The formal-informal dilemma for women micro-entrepreneurs: evidence from Brazil

Purpose - The present study aims to identify women microentrepreneurs’ motivations that may influence the legalisation of their businesses and their capacity to reconcile the demands of family and work in a developing country (i.e. Brazil). Design/methodology/approach - Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data on women’s microentrepreneurial initiatives in three northern Brazil cities: Salvador da Bahia (Bahia), Fortaleza (Cear) and Belm (Par). Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse textual data from the 30 interviews. The content was standardised and subsequently analysed using NVivo and IBM’s Many Eyes data visualisation software. Findings - The results suggest that these women opt for legalised individual entrepreneurship to access the benefits of formalising their businesses and to search for mechanisms that encourage a work–family balance. However, in the more rural city studied, women show greater resistance to, and more distrust of, the benefits of legalising their business, as opposed to women from the two more urban cities. Practical implications - The results contribute to a better understanding of women’s motivations to legalise their microbusiness. In Brazil, the writing and passing of a law geared towards this type of entrepreneur (e.g. individual microentrepreneurs) has had a quite positive effect on the legalisation of businesses, in particular for women. However, this law has had a more positive effect in urban areas, which suggests that further dissemination is needed of the benefits of formalising microbusinesses in rural areas. Originality/value - This study contributes to research that seeks to understand better entrepreneurial preferences (i.e. formal vs informal) and the role played by gender and legal, financial and family contexts.