Specificities, obstacles, and potential leverage of women's entrepreneurship The state of the French and English literature

Abstract

Women's entrepreneurship is increasingly on the public and academic agenda. English and French research is following this trend. Women entrepreneurs form a heterogeneous population with some specificities: the small size of their companies, mostly operating in services, more democratic management style, singular relationship to time. From these specificities arise gendered barriers, the two main ones being access to finance and to formal and informal networks. This article proposes a review of the French and English literature on the subject of entrepreneurship. It opens perspectives on the role of hybrid networks (combining both face-to-face and distance dimensions) in the development of women's entrepreneurship.