Female Entrepreneurship: from Women’s Empowerment to Shared Value Creation

This paper is an investigation on female entrepreneurship, women’s enterprise development and the opportunities to create shared value. Enterprise development can make a significant contribution to women’s empowerment and gender equality and has a key role in gender strategies. Thus, understanding these topics together has become important. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research regarding the combination of the concepts. The framework arose due to the fact that although women are making relevant advancements in entrepreneurship, yet, if compared to men, they lack access to finance, training, and rights. Moreover they have an insufficient access to economic opportunities.


Gender equality and women's empowerment
Gender is clearly a social construct. To Mayoux and Mackie (2009), gender inequality cannot be determined by biological differences; this is not enough to determine gender inequality. The fact that the forms and justifications for gender inequality vary according to the context -inequality is built socially through gendered power relations. In addition, gender is not just related to women; it means both women and men. Both genders are affected by gender-based discrimination. However, through most statistical data it is justified that women are less advantaged and most discriminated.
Genders are different in their ability to make effective choices around the world, yet, women are still at disadvantage.
According to Stearns (2007), it is not easy to define which gender system promotes the status of the women. Nevertheless, the author argues that only during the hunting and gathering period both genders contributed with important economic assets and there was considerable gender equality.
However, this equality turned out to be unbalanced as other systems transformed the role of women into a more decorative and domestic one. The present historical moment may bring women's economic participation back to appropriate level closer to men's thus bringing greater balance and equality between genders.
As social barriers against women entering paid labor force regain prominence, their participation rates fall. Nevertheless, as countries develop, advancements in women's education and wages move them back into the labor market. Over time, women's employment has also been driven by changes in education and family structure. More women have been brought into the labor market by lower fertility rates and delays in the timing of marriage and childbearing. In the labor market, women are more active than ever. Much of the progress for women has been driven by economic growth; through higher household incomes, better service delivery, and new labor market opportunities.
Women have had impressive gains in rights, educational attainment, health outcomes, and labor force participation across countries but have not yet reached satisfactory levels. Kabeer (1999) defines women's empowerment as women's ability to make strategic life choices where this ability had been previously denied. Women are still economically and socially disadvantaged in many countries, so the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women is one of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. The World Bank (2011) also presents the necessity to seek gender equality in order to enhance productivity and improve development outcomes, highlighting gender differences in employment, access to land and credit, and access to networks and its impacts towards entrepreneurship. A fundamental reform of policies both on a national and global level is necessary for addressing remaining economic and social inequities.
3. Gender and entrepreneurship: women's enterprise development Entrepreneurship, defined as the resources and processes which individuals utilize through opportunities in the market by the creation of new firms is a relatively new concept (Naudé 2010). Greene et al. (2003) in their overview of research and theory on women entrepreneurs, point out that the first publication focused on women entrepreneurs was in 1976 from Eleanor Schwartz. An obstacle to understanding the challenges to women's entrepreneurship and their impact on economic growth is still scarce in the realm of reliable and valid data. Although entrepreneurship and the gender system have been widely researched, they have been mainly researched separately.
Women's entrepreneurship has had relatively little attention, but gender system plays an important role in shaping entrepreneurship, economic growth and all other sections of society. Only now researchers and policy institutes are beginning to recognize this reality Hisrich, 1999, Brush 1992). The creation of systematic knowledge about women's entrepreneurship is therefore needed (OECD 2004). According to the ILO (2009), enterprise development can make a significant contribution to women's empowerment and gender equality and has a key role in gender strategies.
There are three phases of enterprise development: Micro -often not registered; Small -usually registered, with a few employees; and Medium -beyond self-employment. Lamy (2012) points out that access to more and better-paying jobs for women can come when women's business enterprises (WBEs), i.e., enterprises run by and employing women, enhance their participation in the international economy. Achieving gender equality brings along positive developmental benefits. It is necessary to generate more and better economic opportunities for women to reap the maximum benefit from WBEs. By doing this, it is possible to improve societies and enable women to play a more central role in the global economy. The International Labor Organization -ILO plays an active role in strategic issues, focusing on the promotion of decent employment through entrepreneurship, and developing strategies on promoting women's entrepreneurship development. They believe female entrepreneurial activities can make a strong contribution to the economic well-being of the family and communities, poverty reduction and women's empowerment (ILO 2008).
