Women, immigration and entrepreneurship in Spain: A confluence of debates in the face of a complex reality

Abstract

Social, academic and political interest in entrepreneurship has grown over the last few years. In capitalist societies, it is seen as a way to curb unemployment and combat exclusion among certain groups, i.e. women and immigrants, who suffer social and labour discrimination and marginalisation. Adopting a qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews, this research examines - from the psychosocial gender perspective - the entrepreneurial behaviour of 52 immigrant women living in Spain. From their testimonials, this paper reports on the broad range of reasons that lead immigrant women to set up businesses, identifying the most common self-employment profiles and strategies, while also describing the individual and social consequences of their entrepreneurial behaviour, and how the entire process is conditioned by their belonging to the female gender.