Gender Beliefs Impact on Creativity in the Entrepreneurial Process - Research Proposal Example

Connected to the issue of funding is institutional sexism. Gender bias is evident in various academic and professional fields. Research by Cech and Blair-Loy (2010) notes that courses such as engineering, mathematics and physics have more men than women taking them, even though recent statistics show improvements in the number of women enrolling into such disciplines. Additionally, inventions in this direction of knowledge, as well as innovations, are highly dominated by men. This phenomenon can be seen in the above mentioned technology companies. The Silicon Valley, being tech-oriented, is highly dominated by male engineers, programmers and hackers, with a few women taking up crucial roles in the recent past. Baughn, Chua and Neupert (2006) state that this lack of balance in gender in the various disciplines leaves women with a lot of convincing to do when looking for financial backing. A lady with a technological idea that they would like to convert into a business finds it more difficult to get a business loan or an investor than a man with a similar idea. This difficulty in obtaining funding is driven by the misplaced idea that women cannot be or are not proficient in technological innovations.

Consumers, it has been noted, do not highly bother with the gender of the business owners for large companies that have an established brand (Becker-Blease & Sohl, 2007). However, for small businesses, it is highly probable that a business man dealing with complicated and sophisticated tech items will get more clients than a business woman. As earlier noted, there is gender bias based on the field of business that a woman ventures into. To add to this unfair level of comparison, men are taking up women’s roles and converting them into highly profitable businesses. The roles of cooking, sewing, cleaning and styling hair were specialties of women. However, according to Wilson, Kickul and Marlino (2007), men have created successful businesses that deal with cooking, breeding high-ranking chefs. Male designers are also on the rise and are getting high levels of appreciation in global markets. Additionally, cleaning services are coming up and changing the notion that this type of work or chore should be left to women. There are also hair stylists that can compete with women in braiding, plaiting or taking care of women’s hair. In light of this, women are slowly being displaced from areas of business that could benefit them as entrepreneurs as they are being forced to compete with men.

Stereotypes

Gupta, Turban and Bhawe (2008) note that women have been given the stereotypes of being soft and emotional people. Additionally, they have been criticized for not being in a position to deal with pressure and to work in a demanding environment. Entrepreneurship comes with many challenges that are related to inadequate funding, marketing expenses, hiring costs, copyright requirements and the creation of a strong brand name. Additionally, breaking even is tedious and requires a lot of effort on the side of the entrepreneur to convince consumers to pay for the goods or services being offered. These factors combined lead to the high failure rate that is evident in start-ups. Over 90% of new businesses fail, creating a notion that only the strongest entrepreneurs can make it to and through the break-even point.

The traditional and modern societies have classified women as weak and vulnerable, while men are seen as strong and able to face or even overcome challenges (Gupta, Turban, Wasti & Sikdar, 2009). With respect to the challenges that entrepreneurship presents, the society believes that women cannot make it in starting and running their businesses. These stereotypes have negatively impacted on women in both developed and developing economies. Shocking enough, many women have been driven to believe that this assumption holds as true, and do not bother to venture into entrepreneurship. At the end of it all, they leave the men to try out entrepreneurship while the women either get employed or stay at home as housewives.

Cech and Blair-Loy (2010) note that this tendency has created a generation of young women who would want to fight and bring down the notion of women being unable to run businesses and being entrepreneurs. However, in the same generation, there is a conflict with men who would like to take up the idea that men are better at entrepreneurship than men. Therefore, there is uneven competition between men and women going after being entrepreneurs, with the society highly favouring the men. This unhealthy competition fails to promote and empower the female gender such that many women, especially in developing countries, are left to fully rely on their husbands, fathers and male siblings for financial support. Their dreams of entrepreneurship have been dimmed by the male chauvinism that exists in this field of the economy.

