Dodging the glass ceiling? Networks and the new wave of women entrepreneurs

Abstract

Openings of women-owned businesses have radically accelerated recently. This paper explores the causes and results of this phenomenon. Noting the predictive weaknesses of the canonical neoclassical perspective, an extended institutional framework incorporating the impact of male-dominated networks seems to better explain women’s situations in both the traditional and entrepreneurial labor markets. Theoretical and empirical evidence points to the paradoxically obstructive role of information networks as the source of women’s market difficulties. In the light of this, the paper considers possible motivations for the continued influx of women to entrepreneurship and its potential implications for women’s economic status.