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Dear Colleagues:

You are invited to the Caucus on 'Exploring the "other": Career strategies and trajectories of female entrepreneurs' that will take place on Tuesday, Aug 9 2016 at 9:45AM - 11:15AM in Anaheim Marriott, Platinum Ballroom 6.

The Caucus aims to discuss career strategies and trajectories of female entrepreneurs to create opportunities and set up a business.

Despite expanding equal opportunities initiatives, the presence of women in entrepreneurial careers remains low.

A substantial body of literature and government reports highlight the institutional biases and structural inequalities female entrepreneurs face in accessing support from any kind of source. Prevailing gender roles affect the feasibility of entrepreneurship, because they render entry and business survival more difficult for women, leading to horizontal and vertical gender segregation. In turn, regulatory institutions such as welfare models and family policies largely dictate the "proper" role of women in the society because they impact on the degree to which women are able to reconcile family obligations and work outside the family. This is also true for older women who enact different forms of post-career entrepreneurship and are confounded by stereotypes regarding skills and attributes.

As a consequence of these life-path discontinuities female entrepreneurs tend to exist at the periphery and are construed as survivalist and non-economic agents, regardless of whether they are 'working women' or whether they have caring obligations or not. This in the midst of recent discussion that considers entrepreneurship as just another profession (Burton, Sorensen & Dobrev, 2016).

The Caucus aims to discuss how women break through existing boundaries and make decisions to engage in the pursuit of an entrepreneurial career within a rather unfavourable institutional environment. Some potential axes axes for the discussion include:

·         How do women negotiate the gendered structures creating opportunities and starting new ventures?  

·         To what extent can existing careers frameworks such as boundaryless, protean and kaleidoscope careers account for entrepreneurship endeavors of women? 

·         To what extent is third-age entrepreneurship an alternative to late-career unemployment for women? What are the different forms of entrepreneurial activity older women engage with, and what role do organizations play in the development of late career entrepreneurship?

·         To what extent do existing policies recognize and integrate emergent issues that contribute towards reducing inequalities?

·         What policy solutions can be designed to support careers of female entrepreneurs that enhance business growth and sustainability?

The Caucus intends to bring together experts in careers, entrepreneurship and gender studies. The idea is to generate propositions for further research, but also to serve as a starting point for the formation of a long-lasting collaborative network.

We are looking forward to seeing you on August 9 at 9:45AM - 11:15AM in Anaheim Marriott, Platinum Ballroom 6.

The organizers

Elina Meliou, University of Newcastle, UK

Nikos Bozionelos, Audencia Business School, France

Nikos Bozionelos PhD CPsychol AFBPS

Professor of OB & HRM

Head of the Research Axis "Organization & Value Chain Management"

Senior Editor for Asia Pacific Journal of Management (Impact Factor: 2.74)

Audencia Nantes

Ecole de Management

8 route de la Jonelière

44312 Nantes

France

Tel.: +33(0)240374568

http://www.audencia.com