It is notable, however, that some women have managed to rise up, concentrate on their ideas and end up becoming great and recognized entrepreneurs. They have faced entrepreneurship challenges and overcome them. This success that has been evident in the last two decades serves as proof that women can be as successful in entrepreneurship as men. In some instances, women have risen above men in the competitive industrial world. There have been increased cases of women engaging in technical businesses and coming up with technological, medicinal and physics-related business ideas. They have implemented them into successful businesses and have changed some societal views on the ability of women to engage in entrepreneurship. However, the world still has a lot to do with regard to ensuring a balance of resources allocated to both male and female entrepreneurs (Marlow & Carter, 2004).

Social Roles

Feminists have for a long time tried to fight the social place of women that is greatly determined by men, and to better position the modern woman economically and socially (Bruni, Gherardi & Poggion, 2004). The society considers the woman as a person who should stay at home and look after their children and husbands. This ideology eliminates the path through which a woman can become an entrepreneur. In fact, it is expected that women should engage in house chores and activities such as knitting, cleaning, cooking and receiving visitors while their husbands or male guardians work for food and finances. Due to this kind of social placement, women found themselves engaging in businesses that were small, less profitable and that required little academic and professional skills. Many were involved in small-scale farming and knitting, as well as low-paying jobs that were related to the chores that they were used to. Men, on the other hand, sought higher education that would boost their social placement above that of women. Therefore, they became better placed to engage in entrepreneurship as they had the skills to create business plans, plan their financials and establish reliable supply chains relying on the extensive education that they received.

Women have for a long time existed under rules created by men. These social rules are not written but are implied by the society. For example, when a woman stays at home and looks after her family, she is seen as honourable, smart and full of self-respect. On the other hand, when a woman is outspoken and goes on to start her own business, she is seen as misplaced and considered as one who goes against the laws of the society. Men consider her as rebellious and unwilling to take her place as a woman. Even with education and enlightenment, most societies still uphold these beliefs, creating an avenue for feminists to use theories and extensive research in a bid to enable women venture into entrepreneurship as explained by Marlow and Carter (2004).

The social rules have found their way into financial institutions such that the businesses that are created and run by women do not get attention that is equal to those that are under men. Women entrepreneurs, due to these social rules, fail to get the financing that can boost their performance. He level of frustration has risen to a point where women have to form their financing institutions and rely on them as a minority gender in the field of entrepreneurship. Some banks and investors have created packages that are particularly geared to service women entrepreneurs and their business since other institutions favor men over women when it comes to giving business loans. However, the women-focused financiers are not sufficient to fully counter the gender bias that has been seen in entrepreneurship, and some women still remain side-lined when it comes to seeking funds for their businesses.

Who’s Boss? – Leadership and Cultures

The family composition of husband, wife and children outlines the man as the head of the house and the sole provider. This idea has been transferred into businesses whereby it is still strange for men to agree to a woman leader or to work under her. The case is worsened by communities that still uphold their cultures and feel belittled when ruled by a woman at whichever level of a business. It is, therefore, expected that women bosses are frustrated by their male peers and juniors to the extent that they may quit on their business and instead chose to be employed by men.

The extent of this segregation of duties has seen female entrepreneurs get frustrated by men when it gets to starting a business, especially where the start-up is yet to gain strong financials (Blackburn, Brooks and Jarman, 2001). Women find it difficult to get experienced men as their business partners in scenarios where the woman has to retain the majority shareholding. The men, due to their family backgrounds and position, feel belittled and embarrassed to be bossed by a woman. Baines and Wheelock (2000) note that the same case applies to getting employees who are necessary to get a business running. Potential male employees prefer to work for male bosses than for female bosses, especially if the business is situated in a market that still upholds cultural values of the homestead segregation of duties. Therefore, when a man starts a business that is similar to that of a woman competitor, the man is more likely to get good, responsive and experienced employees who will be willing to work for him. The woman will have to add incentives such as a high salary and additional benefits so as to be in a position to get equally experienced employees. This increased wage bill might frustrate a start-up to a point where it might fail to pick up and gain ground.

