Everything to offer or something to prove? : discourse of women entrepreneurship policy in Canada

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore how government policies position female entrepreneurs in Canada in order to understand and positively impact inclusive women entrepreneurship policy reform in Canada. By using discourse analysis with a post-structuralist feminist theory theoretical framework, I consider how language is formed in such a way that the discourse of women’s entrepreneurship, in the context of the Government of Canada women entrepreneurship policy, is reinforcing traditional gender roles. As a data source, I used the publicly available, website-based text from the WES Ecosystem Fund as well as the website-based text of the 53 funded programs/agencies of the WES Ecosystem Fund. Three main discourses emerged from my research. In analyzing the various texts, I conclude that the women entrepreneurship strategy aligns with the classic liberal feminist approach whereas other branches of the government have evolved to a more social feminist approach. I suggest that the post structuralist stance has been critical to developing feminist advancements, which challenge the notion of female essentialism and assumptions of shared subordination arising from a homogeneous biological identity and socio-economic positioning. I have shown that the focus on performance and growth ignores issues on gender equality and gender/power relations even in a country that refers to itself as a feminist government. My research supports the theoretical finding by other researchers that the dogged focus on providing entrepreneurship training to women with the hope that more women will become entrepreneurs is inadvertently creating bigger barriers by “othering” a woman as someone that needs to be fixed before she can become an entrepreneur. The wording found in the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy Ecosystem Fund and the corresponding funded programs, from a post structuralist feminist theory lens, put women in a subordinate position to men and thereby risk sustaining a male norm.