Coping with gender divide in China's entrepreneurship

Abstract

In the last decades an increasing number of women have been following the path of entrepreneurship. The text presents female entrepreneurship in the 21st century, with a focus on the case of chinese women entrepreneurs and female leaders. The concept will be clarified by giving a general overview of the phenomenon, including specific datas about the She economy worldwide, comparing the situation in different countries. Once defined the concept itself, an important implication will be considered: the impact of gender diversity on firm performance, especially within the company’s top management team. The second chapter identifies the reasons spurring women to get involved in a business, and presents different theories and classifications of the entrepreneurial motivational factors, as well as the external barriers to entering a business, and how gender divide affects this first entrepreneurial phase. The core part of the thesis concerns rising female entrepreneurship in China, specifically the attitude adopted by chinese women to overcome gender related problems in the company, the barriers as well as the incentives to female entrepreneurship on a national and international level, and it identifies different and innovative aspects, while trying to outline future trends. An introduction of a few chinese female billionaires and influential female leaders will be included, alongside an analysis of the common trends characterizing the figure of a chinese female leader.