‘I Want to Break Free’: Breaking Gender Stereotypes and Reconstructing Gender Identities by Women Entrepreneurs in India

Abstract

In India, though women form a significant part of the population, gender stereotypes prevent women from engaging in entrepreneurship because they gain identities that are counterproductive. It is therefore important to study how Indian women entrepreneurs break the gender stereotype, reconstructing new gender identities. A longitudinal study with unstructured interviews capturing narratives of the entrepreneur and her team members was conducted adopting a qualitative, multi-method approach including focus groups and secondary data. Employing the Gioia method for analysis, our study makes three important contributions. First, it identifies enablers, obstacles, blockages and accelerators that help Indian women entrepreneurs reconstruct gender identity. Second, our study shows the intersectionality of concurrent identities and gender stereotyping at workplace, societal and personal levels. Third, our study brings out identity evolution drivers that helped in breaking the gender stereotype. The research advances knowledge on gender identity and gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship literature, particularly in the context of women entrepreneurs.