Women entrepreneurs and family networks in Andalusia (Spain) during the second industrial revolution

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship in Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain, between 1886 and 1959. The aim of the text is to answer the question: Were women active in entrepreneurship, or merely pieces in the economic strategies of the males who governed their families? To do this, a database built from the commercial registers containing more than 8,000 companies is used. The results obtained, by way of a combination of quantitative and qualitative research, as well as the application of the Social Network Analysis, indicate that the women who participated in the forming of multi-owner firms were subject to the decisions of their male partners, and hardly had any opportunities to develop an active business role. Female subordination is explained by the sociocultural characteristics of the institutional framework as well as the late economic development of the region.