Gender, Race and Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship

Women + Girls Research Alliance

Gender, Race and Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship: Experiences in Mecklenburg County

Gender, Race and Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship: Experiences in Mecklenburg County Prepared by: Qingfang Wang, Ph.D. Claire Schuch Elizabeth Morrell

Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, UNC Charlotte

Final Report prepared for Women + Girls Research Alliance

Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 II. Current State of Knowledge on Female Entrepreneurship and Study Hypotheses.............................................................. 3 III. Research Design ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 IV. Findings and Discussions..................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Overview: Business Ownership in Mecklenburg County ............................................................................................................... 6 (1) Rate of Business Ownership................................................................................................................................................................... 6 (2) Characteristics of Business Owners ................................................................................................................................................... 6 (3) Industrial Sectors ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 2. Characteristics Associated with Business Ownership .................................................................................................................. 12 3. Job Earnings of Business Owners ............................................................................................................................................................. 15 4. Experiences of Female Business Owners ............................................................................................................................................. 17 (1) Motivation and Goals for Women Business Owners ............................................................................................................. 17 (2) Between Work and Family: Joy, Responsibility, and Sometimes Struggle...................................................................... 19 (2.1) Balancing With Family Responsibilities ................................................................................................................................... 19 (2.2) Not All About “Balancing” ................................................................................................................................................................. 18 (3) Perception of Women Business Owners............................................................................................................................................ 20 (3.1) Disadvantages ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 (3.2) Role of Culture......................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 (3.3) Advantages and Gender Capital .................................................................................................................................................... 21 (4) Social Networking and Social Capital .................................................................................................................................................. 21 (5) My Community................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21 (6) Charlotte’s Business Environment ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 V. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 References........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 31

Executive Summary When other conditions are held the same, women, particularly U.S.-born, are much less likely to own a business.

The rate of business ownership is significantly higher for the foreign-born than for the U.S.-born labor force.

U.S.-born blacks and women in particular have the lowest rate of business ownership overall.

Ethnic and racial minority groups tend to concentrate in a limited number of industrial sectors. Across all racial and ethnic groups, women-owned businesses are more likely to be concentrated in retail-related, supportive, and personal service-oriented sectors than businesses owned by men. Most notably, foreign-born Hispanic are concentrated in professional and management industries more than their co-ethnic male counterparts and when compared with other racial and ethnic minority groups.

For most of the women interviewed, they started their businesses based on their “entrepreneurial personalities” ability to leverage experience from former work. They sought better pay, a balance between work and family, or an escape from a corporate environment. They wanted more freedom and flexibility.

Women business owners tend to be more holistic in measuring their success and goals. Women measure their success in dollars but also based on the business’ compatibility with their values, vision, greater purpose in life, ability to contribute to the community, and flexibility to balance work and family. These values are wellincorporated into their leadership styles and businesses operation strategies.

Work-life or work-family balance is on the forefront of women entrepreneurs’ experiences. For some of them, balancing between home and work has been a struggle due to long working hours compounded by familial responsibilities. For others, owning a business makes the task of “balance” easier, allowing them to have more flexibility than working for someone else. Most women make an intentional effort to have this balance to avoid being completely swallowed by their careers.

Many, but not all of our participants, shared discriminatory experiences and, as result, have the perception that they are somewhat disadvantaged compared with other business owners due to their status as female business owners and business owners of color. At the same time, culture in the country of origin plays a role for many immigrant women business owners in terms of how they view gender in family and at work. On the other hand, some women adamantly insisted that no difference exists between male and female entrepreneurs. In some cases, being a female business owner is even considered an asset.

The women entrepreneurs have used social networks extensively for hiring employees and subcontractors, finding clients, and forming partnerships with other businesses. Professional business organizations play a significant role in such development and networking. Ethnicity and kinship are very important, especially for Hispanics and Asians. In particular, family members, spouses, and extended family members often work for the woman’s business as employees or subcontractors. However, not all women entrepreneurs have access to these networks. Many of them said they such networks have nothing to offer, especially for women with very small budgets, those few or no personnel, and those who have to physically be at work for long hours.

An overwhelming majority of participants stated that philanthropy and giving back to communities is one of their biggest goals in running their businesses. This goal is especially true in Charlotte, because the business climate here is perceived to emphasize the interconnectedness of community and business. Involvement with

the community is commonly regarded as a fundamental component of a successful business plan. Women entrepreneurs’ community involvement takes many different forms and may be tied with their faith, ethnicity or nationality, particularly for foreign-born and ethnic minority women business owners. Many women business owners perceive Charlotte to be an entrepreneurial, pro-business community with plentiful opportunities for networking. However, others reported that Charlotte is a “clique-ish” city and that, to be successful, a business owner has to “play the game.” In particular, ethnic minority women, particularly African Americans, often expressed their frustration in accessing the opportunities and networks Charlotte offers. A significant number of Hispanic and Asian business owners also expressed that they lacked support in starting their businesses.

I. Introduction The number of women-owned businesses has increased dramatically in the United States during the past decade. Studies have shown that owning a business can provide women with a springboard for economic progress and further socioeconomic advancement. Self-employment also can be an avenue for the empowerment of some ethnic minority women to break free from traditional gender roles (Hanson 2009; Levent et al. 2009; Mayer 2008; Orser & Dyke 2009). However, significant differences exist between femaleowned and male-owned enterprises; between female and male entrepreneurs; and between white, native-born entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color (Kariv 2011; Kepler & Shane 2007; Wang 2009). With the continuing influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia during the past several decades, the labor force in the United States is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Many places in North America that have received large numbers of immigrants have become fertile land for ethnic entrepreneurship (Kaplan & Li 2006).

Given this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of a diverse group of female business owners in Mecklenburg County, NC. In North Carolina, small businesses (defined as having fewer than 500 employees) represent 98 percent of all employers and employ 47.3 percent of the private sector workforce (Small Business Administration 2012). Despite the weak economy that accompanied the 2007–2008 recession, small businesses in North Carolina represented 81.6 percent of net new private-sector jobs from 2005 to 2008.

In Mecklenburg County, women-owned, ethnic minority-owned, and immigrant-owned business have all grown significantly and, as such, are becoming an integral part of Charlotte’s economic engine for regional development.

This growth of women- and ethnic minority owned-businesses is situated within a metropolitan area that has changed dramatically in size and demographics during the past decade. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of immigrants in the Charlotte metropolitan area has increased from less than 25,000 to almost 170,000, a 630 percent increase. Most of the growth in this metropolitan area happened in Mecklenburg County. In year 1990, the foreign-born population in Mecklenburg County was less than 18,000. By 2010, the number already increased to 120,000, with a growth rate of 568 percent. Indeed, Charlotte has been labeled as both a “preemerging immigrant gateway” and as a “hypergrowth” Latino immigration destination (Singer 2004; Suro & Singer 2002).

The arrival of a large foreign-born population has not only socially and economically transformed the historic reality of Charlotte as quintessentially southern and biracial but also has challenged contemporary understanding of racial and ethnic socioeconomic integration and inequalities (Smith & Furuseth 2006).

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Therefore, the Charlotte region provides a natural laboratory to investigate how gender, race and ethnicity, and immigration status interact with each other in entrepreneurial processes.

This study integrates quantitative analyses of the most recent data from the American Community Survey (2007–2011) with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with business owners, local and regional supporting agencies (e.g., city government, women’s and ethnic associations, companies), and informal field observations. The study specifically addresses the following questions:  How do rates and type of business ownership differ by gender, ethnicity, and immigrant status in Mecklenburg County?  What are the experiences of women business owners in starting their businesses and in conducting their daily operations?  To what extent and in what manner are women business owners connected to local communities?

By drawing a broad picture of entrepreneurship along the lines of race, ethnicity, and gender in our region, this study provides insights to help researchers and policymakers further understand women and ethnic minority entrepreneurs’ levels of access to business development resources and the barriers they may encounter in trying to access such resources. The study has profound and timely public policy implications. It contributes to an improved understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing women and members of the ethnic minority labor force as they use entrepreneurship as a vehicle to work toward economic integration and upward mobility in the labor market. In light of the national push for economic recovery, this study also promotes public understanding of female, ethnic minority, and immigrant entrepreneurship and will help to build institutional infrastructure for the healthy development of such businesses in our region.

