Negotiating stigmatised identities: Enterprising refugee women in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article critically analyses the complexities of identity work among refugee women entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom. Once labelled as refugees, individuals are homogenised and disadvantaged by association with this stigmatised identity. We explore how women refugees undertake dynamic identity work to recreate themselves as entrepreneurs attempting to ameliorate such stigma. Using case study evidence, we find that claiming an entrepreneurial identity enables the refutation of the stigmatised refugee label and as such, it can be personally enhancing by improving well-being and socio-economic standing. The vestigial negative effects upon access to entrepreneurial resources arising from gendered constraints and a refugee background however, persist. Thus, these refugee entrepreneurs face a double-edged sword; while challenging stigmas through entrepreneurship is potentially liberating, having a refugee background acerbates the impact of enduring structural challenges upon women’s entrepreneurial activity. This has implications for venture potential and relatedly, to the sustainability of fragile entrepreneurial identities among a cohort of vulnerable women.