The Wellbeing of Women in Entrepreneurship

9  Entrepreneurship as therapy

A metaphor among necessity-driven women seeking wellbeing by doing and connecting in Chile

Rocío Ruiz-Martínez, Katherina Kuschel, and Inmaculada Pastor Gosálbez

Introduction

Entrepreneurship offers “freedom”, “autonomy”, and “empowerment” to women entrepreneurs and the opportunity to depart from traditional male work structures (Gill & Ganesh, 2007). Context is a key element to study entrepreneurship as a social phenomenon affected by gendered beliefs, norms, and practices (Ahl, 2006; Brush, de Bruin, & Welter, 2009; Calás, Smircich, & Bourne, 2009). Identifying the main variables helps explain the intentions of women entrepreneurs and moreover their impact on family configurations.

The 5M model (Brush et al., ...