II. Current State of Knowledge on Female Entrepreneurship and Study Hypotheses A considerable amount of literature has reported that women frequently work in different types of jobs from men, often highly concentrated in semi- or low-skilled, unstable sectors with poor working conditions and low pay (Carlson 1997; Reskin 1993). Similarly, studies have determined that women-owned enterprises tend to be smaller in size, report net lower profits, and are less likely to survive and expand (Cliff 1998; Wang 2013) when compared with their male counterparts. Empirical studies argue that the gendered labor market outcomes could result from the differences between male and female entrepreneurs in educational backgrounds, motivations, goals, strategies, management styles, and personal values (Levent et al. 2009). Such outcomes also can be attributed to women’s constraints of family and gender roles, the lack of previous business experience, difficulty in obtaining financial support, and limited social networks (Bergen & Williams 1992; Blake & Hanson 2005; Hanson 2009). In particular, previous works have argued that women’s localized job search networks reinforce the segregated nature of their job prospects (England 1993; Wang 2010). Studies on women entrepreneurs and women-owned enterprises have shown that women’s social networks are “smaller, more personal, and more locally based” (Hanson & Blake 2009; Mayer 2008), and female entrepreneurs are more likely to participate in local networks through their daily lives (Loscocco et al. 2009).

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Although female entrepreneurship of any type is an understudied phenomenon, the experiences of ethnic minority women entrepreneurs are even less known (Light 2007; Schrover et al. 2007), and little is known about the extent to which their status as immigrant women of color serves them as an asset or works as a barrier to entrepreneurship. On the one hand, these women may be perceived as “triple disadvantaged” (race, gender, and citizenship status) and therefore as facing greater hardships in the labor market when compared with entrepreneurs from majority groups (Raijman & Semyonov 1997). Thus, ethnic minority women may be pushed into business ownership for an alternative employment avenue.

On the other hand, some have suggested that ethnic resources such as ethnic networks may function as assets rather than barriers in helping them to start and grow their businesses (Moya 2007). For instance, a number of studies have argued that geographic areas with high concentrations of particular ethnicities offer unique resources to prospective co-ethnic entrepreneurs, including information on market opportunities, a ready source of ethnic labor, access to credit, knowledge of consumer preferences, consumer markets for such businesses that cater to specialized ethnic tastes, and common religious affiliations (Wilson & Portes 1980; Zhou 1992; Waldinger et al. 1990; Wang 2013). Therefore, belonging to an ethnic or racial group and living in and operating a business in an area dominated by this group may provide women with resources needed to start a business and, in that sense, function as an asset for entrepreneurship. An example is the case of Iranian women entrepreneurs in Los Angeles (Dallafar 1994), who used their social networks both domestically and transnationally to both start their businesses and to recruit new clients.

Based on these existing studies, the current study hypothesizes: 1. Men and women have distinctive experiences in business ownership. These differentiated experiences are based on factors such as their type of businesses, business earnings, personal and household characteristics, motivations, operational strategies, interactions with community (both positive and negative) and measures of success.

2. Rates of business ownership among ethnic minority and immigrant women are higher than white women due to both possible blocked opportunities in the open wage labor markets and ethnic resources that lead to business ownership.

3. Ethnic minority and immigrant female business owners differ from white female business owners in their overall characteristics. This can be attributed in particular to the number of years they have lived in the United States, their English proficiency, existing co-ethnic or co-nationality communities, local socioeconomic and institutional infrastructure, and other immigrant related-factors.

4. The relationship between women entrepreneurs and their local communities is a two-way, dialectical relationship. Women’s business activities are closely related to their involvement with local communities, and they contribute to neighborhood and community building in the ways that could go beyond economic gains and job creation.

III. Research Design The first set of data is extracted from the microdata sample of the American Community Survey (ACS) 2007– 2011 for the study area. Using descriptive analyses and multivariate regression, this part of the study compares 4

rates of business ownership, business incorporation, business earnings, and personal and household characteristics associated with business ownership between men and women, between native- and foreignborn persons, and between different ethnic groups. In particular, marital status and household structure (e.g., presence of young children and family size) are examined. For immigrants, years in the United States and English proficiency are particularly relevant.

To examine the experiences of female business owners as they engage in the day-to-day tasks associated with business ownership, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with female business owners were conducted. From fall 2011 to spring 2012 (referred to hereafter as “Phase I”), in collaboration with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and Pride Magazine, the principal investigator conducted two focus group discussions with both male and female African American business owners and one focus group discussion with local supporting agencies and organizations, including participants from city government, ethnic associations, and companies located in the Charlotte region that subcontract to smaller businesses. Insights from these focus group discussions significantly informed the research questions, findings, and conclusions from the current study that was conducted between May and September 2013 (referred to hereafter as “Phase II”).

During Phase I, a research team at UNC Charlotte constructed a database on women- and ethnic-minorityowned businesses. The initial database began as a product of several different lists acquired from Pride Magazine, Business Wise, and Dun & Bradstreet’s databases through the patronage of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. To ensure accurate data, website and telephone screening were conducted to corroborate information in the databases. Although the final database does not include every minority-owned business in the area, mainly due to nonresponse, it is the best available dataset for our research purposes in our region.

From this database, a structured random sampling strategy based on business type and employment size was employed to recruit women business owners via telephone. Due to the lower response rate of Hispanic and particularly Asian women business owners, we also visited local events to recruit participants, including meetings organized by the Charlotte chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and the Multicultural Business forum, in addition to contacting local ethnic associations for recruitment. A total of 40 women business owners (10 from each group of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian) participated in the project. Among them, 32 participated in one-on-one in-depth interviews, and 8 participated in two focus group discussions.

In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in English. For all the participants, we asked the same set of open-ended questions that permitted a high degree of flexibility and allowed informants to move their narratives to topics outside the immediate scope of the guide, while still maintaining methodological rigor because the same basic topics were addressed with each participant. This approach offered rich opportunities for expanding content around the research themes. The questions asked were focused on the following major themes: (1) motivations, business strategies, and goals, (2) achievements and performances, (3) connections with co-ethnic community and local neighborhoods, and (4) challenges and opportunities. Interviews lasted for 30 to 120 minutes, and focus group discussions lasted for 60 to 80 minutes. To analyze the qualitative data, we employed the techniques of narrative analysis outlined by Strauss & Corbin (1998) and Smith (2000) to code each interview discussion along the themes such as motivation, work-life balance, social capital, race, ethnicity, and involvement with communities. The qualitative software package QSR NVivo was used to code data against key themes. Results from both qualitative and qualitative analyses were triangulated to determine commonalities in narrative as well as differences in perspective and opinion (Saldana 2009).

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IV. Findings and Discussions 1. Overview: Business Ownership in Mecklenburg County (1) Rate of Business Ownership According to the most recent estimation (Small Business Administration 2012), in Mecklenburg County, 27,456 women-owned firms exist (regardless of ethnicity). They employ 28,959 employees and net a total of $4.4 billion sales (2007). Among them, 3,020 (11.0 percent) have paid employees with total sales of $3.7 billion and a total annual payroll of $934 million. Regardless of gender, there are 13,873 African American-owned, 4,242 Hispanic-owned, and 4,054 Asian-owned firms in our county. Among them, 701 (5.1 percent) African Americanowned firms, 379 (8.9 percent) Hispanic-owned firms and 1,195 (29.5 percent) Asian-owned firms have paid employees. Because no public data provide further information on the gendered division of businesses, we used the five-year 2006–2011 American Community Survey (ACS)1 data for further information. For a comparative perspective, we include information for the total labor force, U.S.-born white, U.S.-born black, foreign-born Hispanic, and foreign-born Asian groups, separated by men and women whenever possible and relevant to our discussion. U.S.-born Hispanic and Asian groups and foreign-born white and black groups are omitted from the current study due to their small sizes.

Of the total 509,229 individuals in the labor force in Mecklenburg County, 82 percent are U.S. born and 13 percent are foreign born. As shown in Figure 1, among the 420,101 members of the U.S.-born labor force, NonHispanic whites comprise 62 percent, blacks 33 percent, and others 5 percent. Among the 89,128 members of the foreign-born labor force, Hispanics comprise 48 percent, Asians 23 percent and others 29 percent.

Figure 1. Ethnic Composition of Labor Force in Mecklenburg County Others 5%

Foreign-Born

Native Born

Black 33%

Others 29% White 62%

Hispanic 48%

Asian 23%

The rate of business ownership among the total labor force in Mecklenburg County is 9.2 percent, ranging from 4.2 percent for U.S.-born blacks to 11.4 percent for U.S.-born whites. The business ownership rate for the total foreign-born population is around 11 percent, with 9.8 percent for Asian and 8.6 percent for Hispanic persons.

Generally speaking, the rate of business ownership is lower for women among all groups except for Hispanic 1 The ACS asks whether the respondent is

“self-employed or not”; if “yes,” whether the businesses is “incorporated or not.”

In this study, self-employed members of the labor force who indicated that their businesses were either incorporated or nonincorporated were included as a proxy for the total number of business owners. However, a caution must be made. The self-employment variable in the U.S. Census (ACS) data is likely picking up a truncated distribution of the truly selfemployed with no or very few employees because those people whose businesses are incorporated may not be likely to identify themselves on the census long form as self-employed (Bregger 1996; also see Wang 2009 for a more detailed discussion).

