Introduction
The desire to become an entrepreneur is aroused by different factors among men and women. According to Anne Laure Humbert and Eileen Drew, gender plays a big role since social factors tend to affect more women than men. Issues such as marital status, demographics and social trends have been linked to the changes experienced in women’s participation within the labor market. There are more men than women in the labor market although the number of women has increased significantly over the recent past. Women participation varies according to the age and the extra responsibilities that come with marriage and age. Although these motivating factors have encouraged women to participate more in the labor market, there is an element of women discrimination which has prompted women to adapt to the changing social conditions to create a chance to work and earn just like men. The following is a critique of Humbert and Drew’s (2010). Marital status is also a significant factor for entrepreneurial women. “Gender, entrepreneurship and motivational factors in an Irish context” paper to analyze how different factors affect both men and women in making a decision to become entrepreneurs.
Literature Review
In the past, the numbers of women in the labor force decreased significantly as a result of marriage since married women were not allowed to work. They were also tasked with the responsibility of raising children and taking care of their homes (Humbert and Drew, 2010). This is a strong point to explain why women are few in the labor force. The responsibility of bringing up children should be for both parents and not just the mothers. Housework should also be treated as a form of work which is approximated to an extra month of work for employed wives. Therefore, domestic work should be shared between the two parents to give women an opportunity to perform just as men in their areas of work. Although women have been given the opportunity to continue working once they are married, this has come due to the high standards of living that require an extra income. Most of the women entrepreneurs realized their potential in and explored to maximize their potential. If venturing into business was based on the decision to allow women to work when they are married, there will be fewer women working. Necessity has increased the need for women to participate in the labor force (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2009).
Andersen & Taylor (2008) sought to differ with the authors by indicating that gender discrimination affects women’s performance in the labor market. Marital status has been used by Humbert and Drew (2010), to cover for the issue of gender discrimination. Women are not just affected by their marital status, but the society has used this to discriminate women from exploring their full potential in what they do. Therefore, the reason as to why women are not matching men in performance is not the marital status, but the discrimination that they experience (Marković, 2007). For example, in most parts of the world, some jobs are designated for just women and they tend to be lower paying thus they bring out the inequality element. Jobs such as taking care of children, the elderly and the sick are assigned to more women than men by arguing that women are more flexible. However, it is not the flexibility issue, but an excuse to offer women lower paying jobs. This amounts to discrimination (Jackson, 1998). The authors may be right in that marital status determines the time taken at the work place. However, it is possible for married women to take up more challenging roles if men offer support in the domestic responsibilities. Marital status should not only affect women but also men. Therefore allowing married women to work is not a favor or a motivational factor, but a necessity that should be met (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2009).
When children grow to become independent, women have more time to explore business, and this is one of the motivating factors in entrepreneurship (Humbert & Drew, 2010). This is a strong factor since women tend to be experienced and ready to offer a maximum concentration in their business ventures. This is a motivating factor for women to build their careers and venture in business once they are done with bring up children. However, this denies them the opportunity to grow as entrepreneurs in the initial stages of life. Reduced family responsibility is more of an opportunity than a motivating factor (Chaneta, 2005). Thus, women could excel in challenging sectors just like men if they had equal opportunities and responsibilities. Making women more responsible than men in family matters derails them from perusing their aspirations. Women are only able to venture and succeed in business not because they have the opportunity, but because they have intrinsic factors prompting them to do business (Jackson, 1998). As discussed by the authors, participation of women in entrepreneurship is popular for women have chosen to reject the stereotypical feminine identities. Therefore, whether an opportunity arises later in life or earlier, women who have dreams of becoming great entrepreneurs will always accomplish their goals (Barrett & Moores, 2009).
Hypothesis
- Women only get the chance to explore their entrepreneurial abilities after the children are grown up unlike men who can start at a younger age.
- Feminization has resulted in increased entrepreneurship among women in Irish and the rest of the world too.
- Men and women have equal abilities in the labor force. Women lag behind because the society expects them to be the sole participants in domestic activities.
- Women are less likely to achieve their entrepreneurial goals than men. They are also not likely to have dependent children when compared to their male counterparts.
Method
A quantitative research was carried out among the Irish. Out of the targeted 3498 respondents, only 832 interpreters responded. The research is as represented below;
Results
The authors have positively identified pull factors as the main contributing factors to many women venturing into entrepreneurship (Humbert and Drew, 2010). Although women should participate in the labor force, this has been made possible by the women’s desire to become independent and achieve personal satisfaction (Robbins, Campbell & Judge, 2010; Chaneta, 2005). Employed women tend to experience higher levels of dissatisfaction than men hence the increased interest in self entrepreneurship (Wallace, 1999). Since most organizations prefer men to hold the top management positions, women seek for businesses in which they can be their own bosses and gain more power in decision making (Lyness & Judiesch, 1999). In contrast, push factors are not very influential to women assuming that they chose to depend on their husband’s income. In this case, women lacking the intrinsic factors that pull them to become dependent will remain unemployment or out of business (Kalyani & Kumar, 2011; Unger, 2004). It is evident that more women than men are motivated from within to venture into business (Mills, 2007).
Discussion
Work life balance is a form of motivation which has prompted women to venture into business. This could be attributed to the increased family responsibilities that make women spend a lot of time in social activities other than professional work. Their venture into business is an effort to be part of professional teams that help them contribute into the societal well being. This point can further be supported by the fact that women gain social skills while running their homes. They discover talents that help them in identifying business opportunities and maximizing their potential. This explains why a lot of women have chosen health care as a form of entrepreneurship. Therefore, the success of women in entrepreneurship is about the need to balance work and life. It also relies on imagination, innovativeness, the ability to take risks and vision (Mathew & Panchanatham, 2011).
Social transformation has been identified as a reason as to why many women are now participating in the labor force. This factor is agreeable since decreased number of children or households reduce the amount of work done by the women (Wright & Quick, 2009; Jackson, 1998). However, it is the women have chosen to limit the family sizes in an effort to create more time for them to work. It has also become very expensive for men as the sole breadwinners thus they need assistance from their wives (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). Reduced domestic labor can lead to an increase in decision making power for women. It can also increase their chances to embark on entrepreneurship (Hughes, 2002). Although this is one of the motivating factors, it is initiated by the women’s initiative to reduce domestic labor. Thus, women are still discriminated by burdening them with taking care of their homes, reducing the amount of time available for working (Chaneta, 2005).
Conclusion
The authors have brought out the motivational factors that have seen many women become interested in working. This is a move away from the past where the labor market was dominated by men. The factors may have contributed to more women participating in entrepreneurship; however, most factors have come as a result of women’s desire to be independent. Through women, the demographics have changed to decrease the number of dependants and households. These factors are similar to those attracting men to entrepreneurship thus gender affects women indirectly. Discrimination is the main reason as to why fewer women than men are participating in work and business.
References
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