Moving forward: Institutional perspectives on gender and entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a re-directed and purposeful attention to the design of research on gender and entrepreneurship moving forward. Design/methodology/approach – The paper questions the value of more studies on the men v. women binary and encourages research on the institutions supporting the gendered construction. Findings – The paper suggests a re-framing of gender (to include men, women, femininity, masculinity, etc.) both in topics investigated and in building the cadre of scholars engaged. It asks for discrimination of gender from biological sex in language use and believes that dialogue will be improved if the word “gender” is maintained as a socially constructed phenomenon directed at distinguishing the norms around “what women do” and “what men do”. Researchers, too, must necessarily confront personal pre-existing ideas and language shaped by the norms and habits of one’s upbringing and daily life in societies that are not acute observers of gender in action. Originality/value – The paper assesses trends in research on gender and entrepreneurship and recommends ideas regarding new directions to create better research and application in practice, teaching, and training.

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