The Influence of Roles and Identities on Female Entrepreneurial Agency

Research suggests that barriers and constraints encountered by women are gender-specific, and that women are subject to discriminatory practices. However, by focusing on what women are prevented from doing, much research portrays women as victims of circumstance rather than as individuals with different identity constructions and value systems. This paper challenges the widespread assumption that female entrepreneurial agency is confronted by gender-specific barriers, and proposes an alternative perspective based on the integration of role and identity concepts. This portrays women as agents in their own lives rather than merely victims of structural gender-specific barriers. In consequence, the paper proposes that female entrepreneurs construct and reconstruct their identity under the influence of institutionalised practices, which can only be changed from within