In the Wednesday Gender Seminar, Prof. Qi shared her findings that women in business and entrepreneurial areas tend to have the flexibility to perform and display gender roles, which could be studied as an inspiration for the possibility of decoding gender dichotomies. Qi brought up many examples of female entrepreneurs who had to obtain masculine ideas and rebuild themselves into more manly figures to gain trust and support in the business world. In this way, female identity is not constrained by the original gender itself but is determined by how one displays gender to present her identity. That is, identity is not what an individual has but the way the individual acts based on her willingness to be accepted by society in what way and what role she wants to play in the league, and how she reacts to social regulations and external impacts on her determination on doing what gender. For me, although female entrepreneurs behave as masculine figures who need to be tough, decisive, and manly, they, to some extent, are still different from male entrepreneurs. It’s the stereotypical social norms that label females as being sensitive and caring, so female leaders always have extra responsibilities to care for male workers’ mental stability and judging voices from women’s communities. On the one hand, the increasing number of female entrepreneurs provides cases for both males and females to break out from the dichotomy in gender and social roles and recognize individual ability in performing personal gender roles according to self-preference instead of being restricted by society. It can expand the persona potential in different fields and also energize organizations to have new blood. 

On the other hand, I think the masculine display of female entrepreneurs somehow remains and solids the gender role binary. Suppose entrepreneurial success needs to be before masculinity. In that case, it reversely admits that only masculinity can make quick decisions, design business plans, deal with financial issues, obtain leadership, and be trusted by other supportive roles. While females have to pretend or turn themselves into masculine to shift their supporting roles into dominative positions, it somehow places femineity and masculinity on the two sides of a scale. It ignores any conversations about the third possibility in gender roles and has already accepted the unfair social status between males and females determined by the patriarchal society. I cannot see any progress in this way of doing gender. But there’s no doubt that the more female entrepreneurs we have, the more considerable decisions can be made. As mentioned before, females’ gender responsibility is seldom removed when they replace males in the business field. Families and caring are still attached to female identity.  

In conclusion, Prof. Qi thoroughly introduced what female entrepreneurs are, how they do and display gender, and what it means in the long term. I think we can have further conversations on whether female entrepreneurs can get rid of females’ domestic gender roles by being masculine in the business area and how to define women as entrepreneurs while spending time caring for families. 

Written by: ZHANG, Yingzi

In the general cultural sphere, entrepreneurship is widely characterized as a male rather than a female activity. A field such as entrepreneurship, which is charged with economic power, social authority, and organizational authority, is gender stereotyped as masculine. Masculine and feminine ideals of success produce a gendered dichotomy of perceptions of entrepreneurial success. In family businesses, it is commonly believed that women only have supporting and subservient positions while men take on leadership roles. 

However, Prof. Qi’s fieldwork shows that the real situation is much more complex than generally presented. The various practices engaged in by women entrepreneurs have been neglected in the literature. Her research demonstrates that women entrepreneurs do not necessarily follow traditionally prescribed gender roles but strategically navigate cultural norms. Thus finding what they believe to be the optimal outcome for their businesses and families.  

On the other hand, while successful female entrepreneurs are increasingly recognized, their portrayal is often associated with a masculine ideal of success, thus postulating a female imitation of masculinity. However, Prof. Qi’s presentation challenged the gender dichotomy in entrepreneurship. While it is true that businesspeople display gender, the reasons do not form the basis of the gender dichotomy as is often assumed. This display is subordinate to and serves the purpose of business success for women entrepreneurs. They tend to be strategic in demonstrating roles that correspond to the cultural meanings of gender. Aware of the implications of gender beliefs, their situational relevance and impact on customers. Entrepreneurs do not blindly follow expected roles but rather demonstrate gender roles that are appropriate and in the best interest of their business by sensing their clients’ expectations. Entrepreneurs may actively demonstrate and implement gender in their practice to optimize the outcomes they seek. And they think in doing so, the construction of gender selves undergoes modification, elaboration, and instrumental mobilization.  