Academic Exposure

Wilson, Kickul and Marlino (2007) note that globally more men than women are enrolled in higher education courses. Many developing countries have women completing their studies after high school either to get married or to pursue courses that only sharpen basic skills such as cooking and weaving. Higher education creates a platform that allows people to interact with an environment that is different from the one that they were brought up in. They meet with new people, make new friends, learn new concepts and share their life experiences with people from far and wide. In such a situation, university and college students get exposed to a lot of problems and needs of the society at hand. They also get to learn business concepts at an advanced level, and that can be used to resolve issues that different people are faced with. Therefore, they are ready to step into entrepreneurship as soon as they graduate from their university or college. The disparity between male and female graduates is transferred to the entrepreneurial world. Therefore, as long as more male students graduate than female students, the male entrepreneurs will always outnumber the female ones.

Conclusion of the Literature Review

From the analysis of secondary sources, it is evident that women in the modern world are still sidelined by financial institutions and potential investors when it gets to funding their businesses, especially start-ups. The technology industry is the biggest culprit in this trend owing to the history that women have not been creating successful startups in this field, as well as the traditionally low enrollment of girls in technical and technological courses. Stereotypes that present women as secondary to men in the society, as well as people who cannot run profitable businesses on their own, are highly spread. Additionally, social roles of women are still defined in the lines of household chores and wifely duties, limiting the acceptance of women as entrepreneurs. The literature review has also revealed that many cultures do not believe in the leadership of women, making it difficult for women-led start-ups to succeed unless run by men. Further, it has been noted that the limited exposure of women to higher education constrains their scope of thought and creativity, although this trend is changing tremendously.

Methodology

The research will conducted in three large institutions in the country including one university and two aviation colleges. An experimental approach will be used because it provides a good controlled setting that is important for me to obtain diversified outcomes. Furthermore, the approach will assists me to analyze the cognitive gender biases in the field of entrepreneurship since the factors that would probably interfere with the testing of hypothesis will absorbed by the process of randomization.

The first study conducted in the first university will include forty participants among them 25 men and 15 women. This study will create a guiding step to the next two experimental studies. A 2 by 2 mixed factorial design will used because it is a good tool to manipulate non-creativeness and creativeness within the subjects. The design will foresee each participant respond to the question about a creative and non-creative entrepreneur (both male and female).

I plan to use both structured and semi-structured interviews to collect information about the cultural beliefs of most organizations about gender. The interviews will primarily target the pilots. Additionally, to stay focused on the research topic, I will employ open and closed-ended questionnaires. This will enable me obtain particular data regarding the effects of gender-related issues on creativeness in an entrepreneurial process.

Expected Results and Conclusion

Firstly, I expect the respondents to agree that creative or innovative entrepreneurs are often viewed as less profitable by most organizations despite being more aggressive. This will a confirmation that of the research problem even before a discussion of the gender beliefs. Upon evaluation of the findings concerning the impact of gender beliefs on creativeness in entrepreneurial process, I expect a negative supposition in light to women competence. In other words, I expect that women will be deemed as less profitable and innovative in comparison to males. They should be rated as less capable and competent.

However, I anticipate that the respondents will agree that entrepreneurship is a good portfolio for women to showcase their creativeness. This is because they are no more under traditional cultural beliefs. In fact, innovative women are found out to be different than other women because of their unique qualities. This finding will create guideline to the research in formulating a good solution to the problem in organization emanating from gender status beliefs. The solutions are expected to be an encouragement to women to be creative or innovative in the entrepreneurial process because it will significantly mitigate the baseline gender bias. I expect that the respondents will ascertain the fact innovation is key to elimination of traditional gender beliefs. The world is changing and becoming more dynamic. The output in the business facet is considered vital regardless of the kind of gender it originated from.