Women increasingly 'make the leap' into 'traditionally male' entrepreneurial ventures. This dissertation reviews relevant literature on what, how many, why and where women entrepreneurs in construction found their niche markets, which aspects make women unique, how poverty and unemployment hurt women and what entrepreneurial barriers women experience, comparing a developed (USA) and developing country (SA). A survey instrument was developed to test the constructs empirically and case studies illustrate the models of success. Given the excellent results of the Cronbach Alpha and Factor Analysis, the instrument developed proved to be reliable and valid and could be used for similar studies. The case- and empirical studies analyse women ownership attitudes and push and pull factors to determine why women became entrepreneurs in construction. The main findings are: 1. Women took up their rightful place as construction entrepreneurs. It is a myth that they are only labourers. 2. Differences and similarities; SA-USA: In the USA women are mostly ‘Corporate Entrepreneurs’ and in SA they are mainly ‘Entrepreneurs’. They agree that their associations are successful in promoting women in construction. 3. Positive pull factors are the main reason why women are in construction as they demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviour and characteristics. 4. Negative push factors, e.g. “need to make a living” are a lesser reason. 5. Gender discrimination can become fatal barriers for successful women entrepreneurs. 6. The majority of respondents see themselves as successful and intent on developing key aspects of their businesses to expand their competitive edge. 7. SAWiC played a pioneering role in developing a database to prevent clients from justifying their non-compliance of the law in terms of non-availability of women entrepreneurs in construction. / Thesis (PhD (Entrepreneurship))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Business Management / unrestricted

Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: Women’s livelihoods are not only experienced differently, but are articulated in different ways. This dissertation begins from the understanding that women’s livelihoods are processual, complex and contextual. They are embedded in multifarious processes, structures, discourses and everyday practices, which are locally defined and globally linked. This thesis interrogates women’s articulations of empowerment and agency that were central to their community and entrepreneurial activities. Women’s social actions and responses to constraints and transformation they encountered in the valley were sites of struggle. Informed by local women’s perspectives and articulations of empowerment, this ethnography focuses on how women practiced their livelihoods: how they manoeuvred, negotiated and performed their livelihood tactics in response to local, national and global constraints. The study narrates how women in a rural valley in the Winelands of the Western Cape (South Africa) spoke of how they felt ‘empowered’ despite constraints. They claimed that they exhibited productive moments and harnessed opportunities to rise above constraints. They felt that in general men in their communities were passive in their response to crisis in the valley. Women’s narratives of empowerment in the Dwars River Valley invoked ideas of ‘women of steel’ and ‘moments’ of agency. These helped to re-fashion local gender orders and rehabilitate notions of ‘appropriate’ women’s work. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die bestaanswyses van vroue word nie slegs in die uitleef daarvan waargeneem nie, maar is dikwels ook ‘n fokus van gespreksvoering. Die uitgangspunt van hierdie tesis is dat vroue se bestaanswyses metodies, kompleks en kontekstueel is. Dit word begrond deur uiteenlopende prosesse, strukture, diskoerse, en alledaagse gebruike wat plaaslik gedefinieer word en globaal gebonde is. Hierdie tesis ondersoek vroue se artikulasie van bemagtiging en agentskap wat sentraal tot hul gemeenskap en entrepreneurskap aktiwiteite staan. Vroue se sosiale handelinge en reaksies tot struikelblokke en transformasie wat hulle in die vallei in die gesig gestaar het, is beduidend van ‘n plek van worsteling. Hierdie etnografie word toegelig deur plaaslike vroue se perspektiewe en artikulasie van bemagtiging en fokus op hoe hulle hul bestaanswyse beoefen het: hoe vroue bestaanswyse taktieke gemanipuleer, onderhandel en ook uitgevoer het as reaksie op plaaslike, nasionale en globale beperkinge. Hierdie studie vertel hoe vroue in ‘n landelike vallei van die Wynlande in die Wes-Kaap (Suid-Afrika) praat oor hoe hul ‘bemagtig’ voel, ten spyte van beperkinge. Hulle voer aan dat hul produktiewe oomblikke vertoon en gebruik maak van geleenthede om bo beperkinge uit te styg. Hulle voel dat mans oor die algemeen passief in hul reaksie op krisis is. Vroue se verhale van bemagtiging in die Dwars Rivier Vallei roep beelde op van ‘vroue van staal’ en ‘oomblikke’ van agentskap. Dit het bygedra tot die herskepping van plaaslike gender rolle en die hervestiging van idees oor ‘gepaste’ werk vir vroue.