After participating in this presentation, I also reflected a bit on the gender strategies of women entrepreneurs in doing business. For a long time, people have been obsessed with the gender dichotomy in entrepreneurship but neglected the subjective initiative of women entrepreneurs. This presentation allowed me to learn about their gender strategies and strategically navigate cultural norms. 

Written by: ZHANG, Zheting

As Prof. Qi mentioned in her presentation “Female entrepreneurs do not necessarily follow conventionally prescribed gender roles but strategically navigate cultural norms finding what they regard as optimal outcomes for their business and also their family.” In traditional gender norms, society expects women’s role to be that of a good wife and mother, responsible for taking good care of her husband, children, and family. Nowadays, more and more women are strengthening their social roles and values through successful entrepreneurship. In conventional wisdom, the opposite of women’s career success is the dilution of women’s family roles, which has led to the emergence of terms such as “superwomen” and “tiger girls”. Prof. Qi has shown through her research that female entrepreneurs are not necessarily required to be ‘tiger girls’ to achieve business success. Business and family are not necessarily opposed to each other but rather can support and enriching each other. For female entrepreneurs, they have the right to choose whether to realize their self-worth in entrepreneurship or in taking care of their families and can balance the conflict between their families and their careers to achieve a win-win situation. 

Prof. Qi also mentioned while successful female entrepreneurs are increasingly acknowledged, the portrayal of them is typically associated with masculine ideals of success, thus postulating a female imitation of masculinity. She challenged persistent dichotomic approaches to gender in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs may actively display and perform gender in their practices to optimize the outcomes they seek. Female entrepreneurs display their gender identity not to gain recognition by mimicking masculinity, but to gain business benefits by displaying gender roles that are appropriate and in the best interest of their business. This proved that female entrepreneurs behaved strategically in displaying roles that corresponded to gendered cultural meanings. We should not define leadership in terms of gender, there are far more differences between people than those brought about by gender. Female entrepreneurs also have strengths such as holistic, empathetic, and resilient. Female entrepreneurs engage in gender strategies in doing business that challenge gender stereotypes and the gender dichotomy in entrepreneurship. 

Written by: ZHAO, Kaiyu

In the lecture Doing Gender and Displaying Gender as a Strategy: An Empirical Study of Female Entrepreneurs, Professor Xiaoying Qi discussed the gender strategies presented for female entrepreneurs in China. 

Entrepreneurship is widely perceived as a male rather than a female field of activity. Influenced by the stereotype, people believed that entrepreneurship requires typical masculinity. Constrained by the gender division of labor and role expectations in society, women are assumed to play only supportive and subordinate roles in family businesses, creating dichotomic approaches to gender in entrepreneurship. 

But the author’s empirical findings suggest that female entrepreneurs do not necessarily follow traditionally prescribed gender roles, but rather strategically follow cultural norms and seek the most beneficial outcomes. For example, Mrs Tang did not choose to inherit her parents’ company, but rather established her own. This approach avoided a breach of family norms and challenging her father’s leadership position. In this way, women entrepreneurs like Mrs. Tang are able to navigate cultural norms and thus escape role expectations that limit their ambitions. 

Moreover, successful female entrepreneurs are not necessarily required to be “tiger girls” in order to achieve business success. The new generation of entrepreneurs isn’t just concerned with competition, profits, etc. in the traditional entrepreneurial framework. Business is just a part of life but not everything. Accordingly, business and family are not necessarily opposed to each other, but rather are capable of supporting and in reaching each other. 

Finally, entrepreneurs strategically behave in displaying roles that corresponded to gendered cultural meanings. They don’t necessarily behave in a gender-compatible way or follow expected roles blindly. They put on a display through the prism of perceived customer expectations and in the best interests of their business. 

This study challenges the dichotomic approaches to gender in entrepreneurship. And it reveals that while business people do engage in displaying gender, such displays are subordinate to and in service of the purpose of the business success. 

Written by: ZHU, Huiying