Digital girl: cyberfeminism and the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies
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Digital girl: cyberfeminism and the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies Maura McAdam
Accepted: 23 June 2019 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Digital entrepreneurship has been described as a “great leveler” in terms of equalizing the entrepreneurial playing field for women. However, little is known of the emancipatory possibilities offered by digital entrepreneurship for women constrained by social and cultural practices such as male guardianship of female relatives and legally enforced gender segregation. In order to address this research gap, this paper examines women’s engagement in digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies with restrictive social and cultural practices. In so doing, we draw upon the analytical frameworks provided by entrepreneurship as emancipation and cyberfeminism. Using empirical data from an exploratory investigation of entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, we examine how women use digital technologies in the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Our findings reveal that women in Saudi Arabia use digital entrepreneurship to transform their embodied selves and lived realities rather than to escape gender embodiment as offered by the online environment. Keywords Entrepreneurship as emancipation . Digital entrepreneurship . Cyberfeminism . Qualitative methodology . Saudi Arabia . Emerging economies JEL classification L26 . L29 . O33 M. McAdam (*) DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland e-mail: [email protected]
1 Introduction Digital entrepreneurship has been defined as “the pursuit of opportunities based on the use of digital media and other information and communication technologies” (Daviddson and Vaast 2010: 2). Novo-Corti et al. (2014) argue that a broad view of digital entrepreneurship, not limited to “high-tech” entrepreneurship, is necessary if we are to fully understand the wider social and economic impact of digital technology. The attributes of the Internet, in particular the low barriers to entry and abundance of information, mean that the online environment is posited to provide significant potential for those groups who were previously excluded from bricks-and-mortar entrepreneurship (NovoCorti et al. 2014; Shirazi 2012; Hair et al. 2007); with one such group being women (Dy et al. 2017; Martin and Wright 2005). More generally, prior studies within the domain of cyberfeminist research, which examines the relationship between women and digital technology, have highlighted the significant potential of the Internet as a forum for women’s empowerment and emancipation (Rosser 2005). It is suggested that the Internet, with its protection of individual privacy, may provide a “safe space” for negotiating the challenges women encounter in their day-to-day offline lives (Daniels 2009; NouraieSimone 2005), and in so doing, help them realize their entrepreneurial ambitions. However, to date, few studies have critically assessed whether digital entrepreneurship provides
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