Does gender matter?

Shortall, S; Collins, O

doi:10.1108/S2040-724620250000020016

Does gender matter?

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Sally Shortall, Dr Orla Collins ORCiD

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Abstract

This chapter contribute to our scholarship on rural entrepreneurship by focusing on women, an under-researched topic. We examine both women in farm businesses and women in rural businesses. In agriculture we find that traditional cultural norms restrict women’s ability to be entrepreneurs. This is because of difficulties accessing land, finance and training. Where women do manage to obtain land, their enterprises are smaller, but they are much more innovative and cutting edge. When we look at rural women entrepreneurs we found different motivations depending on social class and skill set. Working class women wished to supplement family income. While the literature reports that women are often constrained by a fear of failure, we found no evidence of this in our study. For professional women, the motivator to establish their own business was a fear of discrimination once they became mothers. The chapter concludes with policy recommendations.