Entrepreneurial Women in the Caribbean: Critical Insights and Policy Implications

ISBN-13: 9783031047510 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022 / 214 str.

Talia Esnard

Spis treści

Chapter 1: The Entrepreneurial imperative: An Introduction 

Chapters 1-On a broad level, chapter one sets the macro or broad parameters for examinations of the research on the entrepreneurial imperative. In particular, this chapter critically examines the ideological, political, economic, and social factors that call for entrepreneurial development agendas. In so doing, the chapter locates the entrepreneurial imperative within broader discourses on social change and development, survival and sustainability, creativity and innovation, technology and information, neoliberalism, globalism and capitalism. It also addresses the shifting and marginalized ways in which Caribbean countries have been implicated in such agendas and a nuanced discussion on how these have translated into the promotion of entrepreneurial start-ups and expansion as a response to the entrepreneurial imperative in the region. As a critique of such global complexities, the chapter provides an interrogation of the historical and geo-political contexts wherein Caribbean societies have been situated and the relative standings and/or vulnerabilities from which they are forced to engage. The chapter will also discuss the challenges around the entrepreneurial imperatives for the region, and the implications of this growth framework for the increasing attention to the access and participation of women in the entrepreneurial space.   

 

Chapter 2: Female Entrepreneurship: A Meta-Synthesis

This chapter critically explores the literature within the field of female entrepreneurship. This qualitative systematic review will be framed from a global perspective to capture the trends and gaps in the international and regional literature on female entrepreneurship. The meta-synthesis will specifically aim to draw on the methodological orientations, key themes, knowledge gaps, emerging trends within the international literature on female entrepreneurship. In particular, this chapter presents the prevailing discourses which shape and influence contemporary considerations of the entrepreneurial activities, motivations for engagement, performance within that space, as well as the experiences and trends for women who engage therein. In so doing, this chapter uses the major analytical frameworks and investigations of “entrepreneurial engagement” broadly defined as the one’s involvement in entrepreneurial activities, to interrogate the ways in which these discourses construct representations and expectations of the female entrepreneur. The meta synthesis will also be used to draw on the extent to which these constructions are challenged through empirical investigations, and the implications of these for examinations and evaluations of female entrepreneurs. The core objectives of this chapter therefore are (i) the need to document the development of female entrepreneurship research, (ii) to explore the major threads within this research field, (iii) to critically assess the contributions and persistent gaps within the field, and, (iv) to situate empirical explorations within the Caribbean region.   

 

Chapter 3: Women and Labour Market Participation in the Caribbean: A Socio-Historical Account

 

This chapter presents a socio-historical account of women’s participation in the labour markets across the Caribbean. In so doing, this segment of the proposed book offers a synopsis of the economic adjustments during the 19^th and 20^th century and the impact on the economic activities of women during these historical periods. An inherent part of such analysis would therefore include a comparative examination of existing data on labour market/force participation or involvement based on sex, gender, race, class, and gender, where available. This is important for the reader to make connections between the historical configurations of the labour markets in the Caribbean, key social, cultural, economic and political factors that altered such patterns, and the extent to which such structures have shaped the contemporary positionality, status, and experiences of women within the Caribbean. Such lenses also introduce needed assessment of the level, type, and quality of participation in of women in the labour force; where possible. Such explorations also set an important grounding for related understandings of the associations between such realities, the pursuit of self-employment. In a more direct way, the chapter also addresses the push and/or pull dynamics around new venture creation or entrepreneurial expansion for women in the region. 

 

Chapter 4: Comparative Intersectionality: A Phenomenological Approach to understanding Structural, Relational and Contextual complexities  

            Classical notions of intersectionality highlight the axes or structures of power that affects the experiences of Black women in society. Such studies have been employed to examine multiple axes of power, (including those related to race, social class, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and age), and how they intersect to affect the identities and experiences of marginalized groups (Crenshaw 1989; Collins 2000). As previously mentioned, a growing number of studies have embraced this classical framework to capture issues of structures and relations of power in the entrepreneurial experiences of women. However, even where these exists, such intersectional analyses remain limited in the context of female entrepreneurship, and more so, in the understanding of female entrepreneurship within Caribbean societies. As an advancement of this intersectional framework, the chapter presents initial ideas around the notion of comparative intersectionality (Esnard & Cobb-Roberts, 2018) to explore the contextual or situated nature of these structures of power and the nuanced ways in which these produce social inequalities, complex identities, and adversities for female entrepreneurs across different social geographies. Framed within post structural lenses, comparative intersectionality critically assesses how self is fluidly structured around axes or domains of power, the contested relations between the structural and discursive realities of space, and the prospect for exercising agency or not (ibid, 2008).

