Gender and entrepreneurial networks

Abstract

Hanson S. and Blake M. Gender and entrepreneurial networks, Regional Studies. In a recent critical survey in 2003, Peter Nijkamp argued for the importance of networks and networking for successful entrepreneurship and emphasized the strategic advantage that dense urban areas afford to networks. Nijkamp's arguments are extended herein by investigating the impact of an entrepreneur's identity on network formation, use and opportunity. Focus is made specifically on gender to emphasize the ways networks are embedded in place-based social, economic, cultural, and political structures, which shape entrepreneurs' identities and affect access to resources. The review reveals, first, how little is known about gender and entrepreneurial networks in general and especially about the gendered geography of such networks; and, second, the importance of investigating the impacts of social identity on entrepreneurs' networks if the relationships between entrepreneurship and place are to be understood.