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Women entrepreneurs: out from under the glass ceiling

Women entrepreneurs: out from under the glass ceiling During the past decade, the incidence of women starting businesses dramatically accelerated in the US. A national, representative sample of women (and men) business owners was interviewed by telephone to understand better this phenomenon. This analysis focuses on women business owners who left corporate careers to start their own businesses. Respondents' experiences with corporate “glass ceilings” and “glass walls”, such as lack of flexibility and challenge, lack of role models and mentors, lack of access to line positions with concomitant intrapreneurial opportunities, and failure of organizations to credit and reward women's contributions, are examined. Differences among three age cohorts of women business owners, included in the analysis, portend increased difficulty for companies in retaining talented women professionals and managers, especially those with entrepreneurial interests. Recommendations to companies include identifying and eliminating barriers to women's advancement in the corporate culture and work environment, and development of more intrapreneurial opportunities. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Women In Management Review Emerald Publishing

Women entrepreneurs: out from under the glass ceiling

Mary C. Mattis
Women In Management Review , Volume 19 (3): 10 – Apr 1, 2004
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10 pages

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0964-9425
DOI
10.1108/09649420410529861
Publisher site
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Abstract

During the past decade, the incidence of women starting businesses dramatically accelerated in the US. A national, representative sample of women (and men) business owners was interviewed by telephone to understand better this phenomenon. This analysis focuses on women business owners who left corporate careers to start their own businesses. Respondents' experiences with corporate “glass ceilings” and “glass walls”, such as lack of flexibility and challenge, lack of role models and mentors, lack of access to line positions with concomitant intrapreneurial opportunities, and failure of organizations to credit and reward women's contributions, are examined. Differences among three age cohorts of women business owners, included in the analysis, portend increased difficulty for companies in retaining talented women professionals and managers, especially those with entrepreneurial interests. Recommendations to companies include identifying and eliminating barriers to women's advancement in the corporate culture and work environment, and development of more intrapreneurial opportunities.

Journal

Women In Management Review – Emerald Publishing

Published: Apr 1, 2004

Keywords: Women; Entrepreneurs; Corporate ownership; United States of America

References

  • Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: a theory of gendered organizations
    Acker, J.
  • Perceptions of women and men as entrepreneurs: evidence for differential effects of attributional augmenting
    Baron, R.A.; Markman, G.D.; Hirsa, A.
  • Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity
    Belle, L.; Edmondson, J.; Nkomo, S.M.