Using comparative intersectional lenses therefore, the work explores the structural, relational and contextual intersectionalities through in the meanings, experiences, and practices of female entrepreneurs[1] across selected Caribbean countries[2]. To advance this framework, the proposal project employs the use of interpretative phenomenology (IP) to provided needed insights into the (i) experience of a given phenomenon (in this case, being in the entrepreneurial space), (ii) the structures, cultures, and discourses that shape these the interpretations (meanings) of critical events associated with that experience, and; (iii) inherent consciousness and responses to these (both in thought and action). The crux of this IP approach is therefore the ability for researchers to give voice to the specific concerns of participants, while contextualising or making sense of these claims and concerns, but in this case, from a sociological perspective. The chapter will therefore situate the use such interpretative approach within a broader need for interrogations around the essence and complexities of female entrepreneurship across the region.

 

Chapter 5: Being and Becoming Successful Female Entrepreneurs within the Caribbean: Their Lived Realities 

 

This chapter will present the findings from in-depth interviews with twelve (12) successful female entrepreneurs across the named Caribbean countries. Where the focus is on those female entrepreneurs who are surpassed 42 months in the entrepreneurial space, this allows for needed examinations of their struggles, perspectives, reflections and strategies for success overtime. The findings will therefore thematically explore the ways in which they define success, the extent to which these notions of success are tied to their socio-cultural and economic realities, and the implications of these for their engagement within the entrepreneurial sector. The core aspect of this chapter will be the use or application of comparative intersectionality to show the situational nature of the structures or axes of power that affect the thinking and practices of these female entrepreneurs. These will be thematically presented to draw on the contextual, structural, and relational nature of their experiences, their thinking around these, and ways in which they attempt to navigate that terrain. Such analyses will also be grounded in the sociological examinations of central issues related to the complexities or intricacies involved in being, defining and becoming successful entrepreneurs in the Caribbean. These hold the promise of critical sociological insights and entrepreneurial practices.

 

Chapter 6: Conclusions

The discussion chapter presents the main findings around the work. It specifically draws on the nature, dynamics and complexities of female entrepreneurship in the region. In so doing, the key aspect of that discussion will be the diversity inherent within the meaning and experiences around female entrepreneurship in the Caribbean, the basis of these differences, and relatedly, the significance of these contextual, structural, and relational issues for understanding their thinking and practices therein, the challenges that these encounter, and the ways in which these are negotiated, contested, or rejected. Collectively, such an approach helps to promote critical ways of re-representing how and why female entrepreneurs in the region are motivated to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The chapter will also highlight the theoretical, practical, empirical, and policy implications of such findings, while bringing to the fore, recommendations to address inherent empirical gaps.  This type of knowledge remains critical for advancing needed sociological theorizations of female entrepreneurship in the Caribbean and for framing related policy frameworks that are aimed at promoting and sustaining female entrepreneurs within the Caribbean. This work presents an initial stage in advancement of scholarship within the sociology of female entrepreneurship for the Caribbean.

[1] The research will examine the experiences of female entrepreneurs who have been in operation for at least five years. This exceeds the typical 42 months threshold that is typically used in empirical studies and more popularly in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports that provide descriptive understandings of successful ventures that are initiated and sustained by women. 

[2] The chapter will speak to the selection of female entrepreneurs in St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados. 

O autorze

Talia Esnard is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of the West Indies. She has published on issues related to women, work and organizations with particular emphases on women in academe and in the entrepreneurial sector. She  recently authored a student textbook, Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean and co-authored the book Black Women, Academe, and the Tenure Process in the United States and the Caribbean. 

Blurb

Adopting an intersectional lens, this book comparatively examines the multiple processes and systems of power that frame the experiences of female entrepreneurs in the Caribbean and the fluid ways in which they respond to these. Specifically, it challenges entrepreneurial scholars who are concerned with the experiences of women within that sector to critically interrogate interlocking structures of power (e.g. gender, race, class, age, industry-based hierarchies) that operate within that space, the marginalizing effects of related processes, and the extent to which these affect their thinking and practices of female entrepreneurs within the region. Through comparative lenses, the book highlights the structural and relational realities and complexities that undergird the entrepreneurial landscape within the region, the effects of these on the entrepreneurial identities, positionalities, and practices of female entrepreneurs. It underscores the many ways in which they navigate that terrain. In so doing, the book offers critical insights into the historical, socio-cultural and economic parameters within which female entrepreneurs in the region engage, the lived realities associated with these, the prospects or possibilities for re-presenting or re-framing such contextual and discursive spaces. It also provides necessary understandings of the motivations, positions, prospects, possibilities and constrains of entrepreneurial women in the region and the policy implications of these realities. This book offers insights for scholars and policymakers that are important for (i) understanding the current gaps in entrepreneurial research and policy, (ii) the tools, methods, and strategies that are needed to address these contextual and discursive realities, and ultimately, (iii) the ways in which policy makers and local governments can promote the authentic empowerment of female entrepreneurs in the region, while giving considerations to precarious realities of women.

Talia Esnard is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of the West Indies. She has published on issues related to women, work and organizations with particular emphases on women in academe and in the entrepreneurial sector. She  recently authored a student textbook, Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean and co-authored the book Black Women, Academe, and the Tenure Process in the United States and the Caribbean.