In general, in terms of entrepreneurship, the literature found is about information on the similarities and differences between men and women's characteristics, attitudes, values, beliefs, aspirations, reasons to start a business, business goals, barriers and challenges, motivations and expectations, management styles, and stereotypes towards entrepreneurship. There is also literature referring to societal attitudes and their impacts over male and female entrepreneurial activities. And also on how entrepreneurship is basically perceived in two ways: promoted by the necessity or by the opportunity. To the World Bank (2011), people see female entrepreneurs more as "necessity" entrepreneurs (who view entrepreneurship as a last resort) and less as "opportunity" entrepreneurs.
However, one may not overlook that entrepreneurship is about identifying and exploiting the opportunity. If people believe that they have the skills to exploit the opportunity, then the engagement in entrepreneurship happens (OECD 2004). Academic studies draw differences between men and women's characteristics varying from the propensity to start their own firm, lack of business training or experience, leadership style, and barriers such as access to land-ownership and credit.
A major barrier is access to credit, and as women tend to start small firms, they tend to seek small personal loans. As the profit margins are too narrow, banks are reluctant to grant credits or offer microcredits (Jalbert 2000). While female entrepreneurship is rising as a significant economic activity, some authors (Moore and Buttner 1997, Catalyst, 1998, Sharp 1999) state the reasons for women to leave the corporate world to establish their own businesses. Barriers such as the "glass ceiling" phenomenon, lack of flexibility and control, not fitting in the corporate culture and discrimination are mentioned as reasons for making this leap to the entrepreneurial world. Certain studies (Moore and Buttner, 1997, Lee and Rogoff, 1997, Kalyani and Kumar 2011 concentrate on what motivates women to get into entrepreneurial activities, start and lead a business. The importance of strategic objectives to promote women's entrepreneurship is stressed by ILO (2009).
They include removing barriers to start-up and growth; improving access to markets; improving access to resources; strengthening social inclusion; and fostering a supportive climate and culture.
Enterprise development is emphasized by ILO (2009) as an agent of significant contribution to women's empowerment and gender equality. To advance the field of women's enterprise development, joint efforts are primordial and more collaboration is needed. Weeks (2010) present the building blocks of a women's enterprise ecosystem and its critical elements to accelerate women's enterprise development. To the same author, corporations have increasingly been seen women-owned firms as a valuable customer market and a link to their supply chain. Therefore, keeping their visibility and growing support is necessary. Littlejohn (2010) argues that womenowned firms must enhance their sense of responsibility for the role they are playing economically and socially. And Jalbert (2000) Fenwick (2000) highlights fundamental differences between women's entrepreneurship and men's entrepreneurship. What makes women's situation special is that they are shaping new models of leadership, experiencing unique processes, values of work and family, and the personal dynamics of change with the processes of developing and leading their businesses. In order to develop new conceptual frames and even vocabulary for naming these changes as they emerge, these phenomena must be explored. Female entrepreneurship is clearly seen as sub-issue for most small business scholars, but the area is far from neglected, although still remaining under-researched with a lack of cumulative knowledge (Carter et al. 2001). To Minniti (2009), much has been accomplished in the field of female entrepreneurship, but it is clearly far from being exhausted, the field lends itself to a variety of extensions and further investigations. That is precisely the point of intersection between women businesses owners and opportunities to develop social progress.

