Elsevier

Women's Studies International Forum

Volume 21, Issue 5, September–October 1998, Pages 463-474
Women's Studies International Forum

Silent contributors: Asian female entrepreneurs and women in business

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(98)00069-7Get rights and content

Abstract

— The “growth” of Asian enterprises has been a prominent feature of the small business population in Britain. Asian entrepreneurs have been eulogised by the popular press keen to laud free enterprise heroes, while more detached academic commentary has sought to identify the key success factors for this entrepreneurial minority. Much less conspicuous has been the role of female Asian entrepreneurs and Asian women working in “family” businesses. This article focuses upon the often neglected issue of the contribution of Asian women to both entrepreneurship and the management of family businesses. In order to illuminate the position of Asian women in business, a series of qualitative interviews were undertaken with two particular groups: Asian women entrepreneurs in their own right; and Asian women working in family enterprises. Five representatives from each group were interviewed on at least two occasions. Issues explored with Asian women entrepreneurs include their background, their influences, the factors that facilitated or inhibited their decision to become self-employed, their experiences of entrepreneurship and the particular issues that confront them as Asian women in business. Interviews with Asian women working in family enterprises explored their role and contribution to the management of the business. Amongst the issues covered are their “official” and “unofficial” positions within the business; the balance between domestic and business responsibilities and the influence, if any, of cultural factors in the nature of their presence within the enterprise. This article sheds light on a number of neglected issues within the increasingly important area of Asian entrepreneurship in Britain. First, a clearer picture will emerge of the roles, responsibilities and relationships of the relatively few Asian women who are entrepreneurs in their own right; and the many more who help sustain many Asian enterprises. Second, methodologically the paper will be novel in so far as the researcher (an Asian woman from a “typical” family business background) has taken care to observe the cultural proprieties within this particular group. Hence, the data are arguably more authentic than previous studies undertaken by “distant” researchers. Finally, policy makers are increasingly being reminded to appreciate the needs and the diversity of ethnic minorities in business. The findings reinforce this message by highlighting the distinctive experiences of Asian women in business.

Introduction

The “growth” of Asian enterprises has been a prominent feature of the small business population in Britain. Asian entrepreneurs have been eulogised by the popular press keen to laud free enterprise heroes. More detached academic commentary has also sought to identify the key success factors for this entrepreneurial minority. Much less conspicuous has been the role that female Asian entrepreneurs and Asian women working in “family” businesses play. This article focuses upon the often neglected issue of the contribution of Asian women to both entrepreneurship and the management of family businesses in Britain.

This article sheds light on a number of neglected issues within the increasingly important area of Asian entrepreneurship. First, a clearer picture will emerge of the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the relatively few Asian women who are entrepreneurs in their own right; and the many more who help sustain many Asian enterprises. Second, methodologically the paper will be novel in so far as the researcher (an Asian female from a “typical” family business background) has taken care to observe the cultural proprieties often noted within this particular group. Hence, the data are arguably more authentic than previous studies undertaken by “distant” researchers. Finally, policy-makers are increasingly being reminded to appreciate the needs and the diversity of ethnic minorities in business. The findings reinforce this message by highlighting the distinctive experiences of Asian women in business in Britain.

In Britain, South Asians account for only 2.7% of the population (South Asian Population Report for Great Britain, 1992). Thus, participation in self-employment is significantly higher for South Asian communities than that for the white population, as Table 1 demonstrates. The participation rates of women are much lower than men for all the groups. However, a larger proportion of South Asian women are in self-employment than white women. The real extent of their participation may be much greater as it is difficult to unmask them due to their role remaining largely unacknowledged and hidden, particularly within family businesses.

Despite the relative importance of this issue, there is a paucity of literature on this subject, with most of the research tending to focus on the reasons for entering self-employment, for example, discrimination, etc. This article attempts to look at the specific experiences faced by the women and at any cultural influences. It is important to look at women in business and South Asian women in particular, as many of them are the backbone of a business, playing a pivotal role within that business, but their efforts remain largely unacknowledged. Additionally, for South Asian women the specific nature of their “role” is unclear, due to the inseparability of “self” from the business. In some cases the home and business environment are the same. This is an issue that is of growing importance and the existing treatment of this issue is inadequate.

