Contextual Embeddedness of Women's Entrepreneurship

16 Developing an understanding of entrepreneurship intertwined with motherhood

A career narrative of British Mumpreneurs

Shandana Sheikh, Federica Sist, Aybeniz Akdeniz and Shumaila Yousafzai

In the UK, there are around 1.2 million self-employed women of which approximately 300,000 are mumpreneurs (‘an individual who discovers and exploits new opportunities within a social and geographical context that seeks to integrate the demands of motherhood and business ownership’ (Ekinsmyth, 2011, p. 105), contributing £7.4bn to the UK economy each year (Start Up Donut, 2014). Recognizing the contribution of women in UK’s economic growth, recent efforts to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship have been initiated by the UK government to encourage women, ...