Building Gender-Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Canada

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Hughes, Karen

• SSHRC IG awarded 2020: This project will generate rigorous, representative, findings on women's entrepreneurial outcomes and the impact of specific regional ecosystems, using intersectional analytical techniques. It will build on a well-established adult population survey, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Canada, that has collected data over the past two decades (2002-06 and 2013-2020 inclusive). From 2021-24, we will develop and refine special question modules on entrepreneurial ecosystems, performance outcomes, and socio-demographic background to be added to the core GEM Canada survey. Our approach will generate a unique data source, novel analysis, and excellent training opportunities for graduate students through four interrelated studies. Study 1 will examine gender gaps in performance between women and men entrepreneurs, using intersectional analysis and broader spectrum of outcomes than has been analyzed to date. Study 2 will empirically examine theoretical arguments that women's enterprise offers a 'false promise' of economic opportunity, focusing on understudied dimensions of quality of working life, and comparing entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs--an element missing from debates thus far. Study 3 will explore questions about the short- and longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for women entrepreneurs, using an intersectional lens, and bringing valuable comparative perspectives between Canada and the United States. Study 4 will build upon findings from Studies 1-3, to conduct a comparative analysis of regional ecosystems, focusing on the support ecosystem (e.g. government, non-government entrepreneurial support and advisory services) to better understand the specific supports and approaches needed to build 'inclusive ecosystems' for a diverse range of women entrepreneurs.

• Date created

  2019-10-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Insight Grant
  • IG
  • SSHRC
  • Women's Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
  • Gender
  • Intersectionality
  • Policy
  • COVID-19
  • Survey Based Research
  • Management
  • Social Structure
  • Economic and Regional Development
  • Gender Issues
  • Innovation, Industrial and Technological Development
  • 2004AD-2020AD
  • North America
  • Central Canada
  • Western Canada
  • Canada
  • United States

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-nvsr-j904

• License

  ©️Hughes, Karen. All rights reserved other than by permission. This document embargoed to those without UAlberta CCID until 2026.