“Respect” and “self-determination” women entrepreneurs’ identities and entrepreneurial discourses

Purpose This exploratory study aims to compare how businesswomen with different initial bounds to their businesses resort to gender discourses to construct a shared business identity in group interaction. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted with two focus groups of Portuguese businesswomen with different initial bounds to their enterprises: those who created their own companies and those who “inherited” family businesses. All the participants of both groups own and manage their businesses. Findings A discourse analysis of the interactions shows that the identities of businesswomen are constrained and produced by different masculinities (authority, professionalism and self-determination) and femininities (restrictive and emancipatory). The interweaving of these gender discourses results in the production of a “respect” identity in the family businesses group and a “self-determination” identity in the start-up businesses group. Practical implications The comparison of the different business identities shared by women with particular business experiences contributes to reflections upon the diversified contours that gender discrimination can undertake, and upon the need of practitioners to adjust the gender policies according to those particular experiences. Originality/value The paper compares and highlights how Portuguese businesswomen with different business backgrounds collectively construct specific and shared business identities that allow them to deal with diverse experiences of gender discrimination and devaluation.