comfortable and even positively valued as a woman.

2. Develop evidence-based resilience. As we asked these women how they went about changing the minds of critics who doubt their capabilities and leadership, many of them referred to the importance of delivering high-quality work results. However unfair it ms that women must prove themselves capable while men are granted the benefit of the doubt, overcoming other people’s doubts can help women feel capable and develop a sense of resilience in their work. Since women’s capabilities are often underestimated, proving critics wrong can be turned to their advantage: facing gender-based criticism in entrepreneurial journeys—and finding evidence to prove negative assumptions wrong—associates strength and cogency with being a woman.

3. Foster the power of collectives. Networks and events designed for women or underrepresented groups in particular, such as national female entrepreneurship networks (WED or Women Entrepreneurship Day) or impact incubators (Impact Hub), are often important sources of support. Seeking out supportive communities where possible allows women to create valuable contacts for creating and growing the business as well as fostering a sense of sisterhood, which may in turn foster persistence in withstanding gender-related challenges in day-to-day work. 

Employing these emancipating mechanisms not only helped women entrepreneurs cope with negative experiences, but set the stage for them to become an active part in shaping broader societal gender norms. In other words, successfully countering gender-related challenges in new venture creation, in turn, helps inspire women to become change agents themselves.

The women we interviewed saw themselves as contributing to societal change around gender norms in four main ways:  

1. Empowering other women through business models. Like any other businessperson, women entrepreneurs can include underrepresented or marginalized groups in their business models, whether as the recipients of their services or simply included in their value chain. For example, a venture that organizes digital education workshops for girls (Sheva), or ventures that create income opportunities for women through vermicompost solutions (Byoearth) or selling used clothing (2da Mano). Several fashion entrepreneurs explained that they explicitly seek to work with women in manufacturing (Thélma Dávila, The New Denim Project).

2. Creating female-friendly corporate cultures. Besides employing women in the business, creating a female-friendly corporate environment can mean establishing flexible working hours for employees, in accordance with their children’s schedule, or allowing them to work from home when their children are sick. One woman entrepreneur provided a separate room for mothers in the office who have to bring their children to work. This is particularly important because such flexibilities are not yet the norm in larger companies, making it very difficult for mothers to get a job.

3. Acting as public role models. Particularly in contexts with traditional and slowly changing gender norms—where being a woman entrepreneur is possible but still special—women can leverage public attention to act as role models, thereby pushing forward public discourse on gender. Opportunities to be publicly visible—like attending networking events, giving talks, being featured in magazines, or volunteering as mentors for other women—can inspire and motivate other women to become entrepreneurs themselves. Explicitly taking up the topic of gender norms in public appearances, or disrupting existing behavioral norms by increasingly engaging with “male counterparts” in the entrepreneurial community, is a way to go beyond simply using visibility to trigger societal change.

4. Setting new family standards. Women entrepreneurs can also bring up gender norms in their private lives by talking about those issues with their families, establishing shared household responsibilities with your partners, which sets a positive example and disrupts existing gender norms. Several mothers told us how they used their parenting style as a means to break down gender norms: They would tell their boys that it is okay to show feelings by crying or teach their girls that women can—and should—develop their own professional career and be (financially) independent. In this way, you may play a part in contributing to building a society that will respect men and women equally in their behaviors and (entrepreneurial) endeavors.

Defying gender norms is a challenge, but our stories show how women entrepreneurs can emancipate themselves and even co-shape gender norms. These insights into how they challenge the status quo in their families, in their businesses, and in public settings give a comprehensive picture of what it looks like when resilient female leaders create a path for up-and-coming women entrepreneurs to attain new heights and change the direction of the public discourse. As such, they may have sustainable impact toward creating a more inclusive society overall. Beyond the context of women entrepreneurship, these cases are inspirations for how other marginalized groups can use entrepreneurship to create a space to exercise their independence and become part of the change they wish to see in this world.

Read more stories by Anna Wagenschwanz & Daniela Gimenez-Jimenez.