Empreendedorismo feminino: uma análise a partir das perspectivas da educação e das relações de gênero

Abstract

This study situates women's work in the context of entrepreneurship, emphasizing its connection with gender relations and education. Entrepreneurship is understood as a growing occupation category that emerged as an alternative for social inclusion, and work and income generation, therefore, contributing to diminish social inequality, which has been growing as work relations have changed within globalization and economic restructuring. There are studies showing an increase in the participation of women in entrepreneurial activities in recent years, however gender relations influence the way men and women initiateentrepreneurial activities. In order to illustrate such increase and its gender configurations, an analysis is presented of the profile of 163 women who participated in the Business Women Prize, from 2006 through 2010, in the state of Paraíba, in northeastern Brazil. Education, especially higher education, is considered as an important asset to overcome the traditional process of socialization and the gendering of work activities, thus allowing for the construction of an entrepreneurial identity unconstrained by gender asymmetric models.