Trapped in the Gaze of Others. Discourses of Shame among Female Entrepreneurs in Austria

Erzsébet Fanni Tóth

doi:10.2478/aussoc-2021-0002

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Trapped in the Gaze of Others. Discourses of Shame among Female Entrepreneurs in Austria

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Social Analysis

Volume 11 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)

By: Erzsébet Fanni Tóth

Open Access

|Dec 2021

Abstract

This article explores female entrepreneurs’ picture of self in the gaze of others. It relies on the narratives of female business owners gained via semi-structured interviews and focus groups, compiled in the framework of an international research project (iFEMPOWER)¹ in Austria. The study reveals that the imagined and perceived gaze of others has a significant power on how businesswomen define both their professional and personal self and how they evaluate their self-worth. The gaze of others becomes a signifier of shame (for not being enough or being too much). The results of this study contribute to a more complex understanding of female entrepreneurship, and with the interdisciplinary character it aims at shaping the contemporary discourse on the gendered entrepreneurial sector.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aussoc-2021-0002 | Journal eISSN: 2248-0854

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Language: English

Page range: 24 - 42

Published online: Dec 22, 2021

Published in print: Dec 1, 2021

Published by: Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

Keywords:

female entrepreneurship,

qualitative analysis,

shame,

Related subjects:

General cultural theory,

Social sciences, other

© 2021 Erzsébet Fanni Tóth, published by Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Volume 11 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)