Feminist Entrepreneurship at a Crossroads

Women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs are vital to Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. In Canada, these businesses contribute about $150 billion to the economy and hire more than 1.5 million people (Cukier, Hassannezhad Chavoushi, et al., 2022). Supporting women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs’ empowerment boosts the economy and improves social and environmental outcomes (Cukier, Hassannezhad Chavoushi, et al., 2022; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 2022). However, these entrepreneurs face several barriers due to social and gender inequalities and stereotypes that impact access to appropriate financing, resources, networks, and support. 

In 2023, Sustainable Livelihoods Canada (SLC) and CWF collaborated with the Research Shop at the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) to conduct a literature review on feminist entrepreneurship. We reviewed sources on feminist entrepreneurship within Canada and across other countries, comparing women and gender-diverse entrepreneurship in feminist versus mainstream arenas. This review supports CWF and its partners’ work in feminist entrepreneurship. It helps to ground the project activities and evaluation, situate collective learning and expertise in a broader context, and identify opportunities for thought leadership. Together, we aim to address systemic barriers that impede the success of women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs. 

In our review, we find that feminist entrepreneurship is at a crossroads. How we think about and perceive ‘feminism’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ is influenced by history, the economy, and society. The Canadian ecosystem is not a welcoming environment for feminist entrepreneurship. Many policies and financial institutions prioritize and reinforce mainstream entrepreneurship, and feminism that is individual and neoliberal. Feminist entrepreneurship also has many overlapping values with other frameworks and entrepreneurship models, such as co-operative and social enterprise models, which can make it hard to define at times. Much of the literature on women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs’ practices use ‘gender’ and ‘intersectional’ lenses rather than an overtly feminist approach, but we can still learn from these sources. In our review, we hope to challenge some of the leading perspectives on entrepreneurship and dig deep into what feminist entrepreneurship means in theory and practice. 

Read the Feminist Entrepreneurship at a Crossroads report and summary report (full report and summary is available in both English and French)