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persons (Figure 2). Foreign-born Hispanic women have a higher rate than men. This pattern is consistent with the national average profile (Wang 2014).

Figure 2: Rate of Business Ownership in Mecklenburg County by Gender and Ethnicity 16 14

Percentage

12 10 8

Male

6

Female

4 2 0 Total

US-White US-Black

Foreign

Foreign Hispanic

Foreign Asian

Data Source: American Community Survey 2006–2011

Figure 3 (below) provides the rate of business ownership for the five largest immigrant groups by country of birth, separated by gender. Although the difference between men and women is minimal among Mexican, Indian, and Honduran groups, males in the labor force have significantly higher rates of business ownership for El Salvadoran and Vietnamese groups.

Figure 3. Rate of Business Ownership for the Five Largest Immigrant Groups 18.0 16.0 14.0 12.0 10.0

Male

8.0

Female

6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 Mexico

India

El Salvador

Honduras

Vietnam

Data Source: American Community Survey 2006–2011

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(2) Characteristics of Business Owners Compared with the entire labor force, business owners tend to be older, which makes sense because starting and operating a business could require more work experience. Generally speaking, male business owners are older than female business owners, except for foreign-born business owners as a whole. Among the foreignborn, although Asian male business owners are older than their female co-ethnic counterparts, Hispanic female business owners are older than the male business owners.

In terms of business owners’ levels of education, the percentage holding a bachelor’s degree or higher is about 45.6 percent and 46.5 percent for men and women, respectively, among business owners as a whole. The percentage is much higher for U.S.-born white groups (around 53.4 percent for men and 56.9 percent for women) than minority groups. Although for the entire foreign-born labor force, the percentage of bachelor’s degree (or above) holders is lower for women (30.7 percent) than for men (38.1 percent), women have higher level of educational attainment than men for the entire labor force in Mecklenburg County, and for native whites and blacks, and for foreign-born Hispanics and Asians. Specifically, for U.S.-born blacks, the percentage of female business owners holding a bachelor’s degree or above is much higher than their co-ethnic male counterparts (27.5 percent, compared with 19.6 percent). For foreign-born Hispanic business owners, the percentage is 26.2 percent for female business owners and 16.6 percent for their male counterparts. For Asian business owners, the percentage is 47 percent for women and 44.5 percent for men. Overall, in Mecklenburg County, educational attainment of business owners is higher for women than for men, as women of all minority groups outrank men in their educational achievements.

In contrast to their level of education, however, the earned income from work is much lower for women business owners of all ethnic groups than for men. In addition, the rate of business incorporation is much lower for women. These patterns indicate that employment size for women business owners could be smaller than male-owned businesses. Among the racial and ethnic groups, U.S.-born white business owners, both men and women, have higher earned incomes than the county average. U.S.-born black and foreign-born Hispanic male business owners earn less than half of what the average U.S.-born white male entrepreneur earns. Likewise, foreign-born Hispanic and U.S.-born black women earn much less than U.S.-born white women business owners. However, the difference between ethnic groups is smaller for women than it is for men. Figure 4 provides the overall picture.

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Figure 4. Job Earned Income for Male and Female Business Own ers 90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 Men

40000

Women

30000 20000 10000 0 Total

US-white

US-black

Foreign

foreign Hispanic

foreign Asian

Data Source: American Community Survey 2006–2011

A much higher proportion of female business owners work less than 40 hours a week (referred to as “part-time” hereafter) than male business owners, with the exception of U.S.-born blacks. Specifically, the percentage of part-time business owners is 51.7 for females and 27.3 for females for the labor force as a whole, 55.4 for females and 26.4 for males among U.S.-born whites, 44.4 for females and 42.2 for males among U.S.-born blacks, and 49.5 for females and 20.1 for males among foreign born. For foreign-born Hispanics, the percentage of parttime business owners is 46.2 for females and 27.2 for males. For foreign-born Asians, the percentages are 42 for females and only 5.9 for males. Participating in part-time jobs could partially explain the significant earned income disparities between men and women.

More than 75 percent of foreign-born business owners speak English well, or very well, or only speak English (which is defined as “English proficiency”). The percentage of English proficiency is comparatively lower for foreign-born Hispanics (around 60 percent) and higher for foreign-born Asians (above 90 percent). About 70 percent of foreign-born business owners have been in the United States for 10 years or longer; however, the length of stay in the United States is slightly shorter for females. About 60.3 percent of male and 42.9 percent of female foreign-born Asian business owners have been in the United States for more than 20 years, compared with less than 30 percent of both male and female foreign-born Hispanic business owners in the same cohorts.

This fact likely reflects Charlotte’s identity as a new “pre-emerging” destination for Latino immigration (Singer 2004). About 66.9 percent of male and 65.5 percent of female Hispanic business owners have lived in the United States for 5 to 20 years, compared with 36.3 percent of male and 39.5 percent of female Asian business owners in the same cohorts.

For household characteristics, male business owners are more likely to be married than their female counterparts, across all ethnic and racial groups. Despite this fact, except for Asian groups, female business owners tend to have larger families than male business owners. Even more interestingly, female business owners have a much higher probability of having a spouse who is also a business owner. This suggests that female business owners are more likely to co-own a business with their spouse than male business owners. The difference in the percentage of having a spouse who is also a business owner between men and women varies 9

significantly across all the groups. As shown in Figure 5, the percentage is lowest for U.S.-born blacks and highest for foreign born Asian business owners. Although the data do not reveal whether the couple co-owns the same businesses; when a business owner has a spouse who is also a business owner, we can expect coownership could be the case. If so, the co-ownership between spouses is the most likely among Asians.

Figure 5: Percentage of Business Owners with Business Owner Spouse 50 45 40

Percentage

35 30 25

Men Women

20 15 10 5 0 Total

US-white US-black

Foreign

foreign Hispanic

foreign Asian

Data Source: American Community Survey 2006–2011

(3) Industrial Sectors Table 1 provides the industrial distribution of businesses in Mecklenburg County. More than one-quarter of all business owners, both men and women, work in retail trade. The foreign-born owners comprise a higher percentage of business owners in this sector than the native-born owners. For instance, nearly half (48.4 percent) of foreign-born Asian males work in retail trade. Another 20 percent of all business owners work in professional and management industries. However, foreign-born Asians are underrepresented in this sector (5.2 percent for male and 3.1 percent for female). Asian business owners are instead more concentrated in the sectors of art, entertainment, recreation, and food services (11.7 percent for Asian men and 9.5 percent for Asian women). Although these percentages are much higher than the county average, the U.S.-born have a much lower presence in these sectors, particularly for U.S.-born black-owned businesses (6.3 percent for men and 1.1 percent for women).

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Table 1. Industrial Distribution of Business Owners (%)

Industry Sector Agriculture Mining Construction Manufacturing Wholesale Trade Retail Trade Utilities and Transportation and Warehousing Information and Communications Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate Professional Education, Health, and Social Services Art Entertainment Recreation Other Services

Native Native Foreign Foreign Total White Black Hispanic Asian M F M F M F M F M F 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 0.0 18.

2 2.4 16.3 3.8 15.6 0.0 45.3 0.0 4.3 1.9 3.2 3.7 3.8 3.0 0.8 1.3 1.7 4.9 4.7 16.1 3.1 1.6 4.2 1.7 0.5 2.4 1.8 0.0 0.0 4.6 25.

3 28.2 22.7 25.7 24.2 21.9 30.3 37.6 48.4 38.5

4.6

1.1

2.8

0.9

10.4

2.3

5.8

0.0

4.2

0.0

1.4

0.8

2.0

1.4

0.4

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

9.4 9.0 19.

0 19.6

12.0

10.9

8.6

10.2

1.1

2.1

4.7

2.2

22.5

21.8

12.7

14.7

7.1

23.6

5.2

3.0

3.4 13.4

4.1

13.1

3.0

23.1

1.3

1.6

3.7

11.9

5.5 6.6 6.6 13.1

4.0 5.2

7.0 10.0

6.3 17.5

1.0 23.0

1.9 3.7

10.0 20.2

11.7 11.6

9.5 12.3

Data Source: American Community Survey 2006–2011

There are significant differences in the types of businesses most commonly owned by men and women across ethnic and racial groups. For example, 18.2 percent of men work in construction, but only 2.4 percent of women do. On the other hand, about 13 percent of women work in the educational, health, and social services industry; another 13 percent women work in personal services. Male business owners have a much lower presence in these two sectors (only 3.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively). These gender differences are consistent with national trends and patterns observed from previous studies. Regarding the construction industry, however, some significant differences occur in ownership patterns across racial and ethnic groups. Compared with U.S.born white and black male businesses, foreign-born persons, particularly Hispanic men, represent a much higher percentage of business owners in the construction industry—25.5 percent for all foreign-born men and 45.4 percent of foreign-born Hispanic men, compared with only 16.3 percent for U.S.-born white men, 15.6 percent for U.S.-born black men, and 4.3 percent for foreign-born Asian men.

