Gendered Paths

Abstract

The promise of small business ownership as a route to equality has yet to be realized. The authors draw from social construction perspectives and a detailed data set to model directly the various options individuals must balance—as owners and as family members—in the course of running their businesses. The authors’ findings suggest that gendered structural constraints exist not only in the labor markets in which people work before becoming owners but also “closer to home” in terms of decisions they make about whether to try to use ownership to achieve more work–family balance and how much time and effort to put into growing their businesses.