Digital girl: cyberfeminism and the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies
McAdam, MauraORCID: 0000-0003-2203-5485, Crawley, Caren and Harrison, RichardORCID: 0000-0001-5503-3385
(2019)
Digital girl: cyberfeminism and the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies.
Small Business Economics, 55
(1179).
ISSN 0921-898X
Digital entrepreneurship has been described as a “great leveler” in terms of equalizing the
entrepreneurial playing field for women. However, little is known of the emancipatory
possibilities offered by digital entrepreneurship for women constrained by social and cultural
practices such as male guardianship of female relatives and legally enforced gender
segregation. In order to address this research gap, this paper examines women’s engagement
in digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies with restrictive social and cultural practices.
In so doing, we draw upon the analytical frameworks provided by entrepreneurship as
emancipation and cyberfeminism. Using empirical data from an exploratory investigation of
entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, we examine how women use digital technologies in the
pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Our findings reveal that women in Saudi Arabia use
digital entrepreneurship to transform their embodied selves and lived realities rather than to
escape gender embodiment as offered by the online environment.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Entrepreneurship as Emancipation; Digital Entrepreneurship;
CyberFeminism; Qualitative Methodology; Saudi Arabia; Emerging Economies