U.S.-born, especially white, business owners represent a large portion of those working in finance, insurance, and real estate, regardless of their gender. In contrast, the foreign-born are underrepresented in this sector, although foreign-born Asian males have a higher rate of business ownership in this sector than do other foreignborn groups. In the professional and management sectors, both U.S.-born white men and women have a rate higher of business ownership than the county average (around 20 percent) and the ownership rate of most ethnic minority groups. The rate of ownership in this sector for U.S.-born blacks is only 12.7 percent and 14.7 percent for men and women, respectively. For the foreign-born, women (18.3 percent) have a much higher rate 11

than men (10 percent) in this sector. This higher presence of female business owners in this sector is attributable to the fact that 23.6 percent of foreign-born Hispanic women business owners are in this sector,2 compared with only 7.1 percent of Hispanic male business owners. Only 5.2 percent of men and 3.0 percent of women work in this sector among the foreign-born Asian entrepreneurs.

U.S.-born black women are highly concentrated in education, health, and social services (23.1 percent) and personal services (23 percent), in addition to retail trade, as discussed earlier. In fact, U.S.-born blacks, both men and women, are heavily concentrated in personal services when compared with other racial and ethnic groups.

For example, compared with 17.5 percent of U.S.-born black male business owners in the personal services sector, only 5.2 percent of U.S.-born white male business owners, 3.7 percent of foreign-born Hispanic male business owners, and 11.7 percent of foreign-born Asian male business owners work in this sector. Compared with 23.0 percent of U.S.-born black female business owners in the personal services sectors, the percentage for U.S.-born white female business owners in these sectors is only 10 percent and 12.3 percent for Asian female business owners. Foreign-born Hispanic women, however, are also highly concentrated in personal services (20 percent) in addition to retail trade (37.6 percent) and professional and management industries (23.6 percent).

Although retail (38.5 percent); educational, health, and social services (11.2 percent); and personal services (12.3 percent) are important sectors for Asian women business owners, 16.1 percent of them work in manufacturing. This rate is much higher than the county average (3 to 4 percent).3 Overall, the statistics about entrepreneurship by type of business indicate that ethnic and racial minority groups tend to concentrate in a limited number of industrial sectors and that women-owned businesses are more likely to be concentrated in retail-related, supportive, and personal services-oriented sectors than men, across all racial and ethnic groups. These patterns are consistent with findings observed at the national level (Wang 2013). Despite this broad pattern, some intergroup variation exists. Most notably, foreign-born Hispanic women are much more concentrated in professional and management industries than not only their co-ethnic male counterparts but also women and men of other racial or ethnic minority groups. Foreign-born Asian businesses are highly concentrated in retail and personal services-oriented industries; Asian men do not demonstrate a higher profile than their co-ethnic women business owners in terms of skill-level.4 2. Characteristics Associated with Business Ownership In order to quantify the association between personal and household characteristics and the probability of individual business ownership, logistic regression was conducted for the civilian employed labor force. The dependent variable represents the probability of a member of the labor force owning a business. The dependent variables and the final results are displayed in Table 2. This model suggests that, generally, older age, larger family size, being male, having a spouse who is also self-employed, working shorter hours, and being foreign2 Further investigation indicates that these sectors include: “Legal services,” “Veterinary services,” and “Services to buildings

and dwellings, except construction cleaning.” The last sector suggests a connection with Hispanic male-owned businesses in construction, although Hispanic women have zero presence in the dataset.

3 Further investigation indicates that these sectors include: “Seafood and other miscellaneous foods,” “Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing,” “Plastics product manufacturing,” “Miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing,” and “Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing.”

4 The principal investigator also has examined business participation in the high-tech industries. Due to the small number of business owners represented in these industries, the results are not presented here. However, findings suggest that foreignborn Asian women business owners are much more likely to be involved in high-tech industries (mainly in medical equipment and supplies, and medical and diagnostic laboratories) than Asian male business owners as well as business owners from all other female groups.

12

born are significantly and positively associated with likelihood of individual business ownership. For example, the chance that a member of the labor force owns a business increases by four times if the individual has a spouse who also owns a business. However, because the U.S.-born labor force dominates the entire data sample (as discussed in Section 4.1.1), the above pattern likely reflects characteristics of U.S.-born whites and blacks.

When other conditions are held the same, women, particularly those born in the United States, are much less likely to own a business than men. Specifically, compared with U.S.-born white men, the likelihood of business ownership is reduced by 60 percent for U.S.-born women. The likelihood of business ownership is reduced by 46 percent for U.S.-born black women, compared with their co-ethnic male counterparts. However, having a bachelor’s degree significantly increases the probability of business ownership for U.S.-born white women.

Table 2: Characteristics Associated with Business Ownership

Variable

Total

U.S. White

U.S. Black

Foreign

Foreign Hispanic

Foreign Asian

Age

1.602***

1.788***

0.980***

1.259***

0.914*

1.097*

Bachelor’s degree

-0.089

-0.044

-0.458

-0.285

0.27

-0.914**

Married

-0.124

-0.164*

0.33

-0.357*

-0.528*

-0.131

Family size

0.063**

0.086**

-0.064

0.086*

0.055

0.246***

Female

-0.835***

-0.941***

-0.610***

-0.396*

-0.14

-0.393

Spouse

1.378***

1.272***

1.050*

1.938***

2.360***

2.144***

Female * Spouse

0.155

0.152

0.245

0.105

-0.124

0.034

Female * degree

0.222*

0.295*

0.463

0.044

-0.078

0.679

Work hours

-0.009***

-0.014***

-0.014*

0.016**

-0.016

0.037***

Foreign-born

0.399***

Female*foreign-born

0.277*

Black

-0.789***

-0.535*

Hispanic

-0.475***

-0.465**

Asian

-0.418**

-0.376*

Mixed race

-0.187

0.366

English

0.234

0.263

1.022*

Years in the U.S.

0.005

0.012

0.022

_cons

-7.559***

-8.067***

-5.761***

-7.195***

-5.295**

-9.495***

N

19675

11874

4231

2885

1130

741

Dependent Variable: (log) odds of owning a business; legend: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001 Data Source: American Community Survey 2007â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2011

When other conditions are held the same, the odds of business ownership increase 50 percent for foreign-born persons, compared with U.S.-born persons. For women in particular, foreign-born status significantly increases the probability of business ownership. As discussed earlier, cultural heritage, social networking, and possible limited job opportunities in the wage labor market may all work as both pull and push factors that have increased business ownership among foreign-born persons. In fact, the results for all foreign-born business owners indicate that, although foreign-born women are less likely to own businesses than foreign-born men, the difference between foreign-born men and women is smaller than that between U.S.-born men and women. For 13

foreign-born Hispanics and foreign-born Asians, the difference between genders is not significant at all, perhaps demonstrating the significance of entrepreneurship as a source of income for foreign-born women.

In the comparison of foreign-born and U.S.-born groups, several patterns emerge. The positive effect from having a spouse who also owns a business is much stronger for the foreign-born groups than for the native born. For example, having a spouse who also owns a business increases the likelihood of business ownership by 10.6 times for a foreign-born Hispanic and by 8.5 for a foreign-born Asian member of labor force, if other conditions are held constant. This result suggests the possibility that a much stronger family involvement occurs in business ownership among foreign-born persons than native-born persons. This pattern is consistent with the literature that emphasizes ethnic resources and family/kinship ties related to ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship (Moya 2007). Our interviews with Hispanic and Asian women business owners also support such a hypothesis. Another interesting variable is working hours. While longer working hours are associated with lower levels of business ownership for all ethnic groups, they are associated with higher probabilities of entrepreneurship for the foreign-born, especially for foreign-born Asians. In addition, although having a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree is not a significant variable for most groups, an Asian holding a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree is significantly less likely to own a business than members of other ethnic groups. This finding is consistent with the pattern observed earlier that many Asian businesses are concentrated in low-skilled and service-oriented sectors.

Although foreign-born persons are more likely to own businesses than U.S.-born when other conditions are held constant, either within the foreign-born group or the entire labor force in Mecklenburg County, ethnic or racial minority groups are significantly less likely to own businesses, compared with non-Hispanic whites, if all other conditions are held constant. Specifically, when compared with whites and holding other variables the same, the likelihood of business ownership will reduce by 55 percent for blacks, 38 percent for Hispanics, and 35 percent for Asians.