Shared value creation
Added to the gender issue and to entrepreneurship, another concept central to this paper is shared value creation. An article outlining a new concept for corporate responsibility was published by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in 2006. In this article, the authors state that there would be considerable potential for organizations to contribute to sustainable global growth if they go beyond compliance and philanthropy to actively look for connections between their activities and the growth and progress of the society they live. The concept is famous under a name of Shared Value (Nestlé 2012). The shared value concept was introduced in 2006 and was expanded in a more recent article pointing that shared value is about creating new economic and social value for business and society. According to Porter and Kramer (2011) it is about examining economic and social linkages in order to create economic and social benefit (rather than distributing existing value). Shared Value is an approach to meeting business objectives that create a competitive advantage for corporations through innovations that address needs and challenges of the society.
The authors state that the connections between societal and economic progress are the main focus of the concept. Companies are more aware that long-term success can be achieved through the creation of the same value for shareholders and the community in which they operate. In order to maximize shared value, Hills and Pfitzer (2012) state that companies should examine how long-term competitiveness can also help address critical social problems. It is necessary to understand why a company should be concerned about what happens to the communities in which they operate, and the impact of its operation. To Bockstette and Stamp (2011), shared value creation consists of investments in long-term business competitiveness that also address social and enviromental objectives (Figure 4-1). By incorporating social issues into the core business strategies to benefit society and business long-term competitiveness, such companies seek to create shared value. In addition, to Porter and Kramer (2006) the idea that both business decisions and social policies must follow the principle of shared value is an implication of the mutual dependence between corporations and society. A business will find itself on a dangerous path if it pursues policies that just benefit its own interests at the expense of the society, and vice-versa.
There is a contravention between the "Harvard School" and the "Chicago School" regarding shared value concept in business. Porter and Kramer (2006) argue that corporations must redefine their purposes towards the creation of shared value, not just profit per se. Companies must reconnect business success with social progress, reconceiving the intersection between society and corporate performance to create shared value. The authors also believe that companies need to avoid shortterm actions that are environmentally wasteful and socially detrimental, therefore investing in long- term economic performance. On the other hand, in the "Chicago School" view, Milton Friedman compared the spending of shareholders' money for any purpose other than advancement of the interests of the business to a form of "theft." He admitted, though, that corporate philanthropy could be justified as long as it serves a business objective (Kucharvy 2011). The "Chicago School" emphasizes a free-market approach, arguing that the only "social responsibility" of business is to increase its profits because profit is a priority for shareholders and the business itself (Friedman 1970). They claim that shared value concept goes against the shareholders' interests thus the social aspect must be eliminated from business. Finally, according to Porter and Kramer (2011), a narrow conception of capitalism has prevented business from harnessing its full potential to meet society's broader challenges, not mentioning the opportunities that have been overlooked. According to Allen et al. (2008), as shown in data on women in development, the returns to the investment in women are much higher than in men. Women's gains in education, health, and resources are more likely to be shared with members of their families and their communities. Women's economic and noneconomic rewards are more likely to be shared with other people. Besides, women are more likely to work for and buy for the community. Especially in countries that are about to exponentially increase the impact of new venture creation, investment in women's entrepreneurship is critical. In order to obtain more sustainable and successful economic development in all countries, finding ways to empower women's participation and success in entrepreneurship is very important.
Women's empowerment, if understood as investment concept, can bring long-term value creation and better investment performance (Keefe 2011). Moreover, what is known about women in the economy today is that women-owned business enterprises are among the fastest-growing segments in many countries.
The increasing interest of multinational corporations and governments in improving women business owners' access to procurement opportunities has been a trend. Nevertheless, supplierdiversity initiatives have been prompted by the realization that women business owners are not in the winner's circle. This not only puts the spotlight on women's access to the market for goods and services, but also creates competition with traditional suppliers (Francis 2012). To tackle this disparity, WEConnect International is promoting equal access and opportunity for them to compete, instead of implementing quotas. Large organizations tend to engage with a limited pool of vendors, which excludes qualified women-owned businesses, therefore, missing out on cost savings and profit, and possibly on some important innovations. The WEConnect International initiative aims to locate women-owned businesses, certify them and introduce them to business opportunities, besides developing their capacity to compete. Women business owners play a powerful role in driving innovation, increasing competitive advantage, accelerating growth and raising profitability, and nowadays this is more and more acknowledged (WEConnect International 2013). Going further on studies about women's enterprise is necessary because of the rising of women in the economic scenario, as their businesses are having a growing impact on the economy and society. WEConnect International is an example that contains both the women-owned business activities and the perspective of shared value creation.

