Female Enterprise in the New Economy

Linda Cullum is an assistant professor of sociology and women’s
studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

As a former part-time, solo, self-employed woman, I found this book very
interesting indeed. Typically, such work has been characterized as the
“bad job” half of the good jobs–bad jobs debate. But is all such
work insecure, unrewarding, or risky? Not necessarily, argues Karen
Hughes. In this volume, Hughes addresses significant gaps in research on
self-employment (whether solo or employers of others) and small business
ownership (SE/SBO) in Canada, and on the broader social, economic, and
policy context of women’s engagement in these areas. Hughes’s clear
gender focus and analysis is a substantial contribution to the
discussion.

With the “enterprise culture” gaining currency in Canadian
neo-liberal society, Hughes reports that 57 percent of Canadians would
prefer to be self-employed, and an increasing number indicate they want
to run their own business. Restructuring of the economy and jobs,
increasing contingent work, and changes to household/family strategies
and government policies may also push and/or pull us into
self-employment. How are women engaging in these shifts? What meanings
and satisfactions do women find in SE/SBO? How do variations in
self-employment affect intrinsic and extrinsic rewards? In this study,
Hughes asks about women’s different pathways to self-employment,
details of their daily work, and diversity of their experiences. These
themes and more are addressed by analysis of qualitative and
quantitative empirical data (Canadian survey and labour market data, and
surveys and interviews with women running diverse small and micro
businesses in Edmonton, Alberta).

One concern I have is the application of Alberta experience—a very
“entrepreneurial province,” as Hughes notes—to the rest of Canada.
In economically insecure Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, are
women’s experiences, struggles, and satisfactions comparable? Given
our fundamental economic differences across provinces, can we generalize
in this way?

Ultimately, Hughes suggests that there is no one clear story for women
entrepreneurs in Alberta. Rather, their experiences vary based on the
complex reasons they have for entering the field. She suggests that to
grasp this complexity, we must develop a more multifaceted approach.
Through her layered analysis and data collection, a subtle, and
sometimes surprising, understanding of women’s perceptions of risk,
job satisfaction and security, and work–family balance is detailed in
this volume.