3. Job Earnings of Business Owners Table 3 provides the individual and household characteristics that are associated with job earnings for business owners. We restricted the sample to employed civilians in the labor force who worked at least 40 hours per week. The results indicate that, in Mecklenburg County, female business owners earn 46.8 percent less than male business owners when all other variables in the model are held constant. In addition, results from the total sample suggest that being older, having a college degree, being married, and working longer hours are all positively correlated with higher job earnings. Compared with non-Hispanic whites, black, Hispanic, and Asian business owners earn much less if holding other conditions the same.

Again, due to the dominant proportion of U.S.-born entrepreneurs in the total sample, the same pattern holds true for U.S.-born whites. However, some interesting variations are apparent when considering minority groups separately. For U.S.-born blacks, a college degree and longer working hours are the only two variables associated with higher job earnings. Female U.S.-born black business owners do not earn significantly less than their co-ethnic male counterparts if other conditions are the same. In addition, having a college degree will increase black business ownersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; job earnings by almost 95 percent. These findings indicate that human capital could significantly improve economic prospects for the U.S.-born, particularly non-Hispanic blacks.

14

Table 3: Characteristics Associated with Higher Job Earnings for Business Owners

Variable

U.S.-born White

U.S.-born Black

Foreignborn

Foreignborn Hispanic

Foreignborn Asian

-0.366***

-0.392

-0.678***

-0.543*

-1.499***

Female

Total 0.468***

Age

0.289**

0.271*

-0.073

0.412

0.569

0.872

Bachelor’s degree

0.458***

0.466***

0.949**

0.241

0.03

-0.21

Married

0.170*

0.178*

0.145

0.11

0.089

0.336

Family size

-0.014

0.005

-0.102

-0.017

0.089

-0.071

Spouse

-0.032

-0.053

0.636

-0.137

-0.429

-0.538

Female* spouse

0.111

0.013

-0.182

0.412

0.184

1.018*

Female* degree

-0.042

-0.084

-0.436

0.244

0.542

1.312**

Work hour

0.031***

0.035***

0.025***

0.019***

0.027**

0.002

Foreign-born

-0.074

Female*foreign-born Black

0.094 0.308***

-0.115

Hispanic

-0.286*

-0.191

Asian

-0.282*

-0.166

Mixed race

-0.378

0.032 -0.018

0.12

-0.744*

0.012*

0.028*

0.013

English Years in the United States _cons

7.945***

7.788***

9.328***

7.811***

6.093***

7.713***

2001

1407

198

351

101

89

Adj-R2 N

Dependent Variable: job earnings; legend: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001 Data Source: American Community Survey 2007–2011

For the foreign-born business owners, women earn about 68 percent less than men. Longer working hours and longer length of stay in the United States are positively related to higher job earnings for all foreign-groups. With regard to specific ethnic groups, a similar pattern holds true for foreign-born Hispanics. In contrast, Asian business ownership patterns are distinctive. Specifically, Asian female business owners earn almost 1.5 times less than their co-ethnic male counterparts if other conditions are held the same.

The earlier logistic regression suggests that having a college degree is significantly related to lower probability of business ownership for the Asian labor force, regardless of gender. Similar to this pattern, having a college degree is negatively (but not statistically significantly) associated with foreign-born Asian business owners’ job earnings. Likewise, English proficiency is also negatively associated with Asian business owners’ job earnings.

This overall pattern is consistent with Asian business concentration patterns in the study area. Such a pattern suggests that foreign-born Asian business owners are working in the job sectors that require more human capital than they actually are holding.

15

Such an “unemployment” phenomenon has been documented for the foreign-born nationally and is especially more severe for Asian (De Jong & Madamba 2001). The reasons are many. Job-searching strategies, immigrants’ unfamiliar with host-country labor regulations, visa status, nontransferable education credentials, and other economic and cultural differences between source and destination countries have all contributed to the imperfect transferability of human capital across borders (Chiswick & Miller 2009). Even so, having a college degree will significantly increase female business owners’ job earning by 1.3 times. In other words, for a foreignborn Asian female business owner, having a bachelor’s degree or higher will significantly offset earning disadvantages from their co-ethnic male counterparts.

Overall, the results indicate lower job earnings for female entrepreneurs. In general, human capital such as educational attainment and English proficiency and longer lengths of stay in the United States for the foreignborn could bring better economic prospects for business owners, particularly for foreign-born Asian women business owners in Mecklenburg County.

4. Experiences of Female Business Owners (1) Motivation and Goals for Women Business Owners Women start their businesses for many different reasons. For most women interviewed, however, starting a business seemed to be a choice rather than a necessity. Some women chose to go into business for themselves because they had a different and more entrepreneurial type of personality than other individuals. This “entrepreneurial personality” was the primary motivation for opening their business. Other women cited different reasons—owning a business helps them to balance work and family; they make more money in business for themselves; entrepreneurship allows them to get out of a corporate environment and gives them more freedom and flexibility. Entrepreneurship also is a way to avoid the “glass ceiling” many women face in companies, allowing them to obtain equal wages with men. “I started the business to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do and to be able to be the big boss…to be able to decide my own life and build my own future,” one entrepreneur said. Participants often described themselves as hard working and determined. They were motivated, had a vision, and wanted to execute it their own ways.

Many women reported that opening a business made sense for them because they were able to leverage experience from former careers into a successful business. This theme was consistent across black and white women’s experiences. For instance, one woman said, “I was a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, and my business partner was a former lawyer. So it made sense for us to take those skills and launch the business.”

African American women in particular often reported that they came from families who worked in similar industries or who were entrepreneurs themselves. This factor was a major influence on their decision to open the business they currently operate. One commented, “My father is a business owner, so he was really instrumental in giving me a lot of tips on what to do and what to look out for.” This finding indicates that family heritage could be an important influence for ethnic minorities in starting their businesses. In fact, Fairlie & Robb (2007) have argued that lack of family support and cultural tradition could be one factor that is related to the overall lower rate of business ownership among African Americans in the United States.

Compared with native-born white and black women business owners, most Asian and Hispanic business owners are foreign born. The women interviewed did not talk much about how former experiences played a role in starting their businesses. As we discussed earlier in the quantitative analyses related to underemployment, perhaps their stay in the host country is not long enough; in many cases their past 16

background is not relevant or even not fully recognized (Wang & Lysenko 2013). However, many of them indicated that family members, even extended family members, have been heavily involved in their businesses in roles such as providing labor and or serving as subcontractors. As discussed later, the operation strategies, social networking, and perception of overall market opportunities among foreign-born female entrepreneurs are related to family and ethnic ties.

Women business owners tend to be more holistic in measuring their success and goals, and they tend to run their businesses differently than men. Like men, women measure their success in dollars but they also consider their values, vision, community contributions, greater purpose in life, and how they can combine work with family. The women we spoke with are more collaborative in their leadership style than men and more inclusive.

They do not want to be compared with men/male-owned businesses in terms of revenue or other strictly empirical measures of success because they want to set their own rules, standards, and values for their companies. Across all ethnic groups, women business owners shared these sentiments:  “I always tell my customers: I’m there to make money but also I like to be there to help as well.

So I do, I want them to tell me honestly what their need is. We always try to help out.”  “At the end, it’s not about the money or about being the CEO or making a billion dollars. It’s just about that impact that you can make.”  “I’m sure not going to be a million-dollar mom doing this business because with startups they usually don’t have a big budget, but it’s my passion. I am happier to see that I help someone to another step than knowing that I had so much profit at the end of the day.”  “The personal goal has always been, if I’m going to help my children, I have to help the other children as well, because nobody should be told that they can’t achieve their dream, no matter what it is. So I give back to the community in various ways, either with my time, through dollars, through scholarship development.”  “Whatever time I have available and right now I put my family number one in my life, rather than working and making money.”

For the women we spoke with, it is not that making money is not important. Instead, being a wife, a mother, and a family member often matters more than making money. Most of the women stated that they run their businesses in what they perceive to be a manner unique from other similar types of businesses. Such differences are reflected in their daily operations, as the women often hinted at alternative, more “feminine” management strategies. For instance, one woman shared, “It’s kind of a cliché to say we’re ‘family oriented,’ but you can go into the back of our office right now and you can see a garden that we’ve all planted...we pick those vegetables and we bring them into our kitchen, and we make lunch for staff.”

Many of them use the business for the fulfillment of both personal and professional goals and operate their businesses accordingly. Another woman commented, “I have different opinions, from a business and marketing perspective—if we do these things and we’re different than everybody else, then that will benefit us.” Another 17

shared, “Initially when I started [the business], it was just to get out of corporate America. Now it’s actually turned into my ministry.”

