Abstract
In Autumn 2008, a programme called This Morning on ITV, one of the largest commercial broadcasting companies in the UK, ran a competition for mothers with business ideas, calling the competitors ‘Mumpreneurs’. In addition, a number of websites have recently emerged which also make use of this term including The Mumpreneur Directory (www.mumpreneurdirectory.com); London Mums (www.Londonmums.org.uk) which invites women to join the London Mumpreneurs’ Group; Babyworld which recently invited women to ‘Meet the Mumpreneurs’ (www.babyworld.co.uk) and Mumsclub (www.mumsclub.co.uk) which provides details of a range of women owned businesses referring to these as mumpreneur profiles. The increasing use of the expression ‘mumpreneur’ gives rise to the question of how we should interpret its emergence. Is the phrase ‘mumpreneur’ simply a play on words or is it something more significant?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adkins, L. (1999) ‘Community and economy: A retraditionalization of gender?’, Theory, Culture and Society, 16(1): 119–139.
Adkins, L. (2003) ‘Reflexivity: Freedom or habit of gender’, Theory, Culture and Society, 20(6): 21–42.
Ahl, H. (2002) ‘The construction of the female entrepreneur as other’. In B. Czarniawska and H. Höpfl (eds) Casting the Other: The Production and Maintenance of Inequalities in Work Organizations, pp. 52–67. London: Routledge.
Ahl, H. (2004) The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality: A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women’s Entrepreneurship. Liber: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Ahl, H. (2006) ‘Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions’, Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, 30(5): 595–621.
Austen, A. (2008) ‘Mum’s the business’, BBC Money Programme, 8 August.
Barrow, B. (2006) ‘Boom in business tycoon mums’, Daily Mail, 15 September.
Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002) Individualization. London: Sage.
Bruni, A., Gherardi, S. and Poggio, B. (2004a) ‘Entrepreneur-mentality, gender and the study of women entrepreneurs’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(3): 256–268.
Bruni, A., Gherardi, S. and Poggio, B. (2004b) ‘Doing gender, doing entrepreneurship: An ethnographic account of intertwined practices’, Gender, Work and Organization, 11(4): 406–429.
Bruni, A., Gherardi, S. and Poggio, B. (2005) Gender and Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographical Approach. London: Routledge.
Brush, C., de Bruin, A. and Welter, F. (2009) ‘A gender-aware framework for women’s entrepreneurship’, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 1(1): 8–24.
Carter, S. and Cannon, T. (1992) Women as Entrepreneurs. London: Academic Press.
Cromie, S. and Hayes, J. (1988) ‘Towards a typology of female entrepreneurs’, The Sociological Review, 36: 87–113.
Crompton, R. (2002) ‘Employment, flexible working and the family’, British Journal of Sociology, 53(4): 537–558.
Dodds, S. (2008) ‘Women who mean business’, Daily Express, 4 October.
du Gay, P. (1996) Consumption and Identity at Work. London: Sage.
du Gay, P. (2000) ‘Enterprise and its futures: A response to Fournier and Grey’, Organization, 7(1): 165–183.
du Gay, P. (2004) ‘Against “enterprise” (but not against “enterprise” for that would make no sense)’, Organization, 11(1): 37–57.
Fenwick, T. J. (2002) ‘Transgressive desires: New enterprising selves in the New Capitalism’, Work, Employment and Society, 16(4): 703–723.
Goffee, R. and Scase, R. (1983) ‘Business ownership and women’s subordination: A Preliminary study of female proprietors’, The Sociological Review, 31(1): 625–648.
Hundley, G. (2000) ‘Male/female earnings differences in self-employment: The effects of marriage, children and the household division of labour’, Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 54(1): 95–114.
Hundley, G. (2001) ‘Why women earn less than men in self-employment’, Journal of Labour Research, 22(4): 817–829.
Jennings, J. E. and McDougald, M. S. (2007) ‘Work-family interface experiences and coping strategies: Implications for entrepreneurship research and practice’, Academy of Management Review, 32(3): 747–760.
Lee-Gosselin, H. and Grise, J. (1990) ‘Are women owner-managers challenging our definitions of entrepreneurship? An in-depth survey’, Journal of Business Ethics, 9: 423–433.
Lewis, P. (2006) ‘The quest for invisibility: Female entrepreneurs and the masculine norm of entrepreneurship’, Gender, Work and Organization, 13(5): 453–469.
Lewis, P. (2008a) Reproducing and Resisting the Female Entrepreneur: An Exploration of the Identity Work of Women Business Owners presented at the 26th International Labour Process Conference, University College Dublin, 18th to 20th March.
Lewis, P. (2008b) ‘Emotion work and emotion space: Using a spatial perspective to explore the challenging of masculine emotion management practices’, British Journal of Management, 19, S130-S140.
Lewis, P. (2009) ‘The female entrepreneur: A new entrepreneurial identity and a new gendered challenge for women business owners’, presented at European Academy of Management Conference, University of Liverpool, 11th to 14th May.
McNay, L. (1999) ‘Gender, habitus and the field: Pierre Bourdieu and the Limits of Reflexivity’, Theory, Culture and Society, 16(1): 95–117.
McNay, L. (2000) Gender and Agency. Cambridge: Polity.
McRobbie, A. (2009) The Aftermath of Feminism. London: Sage.
Mirchandani, K. (1999) ‘Feminist insight on gendered work: New directions in research on women and entrepreneurship’, Gender, Work and Organization, 6(4): 224–235.
Mulholland, K. (1996) ‘Entrepreneurialism, Masculinities and the self-made man’, in Collinson, D. L. and Hearn, J. (eds) Men as Managers, Managers as Men: Critical Perspectives on Men, Masculinities and Managements, pp. 123–149. London: Sage.
Probyn, E. (1997) ‘New traditionalism and post-feminism: TV does the home’, in Brunsdon, C., Acci, J. D. and Spigel, L. (eds) Feminist Television Criticism: A Reader, pp. 126–139. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Reed, R. (1996) ‘Entrepreneurialism and Paternalism in Australian management: A gender critique of the “self-made” man’, in Collinson, D. L. and Hearn, J. (eds) Men as Managers, Managers as Men: Critical Perspectives on Men, Masculinities and Managements, pp. 99–122. London: Sage.
Rose, H. (2008a) Mothers of Invention, Magazine, The Times, 19 July.
Rose, H. (2008b) Million Dollar Mum, Magazine, The Times, 19 July.
Rouse, J. and Kitching, J. (2006) ‘Do enterprise support programmes leave women holding the baby?’, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 24(1): 5–19.
Stanworth, C. and Stanworth, J. (1997) ‘Reluctant entrepreneurs and their clients: The case of self-employed freelance workers in the British book publishing industry’, International Small Business Journal, 16(1): 58–74.
Wark, P. (2009) ‘Has it damaged me? Probably’, The Times, 15 January.
www.babyworld.co.uk/features/work/mumpreneurs1.asp, accessed on 20 May 2009.
www.Londonmums.org.uk, accessed on 20 May 2009.
www.mumpreneurdirectory.com, accessed on 20 May 2009.
www.mumsclub.co.uk, accessed on 20 May 2009.
Yang, P. Q. and Rodriguez, E. (2009) ‘The case for staying home: Myth or reality’, International Sociology, 24(4): 526–556.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2010 Patricia Lewis
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lewis, P. (2010). ‘Mumpreneurs’: Revealing the Post-feminist Entrepreneur. In: Lewis, P., Simpson, R. (eds) Revealing and Concealing Gender. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230285576_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230285576_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30326-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28557-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)