Daughter Entrepreneurs Between Birth Family and Gender Stereotypes

Previous research shows the birth family’s role in encouraging their children’s entrepreneurial career, pointing out that early exposure to parental role models could favour children’s entrepreneurial spirit, especially in family firms. However, being a daughter in an entrepreneurial family means being forced to face important role models concerning entrepreneurship and womanhood. What are the consequences? This qualitative study focuses on daughters’ experiences, examining how birth families influence their entrepreneurial identities and which strategies they adopt to cope with dominant gender stereotypes in their family during their entrepreneurial career. Using narrative analysis and the case study method, the results illustrate that the birth family can affect daughters’ business identity differently, discouraging their entrepreneurial career because they are women or implicitly asking them to subdue their femininity identity to become an entrepreneur. Daughters cope with gender stereotypes accepting or opposing them by adopting a passive or active approach. They choose to stay in the family business remaining in a bind over gender stereotypes with resigned acceptance or forced acquiescence or, on the contrary, decide to start their own business, trying to get rid of gender stereotypes adopting an active rebellion or a silent opposition or simply to feel free to be themselves.