(2) Between Work and Family: Joy, Responsibility, and Sometimes Struggle Women’s critical role in family life has identified as an important factor in defining women’s job priorities, type of employment, location of work, and work hours (Reskin 1993; Carlson 1997; McDowell 2008). For instance, the spatial entrapment-of-women hypothesis argues that women’s domestic responsibilities have restricted their spatial mobility in searching for jobs. In addition, women in female-segregated jobs work closer to home compared with not only men but also other women working in non-female-segregated job sectors (England 1993; Hanson & Pratt 1992). Our study corroborates these findings to some extent, because the women interviewed told us that work-life or work-family balance is on the forefront of their experiences, across ethnic groups. Even though more women are working and women are working more than in previous generations, they are still primarily responsible for all or much of the work at home (e.g., cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping) and child care—sometimes by choice, but often by necessity. They want to be there for their family and adjust their work accordingly. Running a business while taking care of the family as a partner, a mother, and a family member is a mixture of joy, responsibility, and sometimes struggle.

(2.1) Balancing With Family Responsibilities For some female business owners, balancing between home and work has been a struggle. Among Hispanic and Asian business owners in particular, we often heard resentment of the long working hours required to operate the business. One stated, “… having a family and also running a business, it’s a lot of work. I’m here from 7:45 to 6:30, long hours. So I’m glad that I only have one kid.” Another woman agreed—owning a business makes it harder to find a work-life balance because you are always working: “I work around the clock. The only time that I don’t work is when I go to bed.” And another: “My own life? When I sleep that is my own life.” A third voice echoes the sentiment, “It’s very hard, the balance. To me, we are immigrants, we don’t have much choice.”

Some of the resentment, it seems, comes from the women comparing themselves with males. Carrying much or all of the house work and child care responsibilities makes it more difficult for women to fully dedicate their time to the business. One Hispanic woman expressed her frustration, “I see my competitors who are men, who are able to dedicate themselves entirely to their business. They have far outpaced me, and they started long after I did. But I have to make strategic choices about who I’m going to be as a wife and a mom, and I couldn’t make that sacrifice.”

Another Hispanic participant expressed similar sentiments: “It’s hard because I have to run the business myself, as a single mother, it’s hard. But it’s not really hard to run a business as a woman, I mean, men are not smarter than us, ha-ha, no way, we have both the same capabilities. You have to learn to be organized, focused, things like that, you have to prepare yourself, and every day you have to learn. But we have a disadvantage: we are mothers. And we care much more about our families and our kids.”

Talking about the “disadvantage” of being a mother does not mean that these women resent this role and associated responsibilities. In fact, because of their love and dedication to the family, they work “extra” hard to make up the time for their own businesses.

Some business owners have difficulty separating work from life. One woman stated, “My professional and private lives are so intertwined. It’s hard for me to tell the difference...I’m always marketing, I’m always learning, 18

I’m attending conferences; travel becomes business.” Some accept this lifestyle, but others say it affects them negatively. One participant even lives in the same building as her office so she never fully leaves work behind.

For that reason, interviewees emphasized the importance of consciously making a separation in order to avoid becoming overworked. For example, “Sometimes you take too much from here to home and you cannot sleep very well but you learn to leave everything here…it’s a question of being organized and then dedication, you know, you have to have your time, each thing have your space and your time. And when it’s time for the family, that’s time for the family and when it’s the business time you have to say, ‘I cannot be thinking about this or that, it’s the business.’” Others have been able to strategically combine work with their social life: “When I go to do networking, my tapas, you know, we’re a small group and we go to a different restaurant every month and I sit talking to my friends and sometimes I meet somebody else, drink a couple of wines, that’s my personal life.”

Maintaining this separation of work and home may be more difficult for those who work from home. One African American entrepreneur who works from home stated, “…And that’s why this doesn’t look like a business. Cause it’s our home. And I don’t intend for my family to fall over my boxes and have to wade through my papers.”

Another said, “For me it’s challenging because at some point in my business life I decided to let go of the office and come work from the house so I could spend more time and be at home when the kids came home from school. So that I could have a balance. I found I was spending too much time outside of the house, so bringing the office to the house has been really positive in some aspects but really challenging in other aspects because I could be working and talking to a client and my 6-year-old can walk in and say ‘Mommy, I need…’”

(2.2) Not All About “Balancing” Although some women experienced strain as a result of attempting to “balance” work and home, other interviewees actually reported that owning a business makes this task easier. As mentioned above, some women started a business because working for themselves allowed them to have flexibility in order to spend time with family—to them, this results in a better “work-life balance.” As one women expressed, “The reason why I started the company was I used to work at a company doing a lot of projects and traveling a lot. I had two small children and I thought that I could do this on my own and have a more flexible schedule, because I wanted to be home with them.”

Many others praised the flexibility to work from home and set their own schedules, citing examples of using the flexibility working for themselves allowed to take time for their children, elderly family members, and family chores at home. One woman stated, “The only thing that I can tell you is that I have a really good daughter. She’s really very good and very respectful and when I tell her, ‘Mommy’s working, I need you to sit still, go watch a movie or I need to finish this,’ she’s very good about that. I have to bring her sometimes. She’s been with me in all kinds of meetings and trainings and seminars and presentations since she was three years old.”

The women interviewed are well aware that many of the domestic tasks they balance with their work are not of concern to their male counterparts. One woman said, “I think that women business owners need more flexibility in their lives as they juggle family and business. I’ve been very fortunate to have that…I’ve been very fortunate to be able to be flexible and involved in my children’s lives but also to have a business. Men may not need that flexibility.”

Age and experience may have taught these business owners to make sure to carve out time for family commitments. They emphasize the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal 19

life. One woman said, “I had to slow down, because, once you start doing everything that’s all about business, then you forget about family life and then you stressed out. So you’re not as effective. So you make sure you have some ‘Me Time.’” Another echoed these sentiments, “Trying to remember to have the balance of work and life has been something that’s interesting…I ran into somebody recently that I hadn’t seen in several years, and the person said, ‘You look like you’ve been going pretty hard.’ And I would get to work first thing in the morning, go to networking things, but I want to remember that…I want to have a life.”

Some of the women expressed their distaste for the term “balance” when used to describe the process of allocating time between their various commitments. According to one woman, “It’s not ‘balance.’ I don’t like that word, personally. There’s not a balance. At the end of the day, you do what you do.” Another agreed, “I think work-life balance in general is bullshit (laughs). You can put that in there. It’s about day-to-day prioritizing.”

This strong emotional reaction from some of the women about the term “work-life balance” further illustrates the salience of family factors in the women entrepreneurs’ daily work experiences and the struggle they experience trying to merge the two priorities.

Compared with Hispanic and Asian groups, more white and black women business owners shared that they carve out time from their work for family. The interview data suggest that this is more of a choice than a constraint. This seems consistent with results from the regression modeling (Table 2).

As discussed earlier, longer working hours are negatively associated with the probability of owning a business for native-born white and blacks, yet positively related with business ownership for the foreign-born, especially Asians. This finding could be attributable to the different types of businesses often owned by the immigrant entrepreneurs. On the other hand, it could also be because of differing attitudes toward work and family, lack of social support, and the more formidable constraints facing Hispanic and Asian female business owners, most of whom are first-generation immigrants. Nevertheless, one foreign-born Latina who owns a catering business shared a particularly noteworthy experience. She said, “The good thing about my business is that I really enjoy it, and when I do it, I take kids with me. I have a 15-year-old and 4-year-old. So my husband comes with me, he washes the dishes when we have private events in the dining room that we rent, and my oldest helps out with the clients when we’re having a party in the dining room. And then some days I bring the little one, and she stays in the kitchen eating the leftovers.” In her case, she has tried to make her work experience meaningful both personally and professionally. And, according to our data and her compelling story, she does find fulfillment in both of these arenas.

Overall, our findings indicate that having a business can be an asset and a barrier to balancing between work and family life for women. Regardless of their feelings about “work-life balance” or the extent to which they were able to achieve this elusive goal on a daily basis, most of the women agreed that making a very intentional effort to have this “balance” was extremely important to avoid being completely swallowed by their careers.

(3) Perception of Women Business Owners (3.1) Disadvantages Since entrepreneurship and higher managerial positions are viewed by some as masculine in nature and thus unsuitable for women (Billing 2011; Blake & Hanson 2006), researchers have long noted lower rates of business ownership among women as well as a clustering effect of women in junior managerial roles (Brannan & Priola 2012). To illustrate this popular bias, Katila & Eriksson (2013) found that, when images of male and female CEOs are directly compared, women are viewed as lacking interpersonal skills while their male counterparts are 20

instead seen as naturally gifted leaders. Many of our participants shared similar experiences of being disadvantaged as a female business owner due to such faulty perceptions about their abilities. These disadvantages arise from gender stereotyping; customer discrimination; difficulties in connecting to broader, male-dominant social networks; and the difficulties of managing between family roles and work as described in the previous section.