Conclusion
When it comes to women's economic opportunities, the country's social attitudes and customs should be taken into account, not only the laws. Considering this, one can still see that women's participation in the formal labor force remains well below that of men. Men continue to dominate in sectors with higher wage-earning potential, such as technology and finance, whereas women are paid less than their male counterparts. Enterprising women encounter gender specific obstacles such as access to finance and credit, to market opportunities, to business education and specific management training, and the opportunity to be the owners of the land in both developing and developed countries, in spite of their great potential to expand their businesses. Where entrepreneurship is important and opportunities are abundant, all members of society will profit.
Hence encouraging entrepreneurship in general is crucial to women's entrepreneurship. The important role which women entrepreneurs play in the entrepreneurial economy is due to both their ability to create jobs for themselves and to create jobs for others. Women's entrepreneurship is about the role of entrepreneurship in a society as well as about women's position in that society.
Although across countries there are many women entrepreneurs, they are far from being a homogeneous group, and nowadays their global impact is just beginning to gain intensity. More and more small and medium enterprises are female owned and they engage in international trade which will be a strategic source of economic growth and development in the world economy of the 21st century. Ideas, inventions, raw materials, technology, supplies, and business services are some of the contributions the women business owners can bring to the scenario (Jalbert 2000). Yet, female entrepreneurs have to face barriers before they can finally succeed. In a more active way, as previously seen, cultural traditions, lack of visibility, finance and land-ownership, less access to technology, networking and training, and insufficient social support can hold business women back from their full action. For a long time, the most significant challenges in women's enterprise development have been access to markets -including corporate, government, international and global value chains. The core idea for this paper is that women's enterprise development has correlation with societal need and economic roles. Therefore, this investigation assumes that investing in women's enterprise can leverage social improvements and economic progress. Moreover, supporting female entrepreneurship by creating more means to access capital and land, education and training, and business market opportunities can impact on women's economic empowerment resulting in female businesses development. In terms of research, the gender and shared value framework has not been explored and, as seen, further studies need to be developed. Achieving gender equality and empowerment, encouraging women's enterprise development and creating shared value could be the gateway for numerous social-economic new possibilities for society's challenging environment.
One might say that there is a gender impact on entrepreneurial activities and this can lead to development and economic growth. Although there is still a gap between the potentiality and what happens in the reality, progress has been made towards gender equality. The impact and growth in the share of women's participation in the economy as entrepreneurs and in corporate life has changed the workplace creating a series of challenges. It is necessary to gain a better knowledge on the impact caused by economic, cultural and social aspects, when it comes to business. To Porter and Kramer (2011), opportunities have been there, but have been overlooked. Holding back half of the population through unequal education, job opportunities and wages does not represent sustainable development.
The current 21st century seems to bring new challenges and female entrepreneurship will certainly have a pronounced presence in the next decades. It is the beginning of a big transformation, perhaps towards gender equality, boosted by the importance of new roles attributed to men and women. Some countries such as the United States and Canada have managed to put gender issues at the governmental agenda. Female entrepreneurship can be one of the keys to consistently open doors for women's empowerment and advance. As a consequence, through their more active economic participation, there will be a greater social impact as diversity comes along, innovation is accelerated and wealth is generated for the marketplace and the society.
Women-owned businesses are shifting from economically insignificant to growing contributors to the economy, so it is time they were perceived accordingly. Female business owners need to increase their access to markets and grow their firms throughout the value chain. They can grow and expand their firms both domestically and internationally with more information, an empowering environment and private sector partnerships. Economic growth can be more effectively realized through the true empowerment of women's entrepreneurship and access to markets.