Past research shows that South Asian women in Britain are not strongly represented in self-employment. Jones, McEvoy, and Barrett (1992) found that 75% of their sample of 403 were male. Metcalf, Modood, and Virdee (1997) found a similar proportion in their sample of 129 people. This is still higher than in earlier studies (Aldrich, Cater, Trevor, & McEvoy, 1981) where women were absent. Jennings and Cohen (1993) assert that figures are misleadingly low, as there is a tendency for some women entrepreneurs to be “invisible,” their existence unacknowledged. This is certainly true of some of the women interviewed, who openly say it is their husband, father, or brother who run the business, thus masking the extent of their role, even when it is a pivotal role in the management of the business Phizacklea 1990, Ram 1992, Ram & Jones 1998.

Despite these assertions of male ownership of their enterprises, a notable number of South Asian businesses are registered legally as family partnerships, which in essence constitute joint ownership between husband and wife (Barrett, Jones, & McEvoy, 1996).

Metcalf et al. (1997) found in their sample of 129 people consisting of 75% males and 25% females that the family is of primary importance and the desire to enhance family cohesion, and the well-being of the family, may well be a factor in business development. This may be shaped by views on women working in paid employment. From their interviews, 81% of Indian men felt married women should have paid work if they want it, whereas 48% of Pakistani men were certain that the women should spend their time looking after the home. The pattern was similar for male attitudes to married women working in the family business, with the notable “improvement” being that Pakistani men were slightly happier with the woman working in the family business than elsewhere. Interestingly, all groups of men were more favourable to their daughters working in the family business.

From their interviews, Metcalf et al. (1997) found that the family was seen by the self-employed as a source of good labour, and that the employment of family members in the business was influenced by the desire to keep the family together. A good proportion thought self-employment was advantageous in strengthening family life and cohesion. About half the sample, 46%, said their business provided jobs for the family and that it enabled family members to work together (47%), while 35% said their business allowed their wife to combine working with looking after the children. This view is reinforced by Werbner (1984), who found an inseparability of family and business with contributions from all family members from the very young to the very old (Werbner, 1984). This is expanded in the literatures on culture and entrepreneurship (e.g., Werbner, 1990), as well as networks and entrepreneurship (Light, Bhachu, & Karageorgis, 1990).

One of the main reasons given in writings on the subject is that many South Asians go into self-employment as a response to “blocked upward mobility” (Ram & Jones, 1998, p. 8). If this is true of South Asians in general, it is more true of female Asians who face the double disadvantage of race and gender. Motives for entry were the desire to avoid racial discrimination and the resulting confinement to low status jobs in the labour market (Aldrich et al., 1981) or, for women, confinement in the home. “Push” factors include unemployment, underemployment, job dissatisfaction and/or blocked opportunities, and often for women, no opportunities at all. Entry into self-employment is seen as one of damage limitation (Jones et al., 1994). It is difficult to ascertain whether this is true in the case of South Asian women, as many of them did not “choose” to enter self-employment, but had the role forced upon them due to decisions made elsewhere in the family. The status argument is strong for men and family businesses Srinivasan 1992, Srinivasan 1995 and entrepreneurs are seen as successful role models within their community (Dhaliwal & Amin, 1995). However, for women, the present study shows that status is not necessarily the driving force for being self-employed, although some satisfaction may be derived from it.

Section snippets

Methodology

In order to illuminate the position of Asian women in business, I undertook a series of qualitative interviews were undertaken with two particular groups: Asian women entrepreneurs in their own right; and Asian women working in family enterprises. Five representatives from each group were interviewed on at least two occasions. Issues explored with Asian women entrepreneurs include their background, their influences, the factors that facilitated or inhibited their decision to become

Background and influences

There are great differences in their levels of scholastic achievement and general attitudes toward education. Farzana’s father was an educated man and his ambition was to educate his nine children. Farzana has a master’s degree in Zoology and worked for the Pakistan Times newspaper for 4 years. Pinky attended, like most middle-class girls, a Catholic school in India. She pushed herself and was motivated, wanting to study further. Her parents were strict Muslims, but they did not stop her

Conclusion

It is clear that there are distinctive issues faced by South Asian women and that their families can help or hinder them. Each case is unique and must be weighed on its own merits, however, they do serve to highlight the issues faced by many South Asian women in business and the significant contribution of South Asian women to both entrepreneurship and the management of the family business.

Children play a crucial but differing role for the two groups of women. For the independent women the

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank, in particular, Monder Ram; I also thank Martin Albrow and all the women who were brave enough to talk to me.

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