As for gender stereotyping, our participants across all the ethnic groups shared with us that negative perceptions about their abilities as business owners are related to several specific attitudes they noticed from customers, peers, and others: what products that women-owned businesses are “supposed” to provide; whether women are “able or have the capabilities to do a good job,” and how women obtained the opportunities if their businesses are successful. For instance, one Hispanic woman said, “When I went to look for funding, the first reaction that people would have is: ‘Oh, you have a restaurant, right?’ And I’m like: ‘No, I don’t have a restaurant, I have an engineering firm.’” Another woman said, “Because I’m a woman and I run a construction company, there’s a perception that it’s because I’ve got a leg up. And while I will absolutely admit that some of the opportunities I’ve gotten are because of that, the reason we’re successful is because we’re a damn good company. So if I could change a perception a little bit, I think there’s a perception that women-owned and minority-owned businesses are not as good as other businesses.”

Several business owners also shared that assumptions about women not being as good as men at dealing with money have impacted their ability to access capital, which is one of the most important factors for startup. “It was very difficult to have access to capital as a single woman, even though I was married but it was my business,” one participant said. Another said, “Financially they wouldn’t lend me…so I’m kind of dragging, and that’s just the reality…I just need the financial support and I don’t have that yet. Maybe I can build that myself, and I’m trying.” Most women reported using their personal savings and occasionally family financial support to fund their business.

On the customer side, when dealing with male clients, women business owners often perceive a lack of trust and a slower process of trust building, especially when compared with their male business partners. For instance, one woman commented, “I find a lot of times with men who are clients, sometimes the lines get blurred and they don’t look at you as a professional businesswoman. Sometimes they see sideways, for lack of a better word.” Another agreed, “Because I have a male partner, sometimes they think ‘Oh, well we’ll go to him and see what kind of different answer we get.’ And it’s like, no, um, really the final decision is mine, and I don’t need to defer to him to make this decision to tell you what needs to be done.”

According to interviewees, this problematic attitude is present among both men and women, both of whom may be intimated by the female business owner’s power. Women may also mistreat other women if they see them as a threat. As one entrepreneur said, “I’ve worked for women who were very driven...driven to the point of being a very selfish leader. They don’t lead very well. They don’t have good leadership skills. What they fear anybody who has anything that they reflect as a good leadership skill or something that may knock them out of their spot.”

In order to overcome or navigate some of the challenges, women entrepreneurs must be strong and adapt to their work environment in order to succeed. The women said that they may have to work extra hard, or adapt a more ‘masculine’ communication style or body language in order to overcome discrimination. One participant

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even shortened her name to a gender-neutral name so that, in email correspondence, the client does not know whether she is female or male. Another woman said, “I think you need to be very, very strong minded. Maybe it’s because of my personality also, but I don’t feel any difference from any male doing business with both the clients and my supplier at the same time. But I think a lot of it has to do with how you look at yourself. You don’t think of yourself as ‘Oh, I’m a female, people might look at me differently.’ No, I think you just have to be strong minded yourself.” Someone even reacted more “proactively” by saying, “There’s a way of acting, a way of speaking, and dressing. In a man’s world, I always made it a point that I didn’t want to have, it sounds terrible, but to be too sexy or too frumpy.”

This negative perception and stereotyping of female business owners ran across ethnic and racial groups.

Detangling the interaction effect between gender and race or ethnicity was difficult. However, the challenge seemed more pronounced for African American when compared with white women. One African American woman said, “A woman of color, a female entrepreneur, really has to prove herself all the way across the board, even in the financial arena, in order to get the same respect financially as men do.” Another said, “I do think it’s a challenge being a woman and being black. I definitely think I’ve missed out on some opportunities because of that, but I can’t quantify it because how would I know?”

These comments are only a few of many similar ones, suggesting much greater difficulty for women business owners of color in breaking through the social barriers in place in order to access broader networks and opportunities.

(3.2) Role of Culture For Hispanic and Asian women entrepreneurs, the overt discrimination described by many of African American participants is not present—rather, the discrimination is more subtle. A Hispanic woman lamented, “There’s still a stereotype of Latina women where most people consider us sexy…But they don’t think we’re capable of being part of corporate America or a business owner.” In contrast to white and African American interviewees, some of our Asian and Hispanic participants argued that gender is neither a problem nor an advantage, making statements such as “I never felt that because I’m a woman I cannot do this” or “I’m not aware of any barriers or, any particular advantage or disadvantage.”

However, some evidence of conflicting feelings about gender- and ethnic group-based discrimination amongst these women exists. For instance, an Asian business owner may in one breath express that being a woman makes no difference at all but will subsequently provide examples of situations or feelings where it does seem to matter: “To me it doesn’t really matter. It’s in the same way, maybe it’s my personality…But, with the people who don’t want to pay and run out, they do look at us as girls or women standing up at the front…I think if there’s a male standing up at the front…they are not as likely to do it.”

Another Asian participant said, “It’s not all bad, it’s not all bad…you just have to play the game…you try to ignore some of the behaviors…but then eventually you say, ‘You know what? I am tired. I don’t want to put up with that.’ I do still feel that the environment is accepting, but I don’t think they consciously do it but there is still that vibe somewhere, like you are always being questioned, or you have to prove yourself even more. I have to do extra work or I have to do a whole lot better…it’s a lot of pressure. I feel like you are put in a position where you can’t fail. I feel like some of the males…the way they behave is like ‘you got yourself this far, you know, being in a male environment, then you shouldn’t complain or you shouldn’t feel a certain way because, you know, this is what you put yourself into.’ Or this is kind of what you asked for.” These conflicting feelings indicate that being a 22

woman should not matter, but, in reality, these women are still confronted with the reality of their gender-based disadvantage and must deploy various strategies in order to overcome it Such conflicting statements also may reflect differing cultural attitudes regarding the role of gender in culture and society. For example, one Asian business owner said, “For Asians, we are subject to husband, and it’s natural for us to have husband get all the glory, and we do all the work, ha-ha. I don’t feel any discrimination. Maybe I’m just accepting the woman’s role as submissive to husband. Even in business, I just take that position. Some people might be rebellious against the social norm, but I’m not that kind of person. When you accept that kind of role, as your way of life, I don’t think anybody should feel any disadvantage.”

This way of understanding her role as a female entrepreneur stands in stark contrast to that reported by many of the native-born white and black women who expect and explicitly express that they should be treated equally to men. They are dissatisfied when they are not. Another woman told us that “at the beginning when I first started sending out CVs to apply for positions I felt: why am I not getting any response? I thought it was because, at the end of my application, it says ethnicity, gender, and I thought maybe if I don’t fill this out, maybe I’ll have a better chance.”

Again, gender does not always and does not necessarily play a role in the success of women business owners or in how they are perceived, but they are likely to face the assumptions of a paternalistic society in which men most commonly lead businesses. Current female entrepreneurs benefit from improved gender equality and more opportunities than previously generations, but full equality has not yet been achieved.

(3.3) Advantages and Gender Capital An emerging body of literature has identified the role of gender as a form of social and cultural capital that may play a key role in entrepreneurship and work performance—in other words, researchers have recently begun to take note of the fact that women can bring special assets to a firm or business. Individual firms have been noted to be positively affected when successfully harnessing engendered capital resources (Shaw et al. 2009).

Furthermore, female managers (or those who employ “feminine” styles of management) have been shown to be more effective when conducting employee disciplinary business (Cole 2004). Women in managerial roles also enjoy less work-related help from their professional network than do men of equal job responsibility (McGuire 2002).

In our study, while occasionally, some women adamantly insisted there is no difference between male and female entrepreneurs, others viewed their gender as an asset. According to them, entrepreneurship brings independence, confidence, purpose, and helps them contribute to society. Furthermore, “female” assets such as being good at communicating, multi-tasking, and having strong intuition can be leveraged as assets to improve business performance. One Asian woman shared, “It is easier for me to communicate with [the suppliers], my husband finds that. He says, ‘He gave you that deal? He didn’t give that to me!’ I really think that that’s an advantage.” Likewise, an African American physician stated, “I think patients appreciate female physicians. They say that female physicians are much more cautious, and we have a better ear. And we hear more. We’ve got that female intuition that men don’t have.”

Women have been noted to take advantage of “gender capital” when entering into a “caring field” such as nursing or day care, in that they fully espouse the ideals of femininity and femaleness (Huppatz 2009). In our

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study, participants indeed shared thoughts on the advantages of working in particular industries, such as interior design and health care. For example, a woman working in interior design stated, “In my field, in my area of business? I don’t think it’s hard to be a woman, I think it’d be harder to be a man.”

It is important to emphasize that such effects could have unintended negative consequences by reinforcing existing patterns of gender-based occupational segregation. For several decades, researchers have documented that male and female members of the labor force are often segregated into different occupations. Likewise, female-owned businesses and male-owned businesses are concentrated in different industries (McDowell 2008; Wang 2013). On the one hand, women could have greater advantages in these gender-specific businesses.