L’objectif principal de notre thèse consiste, dans un premier temps, à inventorier et à classer les caractéristiques entrepreneuriales pour pouvoir ensuite typer les enquêtées selon la perception qu’elles ont de leurs potentialités entrepreneuriales. Outre cet objectif central, le présent travail tente d’analyser les facteurs personnels et contextuels susceptibles de contribuer à l’acquisition et au développement des potentialités entrepreneuriales des créatrices d’entreprise en contexte djiboutien et africain. Aussi, nous avons cherché à comparer les typologies entrepreneuriales des entrepreneures et des non entrepreneures. Afin de répondre plus adéquatement aux objectifs de la thèse, nous avons d’abord effectué une synthèse des principaux travaux relatifs aux paradigmes des traits et des faits de l’entrepreneur pour mieux resituer le modèle conceptuel de Gasse (Gasse et D’Amours, 2000). Dans un second temps, le travail de terrain se focalise sur l’exploitation d’une enquête réalisée auprès de 208 entrepreneures et 100 femmes non entrepreneures djiboutiennes. Dans cette enquête, on a utilisé un questionnaire de 125 items hors facteurs d’identification et articulé autour de 17 dimensions réparties entre 5 axes (motivations, aptitudes, attitudes, intérêts et comportements). Le traitement des données s’est appuyé sur les techniques statistiques descriptives (tris à plat et tris croisés) et multidimensionnelles (analyse des corrélations, analyse en composantes principales, la classification hiérarchique et l’analyse discriminante). Cette étude a été enrichie par des entretiens semi-directifs avec 10 femmes entrepreneures. Les analyses confirment que, comparées aux non entrepreneures, les entrepreneures disposent plus des capacités et des compétences entrepreneuriales. De même, nos résultats indiquent que les potentialités entrepreneuriales sont associées essentiellement au niveau d’instruction et à l’expérience antérieure chez les entrepreneures plus jeunes, et à un ensemble de facteurs environnementaux (cercle familial ou amical, croyance divine, contexte culturel) chez les entrepreneures plus âgées. Ainsi, notre étude tend à montrer l’importance de l’appartenance à un entourage familial et/ou amical de tradition entrepreneurial dans le processus de création d’entreprise. Les résultats issus de ces différentes méthodes d’analyse de données consolident le modèle conceptuel initial et ouvrent des perspectives en termes de pédagogie d’accompagnement de l’entrepreneure africaine souvent soumise aux pesanteurs contextuelles. / The primary aim of this thesis is to first identify and classify entrepreneurial traits so as to distinguish those surveyed on the basis of the perception they have of their entrepreneurial potentialities. Aside from this primary aim, the following work seeks to analyse personal and contextual factors likely to contribute to the acquisition and development of entrepreneurial traits of women entrepreneurs both within Djibouti and Africa at large. We have tried to compare entrepreneurial typologies of those who are entrepreneurs and those who are not. In view of achieving adequately the aims of this thesis, we first establish a synthesis of the main works regarding the paradigms of traits and facts of the entrepreneur so as to better reproduce Gasse’s conceptual model. In the second part of the work, the field work is focused on the exploitation of the findings of a survey conducted among 208 female entrepreneurs and 10 others who were not entrepreneurs. In this survey, a questionnaire, of 125 items excluding identifying factors and based on 17 dimensions distributed among 5 axes (motivations, aptitudes, attitudes, interests and behaviors), was used. Data processing is conducted according to the descriptive statistics techniques (basic sorting and cross sorting) and multi-dimensional ones (correlation analysis, principal component analysis, hierarchal classification, discriminative analysis). The study was strengthened by semi-structured interviews conducted among 10 female entrepreneurs. The results of the analysis confirmed that, unlike non-entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs have more capabilities and entrepreneurial skills. Moreover, results also indicate that entrepreneurial potentialities are mainly linked to the level of education and prior experience among young entrepreneurs and to a host of environmental factors (family circle, circle of friends, religious beliefs, and cultural context) as far as older entrepreneurs are concerned. Therefore, our study tends to show the importance of belonging to a family environment or having a circle of friends with a long-standing entrepreneurial tradition in the process of business creation. The results of these various methods of data processing reinforces the initial conceptual model and open perspectives on ways of assisting Africa’s women entrepreneurship often subjected to contextual burdens.

