Gendered Barriers and Opportunities in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Understanding the gendered barriers and opportunities to entrepreneurship and innovation is crucial to developing effective solutions and strategies to overcome existing barriers. The theory of gendered innovation and the three strategic approaches to gender equality are used to investigate gendered barriers, opportunities and good practices for gender equality in entrepreneurship and innovation in EU countries. A total of 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed in 10 European countries with experts from the quadruple helix (academia, citizens, industry and government). Our findings suggest that the main barriers are related to the cultural and social environment in which men and women are gender stereotyped which is in line with existing research on the male norm in entrepreneurship and the important role of the cultural context. Building on the theory of three strategic approaches to gender equality we suggest focusing on culture in further theoretical development, research and policy recommendations to effectively reduce barriers and promote inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems.