IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v26y2008i2p335-351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constructing Female Entrepreneurship Policy in the UK: Is the US a Relevant Benchmark?

Author

Listed:
  • Susan Marlow

    (Department of Human Resource Management, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, England)

  • Sara Carter

    (Department of Management, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland)

  • Eleanor Shaw

    (Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0BR, Scotland)

Abstract

Successive UK governments have introduced a range of policy initiatives designed to encourage more women to start new firms. Underpinning these policies has been an explicit ambition for the UK to achieve similar participation rates as those in the US where it is widely reported that women own nearly half the stock of businesses. The data underlying these objectives are critically evaluated and it is argued that the definitions and measures of female enterprise used in the UK and the US restrict meaningful comparisons between the two. It is suggested that the expansion of female entrepreneurship in the US is historically and culturally specific to that country. UK policy goals should reflect the national socioeconomic context, while drawing upon good practice examples from a range of other countries. The paper concludes by discussing the economic and social viability of encouraging more women in the UK to enter self-employment without fully recognising the intensely competitive sectors in which they are often located.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Marlow & Sara Carter & Eleanor Shaw, 2008. "Constructing Female Entrepreneurship Policy in the UK: Is the US a Relevant Benchmark?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(2), pages 335-351, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:26:y:2008:i:2:p:335-351
    DOI: 10.1068/c0732r
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0732r
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c0732r?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John O. Ogbor, 2000. "Mythicizing and Reification in Entrepreneurial Discourse: Ideology‐Critique of Entrepreneurial Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 605-635, July.
    2. Helene Ahl, 2006. "Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 595-621, September.
    3. Colli, Andrea & Pérez, Paloma Fernández & Rose, Mary B., 2003. "National Determinants of Family Firm Development? Family Firms in Britain, Spain, and Italy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 28-64, March.
    4. Rosa, Peter & Carter, Sara & Hamilton, Daphne, 1996. "Gender as a Determinant of Small Business Performance: Insights from a British Study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(6), pages 463-478, December.
    5. Parker,Simon C., 2006. "The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521030632, November.
    6. Rosemary Crompton & Clare Lyonette, 2006. "Some issues in cross-national comparative research methods," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(2), pages 403-414, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paloma Fernandez Perez & Eleanor Hamilton, 2007. "Gender and family firms: an interdisciplinary approach," Working Papers in Economics 171, Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia.
    2. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    3. Ana Tur-Porcar & Alicia Mas-Tur & José Antonio Belso, 2017. "Barriers to women entrepreneurship. Different methods, different results?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2019-2034, September.
    4. Charles Ackah & Richard Osei Bofah & Derek Asuman, 2017. "Who Are Africa’S Entrepreneurs? Comparative Evidence From Ghana And Uganda," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-23, December.
    5. M. Farzana Halim & Carla Barbieri & Duarte B. Morais & Susan Jakes & Erin Seekamp, 2020. "Beyond Economic Earnings: The Holistic Meaning of Success for Women in Agritourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Gupta, Vishal K. & Goktan, A. Banu & Gunay, Gonca, 2014. "Gender differences in evaluation of new business opportunity: A stereotype threat perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 273-288.
    7. Robert Fairlie & Alicia Robb, 2009. "Gender differences in business performance: evidence from the Characteristics of Business Owners survey," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 375-395, December.
    8. Malin Lindberg & Monica Lindgren & Johann Packendorff, 2014. "Quadruple Helix as a Way to Bridge the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship: The Case of an Innovation System Project in the Baltic Sea Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(1), pages 94-113, March.
    9. Kalnins, Arturs & Williams, Michele, 2014. "When do female-owned businesses out-survive male-owned businesses? A disaggregated approach by industry and geography," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 822-835.
    10. Linda Scott & Catherine Dolan & Mary Johnstone–Louis & Kimberly Sugden & Maryalice Wu, 2012. "Enterprise and Inequality: A Study of Avon in South Africa," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 543-568, May.
    11. Maksim Belitski & Sameeksha Desai, 2021. "Female ownership, firm age and firm growth: a study of South Asian firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 825-855, September.
    12. Jayawarna, Dilani & Jones, Oswald & Marlow, Susan, 2015. "The influence of gender upon social networks and bootstrapping behaviours," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 316-329.
    13. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Tendai Gwatidzo & Mthokozisi Mlilo, 2023. "Gender differences in business performance: evidence from Kenya and South Africa," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 591-614, February.
    14. Sara Poggesi & Michela Mari & Luisa Vita, 2016. "What’s new in female entrepreneurship research? Answers from the literature," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 735-764, September.
    15. Douwere Grekou & Jenny Watt & Horatio M. Morgan, 2023. "Gender productivity gap: does gender-equal ownership compensate for female entrepreneurs’ lack of prior industry experience?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1543-1571, April.
    16. Andrew Burke & Felix Fitzroy & Michael Nolan, 2009. "Is there a North-South Divide in Self-employment in England?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 529-544.
    17. Ingrid C. Chadwick & Alexandra Dawson, 2024. "From imposter fears to authenticity: a typology of women entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1025-1050, March.
    18. Susan Marlow & Maura McAdam, 2015. "Incubation or Induction? Gendered Identity Work in the Context of Technology Business Incubation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(4), pages 791-816, July.
    19. Verheul, I. & Thurik, A.R. & Grilo, I., 2008. "Explaining Preferences and Actual Involvement in Self-Employment: New Insights into the Role of Gender," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-003-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Luca Pistilli & Alessia Paccagnini & Stefano Breschi & Franco Malerba, 2023. "Gender Bias in Entrepreneurship: What is the Role of the Founders’ Entrepreneurial Background?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 325-346, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:26:y:2008:i:2:p:335-351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.