Female Enterprise in the New Economy

I am a researcher who is infatuated with fieldwork, counting the days till the next sortie into “the field”. As such I am beguiled by stories detailing the journeys of projects grounded in a programme of empirical work. Female Enterprise in the New Economy by Karen D. Hughes is appealing for just that reason. In addressing the research question (Does an increasingly entrepreneurial economy offer women better opportunities for economic success?) Hughes puts forward an engrossing account of the realities of living the “self‐employed life” for a group of Canadian women. In doing so she also makes a contribution towards addressing the absence of comprehensive gendered analyses of self‐employment.

Chapter one of the book is essentially an introduction, but in actual fact achieves far more than that. In contextualising her research question, Hughes adeptly captures the economic and societal changes that have seen this particular group (within the total self‐employed population) rise to prominence. However, she does not subscribe to the accepted, and perhaps naive, view that the growth and popularity of self‐employment for women merely parallels the rise of the enterprise culture. She also acknowledges that the pursuit of this type of work can often be risky for women (and therefore negative), especially if they have been forced into it as a consequence of other labour market dynamics.

The research programme that the book describes was funded by The Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council, and the data gleaned from two sources: The first, national level survey data, and the second, empirical data collected via in‐depth interviews with 61 women running small and micro enterprises in Edmonton, Alberta. Hughes conceptualises her data‐gathering as a process of “excavation”, and the second chapter of the book tells the reader the “where”, “how”, “why” and “what”. She argues for the appropriateness of a mixed method approach to addressing her research question, discusses the processes undertaken to execute the work, as well as providing demographic data for the 61 interviewees. This was an engaging chapter, if only for the level of insight Hughes is willing to provide on how she thought through the various aspects of the project (she also includes a copy of the interview schedule as an appendix). It is also always pleasing to read about a researcher who is willing to “handle her own rat”.

The “body” of the book (chapters three to six) explores the findings of the project in a detailed fashion. This section of the book is arranged by theme and there is a well‐managed balance in each chapter between data and literature which is used to contextualise the real‐life stories. This results in a balanced presentation of each topic that brings to bear both empirical evidence and attention to the knowledge which has been created to date. In this regard, the book is extremely well‐referenced and attention is given (via citation) to the most relevant and timely material.

The first theme (dealt with in chapter three) is “pathways”, i.e. how the women in this study entered self‐employment, as well as their motivations and attitudes towards doing so. Thankfully, this chapter seeks to expand the understanding of such pathways by going beyond the push‐pull dichotomy that so frequently characterises research efforts in this area. In this chapter, Hughes acknowledges that the reality of start up (and/or entry to self‐employment) is far more messy and unstructured than the simple categorisations of positive and negative influences suggest. The meanings of these experiences are also brought to light beautifully through the use of quotes from the interviewees themselves – and this also demonstrates the close analysis of transcribed material that must have been undertaken. What is also skilful about the way the material in this chapter is handled, is Hughes' ability to link the impact of antecedent factors on self‐employment entry to the discourse at both a macro and micro‐economic level, and in terms of both individual and collective action.

“I love what I do” is part of the title given to chapter four, which is devoted to exploring the meaning of work to the self‐employed women who were interviewed. As a self‐described “sociologist of work”, Hughes devotes a substantial chapter to understanding what, if any, quality and satisfaction this group of women derive from their entrepreneurial activities. This chapter gives an insight into the breadth of activities that comprise the businesses being run by these women, and alludes to the fact that long hours were as typical as routines were atypical. Again, the front end of the chapter was dominated by rich, qualitative data and the back end by well‐integrated and relevant literature.

Chapter five of the book reveals that high job satisfaction does not always correlate with high levels of financial satisfaction for this group of enterprising women. As the chapter title (Players or paupers) suggests, the experiences are often at opposite ends of the financial continuum, irrespective of how satisfying the “job” of running a business is considered to be. In this one chapter Hughes provides insight into the paradoxical nature of self‐employment that is so often glossed over: which is that behind a great deal of passion, commitment and enjoyment can lie a great deal of risk, economic uncertainty, and financial distress. These risks of non‐standard work are often skipped over in the drive to communicate the more positive, and ultimately heroic, portrayal of enterprise that underpins the modern‐day acceptance of entrepreneurship. However, in deference to a history of omissions in this regard, Hughes devotes time and text to describing the polarisation of women within the SME (small and medium enterprise) sector in terms of the unequal distribution of earnings, and demonstrates why this is a topic particularly worthy of exploration through a lens of gender.

The penultimate chapter of Female Enterprise in the New Economy examines the nature of the business support and policy infrastructure in Canada for women engaged in running a small firm. I am a firm believer that the usefulness of a piece of research, particularly in the SME sector, is often in direct proportion to how much of its content is directed at influencing policy, or communicating findings in a way that informs those engaged in the policy formulation process. The work of Hughes meets that criterion. This chapter is a useful complement to those that were more data‐focused as it provides the part of the “story” that tells us the people and agencies these women can interact with in the Canadian context, who are charged with “assisting” them in their endeavours.

The final chapter of the book is a comprehensive ending that pieces together the various conclusions that were presented, and closes by reiterating the nature of self‐employment for this group of Canadian women: that it is, on the whole, a risky endeavour, yet one from which much satisfaction is derived. Hughes argues that for these women pull factors dominated their decision to enter, and that on the whole their move to do so was a “smart risk”. The final chapter is dense, as are some other parts of the book. However, I suspect this is testament to the author's desire to communicate a complete argument – as are the numerous tables that illustrate the book and the useful appendices.

The strength of this book is in its ability to balance a whole set of research characteristics that are often set in opposition into one another (e.g. empirical or theoretical, micro‐economic or macro‐economic, pure or applied). Hughes uses each of these characteristics to serve a purpose and they result in an integrated and holistic approach to understanding the topic of “women in enterprise”. In doing so, she also reinforces the fact that there is merit in dividing the self‐employed population by “group” in order to facilitate in‐depth investigation and, reading between the lines, that the heterogeneity of the small business sector is a cause for rejoicing. This book will appeal to a number of groups, including post‐graduate students, academics, researchers and policy makers alike. The potentially wide appeal of the book is a tribute to Hughes' willingness and skill in drawing parallels between individual experiences and collective trends, and the way in which she communicates her scholarship so engagingly.