Submitted by Paula Torres Tanure (paulatorrestanure@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-03-25T16:38:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - última.pdf: 913390 bytes, checksum: 329d95533974878204574a407d75a1f5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by PAMELA BELTRAN TONSA (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2014-03-25T16:43:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - última.pdf: 913390 bytes, checksum: 329d95533974878204574a407d75a1f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-03-25T17:28:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - última.pdf: 913390 bytes, checksum: 329d95533974878204574a407d75a1f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-24 / Women’s entrepreneurship, as a considerably new field in company administration, still receives little attention from this area, especially when regarding national publications. The increasing number of women entering entrepreneurship also awakens the interest in knowing what motivated them to undertake this kind of work and the reality of these women who face double or even triple working hours. The search for schedule flexibility in order to spend more time with family leads these women to opting for self-employment as a means of work. This study aimed at analyzing if women’s choice for entrepreneurship is related to the need of conciliating work and family. For the data collection we performed interviews with entrepreneur women of the city of São Paulo and adjacent cities. The interviews showed that they are motivated to entrepreneurship in order to have more time with family, however, in counterpoint, they face work overload. Despite having more time with family, they also long for the development of the business. / O empreendedorismo feminino, como um campo consideravelmente novo em administração de empresas, recebe ainda pouca atenção da área, principalmente quando se trata de publicações nacionais. O crescente número de mulheres ingressantes no empreendedorismo também desperta o interesse em conhecer de perto o que as motivou a empreender e a realidade dessas mulheres que enfrentam duplas e até mesmo triplas jornadas de trabalho. A busca pela flexibilidade de horários para passarem mais tempo com a família faz com que as mulheres optem pelo autoemprego como forma de trabalho. Conduziu-se este estudo, com o objetivo de analisar se a escolha das mulheres pelo empreendedorismo está relacionada à necessidade de conciliar trabalho e família. Para a coleta de dados, foram realizadas entrevistas com mulheres empreendedoras da capital paulista e grande São Paulo. As entrevistas, em profundidade, realizadas para este estudo com mulheres empreendedoras, mostrou que elas são motivadas a optarem pelo empreendedorismo para terem mais tempo com a sua família, mas, em contraponto ao benefício de poderem estar mais presentes em momentos da família, elas enfrentam uma sobrecarga de trabalho. No entanto, apesar de desejarem ter mais tempo para a família, elas também almejam o crescimento do negócio.

Les scènes publiques et académiques internationales portent une attention croissante à l’entrepreneuriat des femmes (Hughes et al., 2012) ainsi qu’aux pratiques et acteurs de l’accompagnement (Fayolle, 2004 ; Sammut, 2003). Cependant, peu d’études s’intéressent à l’accompagnement entrepreneurial des femmes entrepreneures (Lebègue, 2015), bien que ces dernières présentent des spécificités et que des auteurs appellent à une plus grande mise en cohérence de l’accompagnement et des besoins et singularités des entrepreneurs (Verstraete,2002 ; Chabaud et al., 2010). De plus, les études portant sur les femmes entrepreneures se centrent principalement sur les obstacles rencontrés, et peu sur les leviers existants. À l’aide d’une recherche qualitative, nos résultats proposent, dans un premier temps, un diagnostic des freins et leviers à l’entrepreneuriat des femmes à travers le canevas des 5Ms de l’entrepreneuriat des femmes (Brush et al., 2009). L’accompagnement, la sensibilisation et l’auto-efficacité entrepreneuriale perçue (Bandura, 1997 ; McGee et al., 2009) en sont des leviers majeurs. Ensuite, nous étudions les phases de mise en oeuvre et d’évaluation de la recherche intervention menée au sein d’un centre entrepreneurial. Notre contribution porte sur la mise au jour de trois formes de sensibilisation ainsi que trois modes d’accompagnement favorisant l’engagement entrepreneurial des femmes – l’un de ces modes s’adaptant à quatre profils différenciés de femmes entrepreneures. / A growing interest is given to women entrepreneurs in the public and academic arena. (Hughes et al., 2012), as well as to the actors and practices of the entrepreneurial support industry (Fayolle, 2004; Sammut, 2003). However, few studies are conducted on the entrepreneurial support of women entrepreneurs (Lebègue, 2015). Women entrepreneurs show some specificities and academics call for a greater coherence between the needs and wants of entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial support practices (Verstraete, 2002; Chabaud et al., 2010). Moreover, the studies on women entrepreneurs are centered on their hurdles more than on their levers. Thanks to a qualitative approach, our results first show the hurdles of levers of women entrepreneurs through the 5Ms canvas of women’s entrepreneurship (Brush et al., 2009). The main levers appear to be entrepreneurial support and awareness, and perceived self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; McGee et al., 2009). Then, our results concern the implementation and evaluation phases of the intervention-research led in an entrepreneurship center. Our contribution is to give an insight on different entrepreneurial support processes – one of them is compatible with the four profiles of women entrepreneurs. We also highlight different forms of entrepreneurial awareness that further entrepreneurial commitment of women.

Even though the idea of microcredit is to stimulate entrepreneurial activities in developing countries, there is an ongoing debate whether this is achieved. Many argue that only providing credit is not enough and see a need for additional components in promoting entrepreneurial activities for the stimulation of economic growth. Moreover, the importance of including women in economic development is widely acknowledged. In Lao People's Democratic Republic where many women run their own businesses and a majority of microcredit borrowers are women, we aimed to examine the relation between microcredit and female entrepreneurship. This was accomplished by conducting semi-structured interviews with 13 Laotian female microcredit borrowers running businesses, as well as interviews with seven representatives from organizations related to microcredit and female entrepreneurship. To understand the female entrepreneurs and the environment in which they operate, we developed a model where factors related to the loan agreement, networking, motivation, gender division of labor and training were identified as important components in the context of Lao PDR. The results support the view that a credit only approach is not enough for the development of female entrepreneurship in Lao PDR.