However, on the other hand, these patterns of segregation also could further encourage the feminization of these “pink-collar” businesses while negatively affecting women’s income earnings (Ehlers & Main 1998).

(4) Social Networking and Social Capital As stated earlier, previous studies have documented that social networking and social capital are extremely important for both business startup and development (Hanson & Blake 2009; Mayer 2008). The critical role of networking and referrals is one of the strongest themes that emerged from our interview data. The women entrepreneurs we spoke with have used their social networks extensively for hiring employees and subcontractors, finding clients, and forming partnerships with other businesses. Most of our participants indicate that they do very little advertising. Instead, they locate the majority of their clients through networking, referrals, targeted recruitment, and repeat businesses.

There are different types of social capital and networking. Professional business organizations such as Count Me In, Women Executives, and Leadership Charlotte have played a significant role in the development of our interviewees’ businesses by providing them with extensive networking opportunities. One woman commented, “The way that it is in Charlotte is that Charlotte has a lot of different groups. You cannot just go and jump into a group; you have to be invited into the group…The only problem is that, after you are in all these circles, then everybody wants you. And they say, ‘we need a Latino,’ ha-ha.”

Membership in one of these organizations may not always translate directly into a more business, but participants do seem to believe that their involvement is rewarding from a professional development and social networking perspective. According to most of the women, such organizations represent supportive environments that help to connect business owners to resources. Through them, women share best practices and help one another: “We are so connected, like sisterhood.” “We cry, we laugh, we dance, we support each other.” “It was a very nice experience that helped me a lot. I started jumping from another step, another step, another step.”

In many cases, professional networking, social networking, personal life, and businesses are all intertwined for women business owners, as illustrated by this woman’s comment: “My clientele is my family. I’ve lost my parents. I consider my clientele—my friends—to be family.”

Unfortunately, not all women entrepreneurs have access to these networks. When asked what opportunities are available to them to meet other female business owners and get support for the business, many stated that nothing is being offered. This perception could be due to lack of information. Moreover, membership in some of these networks may be less accessible for those with very small budgets, as some of them charge annual fees.

Others may face barriers to membership; for example, they may lack additional personnel at their businesses 24

and must be physically be at their workplaces for long hours. For these women, there is little time for networking. They may depend more on local ties than citywide ones.

Levels of access to these professional and social networks are related to gender, race, and ethnicity. One African American woman lamented, “We’re not necessarily at the table. And the table is not the conference table. The table is the golf course, it’s the gym, it’s the social setting and the affluent communities. Among the rich people.

That’s where the major decisions are actually made. And we’re not invited to that table. In a lot of cases, we really get the crumbs, what falls from the table.”

In discussing her networking experiences, another commented, “I am surprised that the only ones that ask for referrals are the men. They are the ones that are taking advantage of the opportunities. I never get a woman here telling me, ‘I want you to introduce me to the mayor or such-and-such.’ I guess it’s that sense of inferiority, maybe, I don’t know. I’m conscious of it but it’s unconsciously that you think: I don’t know if I can really do it.”

Many of the women interviewed have been involved with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce to some degree at some point in their careers. Their opinions about membership span a broad spectrum, from a woman who stated that her involvement with the chamber has helped to define her career—with the caveat that she felt she’d been overlooked by the chamber at the beginning of her career, which spurred her to take a more active role—to an African American woman who stated, “I found the chamber was not the kind of support that I thought it would be. And, we could not afford to buy that membership. And we never got any work.” Another black woman said that the Charlotte Chamber continues to display elements of racism and sexism that may have defined Charlotte’s business community in years past: “…at the chamber, I can just tell they do not want to talk to me, you know, they don’t even look my way. And if I look at them, they turn.”

Some women business owners have found a haven at the Latin American Chamber of Commerce (LACC), the Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), or the Charlotte chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Though there is diversity within these groups, particularly in terms of industries represented, members of LACC are mostly Hispanic, AACC members are mostly Asian, and the NAWBO constituency is predominantly white. Ethnicity and kinship are very important, especially for Hispanics and Asians. In particular, family members, spouses, and extended family members are often employed for them as employees or subcontractors.

(5) My Community An overwhelming majority of our participants stated that philanthropy and giving back to communities is one of their biggest goals in running the business. This is consistent with our earlier findings, discussed under “motivations and goals,” that women run businesses differently than men—that they are not primarily focused on the “bottom line” to make money. For some, this service-based outlook is an integral part of their personal and professional goals. For example, one woman shared, “One of my missions when I started the business was to be able to pass along the knowledge. I’ve seen how people fail and the troubles they get in to because they don’t have that knowledge because they don’t have anyone to ask and they think this costs a lot of money.”

Reasons for doing this include that “Life makes better sense when you’re doing these things because you’re somehow helping.” Another woman stated, “Giving is at the very center of this company.” And another agreed, “Women think differently than men do. And I think that’s something really missed in an overall entrepreneurship study.”

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Although there are different forms of community involvement, many of them are perceived to be gender specific, as in the case of mentorship. Several women discussed the importance of their role as mentor to a variety of different individuals. This important sub-theme was particularly pronounced amongst the African American women. For instance, one woman stated, “I mentor a lot of our young women, actually some here at UNC Charlotte and even in the high school.” Another echoed these sentiments, “We had the opportunity to design the Mentors for Mom program for the Ansor Scholarship Endowment Program [which is] designed to support mothers going back to college.” She later added, “I’ve had lots of mentoring opportunities, not just for young people but for older people. I’ve mentored police officers and preachers.” Obviously, the perception that women are naturally more nurturing and caring than men is reflected in their roles not only in their family and business management but also in the professional and social roles they assume.

For many women, especially ethnic minorities, their community involvement is tied to their religious and spiritual beliefs. One Asian woman expressed how her religiosity is tied with her to serve the community: “Live for others. That’s a Christian value. My husband was raised in that idea of serving others. We raise our kids and others to be that way, that’s our motto, our house motto.” Another woman expressed a similar sentiment, “And that was why I changed my business into a ministry. So I could help people.”

For Hispanics and Asians, community involvement often is tied to ethnicity and nationality. One woman shared, “I’m very involved because I work with the Latin American Chamber of Commerce, I actually provide some of the workshops in Spanish to educate people who are coming into town and want to establish a business, how to do it right, and how to understand the difference between Latin American business and running a business over there versus running a business here, and the different entities that are involved—local, state, and federal.”

Because of the business climate in Charlotte where community and business are perceived to be interconnected, involvement with communities is regarded as a necessity for successful business ownership. One woman stated that giving back is mandatory for business owners, “Every company needs to have a philanthropy part to it….People need to see you more than just the business side. They really need to know where your heart is.”

Another agreed, “A lot of people will not want to do business with you if you’re not involved in the community.

People want to see that you’re a well-rounded business owner, not just out to make money.”

(6) Charlotte’s Business Environment The metropolitan context of this study is an important factor that has influenced the experiences of interviewees. Many of them reported that Charlotte is “bursting at the seams with opportunity” due to its status as an entrepreneurial, pro-business community, and its plentiful opportunities for networking. Some women specifically said the favorable business climate here in contrast to other parts of the country: “Charlotte has an appetite for entrepreneurs and supports entrepreneurs.” Another stated, “Coming from a small town, a very small city in Florida, I thought the entrepreneurial spirit here in Charlotte is just fantastic. There is so much opportunity.”

One woman attributed this to “all these big corporations, they are creating more opportunities.” Others think that Charlotte’s professional identity as a growing city and a banking hub attracts capital and people from “all over the place. And people are coming from other parts of the country to establish businesses in Charlotte.”

Many Hispanic and Asian business owners in particular commented that they have benefitted from an increasingly diverse and growing group of entrepreneurs in Charlotte. “I find Charlotte to be philanthropic in nature, supportive. There’s a very good community of Latinos that help each other, there’s a growing business 26

sense. I find it thriving here.” One Latina said, “No matter where I’ve been, coming to Charlotte was the place where I found my Hispanic roots to the point that I use more Spanish here in Charlotte than I ever did in New York City.” An Asian woman added, “In the Asian community, some 13 groups work together, it’s very unique.

You cannot see this kind of unity anywhere else in the USA.” A few women stated that Charlotte has a weak business climate and that small businesses are valued less than in other places. However, a more common negative experience was that Charlotte is a “clique-ish” city and that, to be successful, a business owner must “play the game.” Many said that “who know you” not “what you know” matters in Charlotte. One woman described Charlotte as “very clique-ish” and said, “It’s almost like a game. As an open and transparent person, I have an issue with that, but I do love it for business.” Another agreed, “Charlotte is a very good city for business, but you gotta play the game. You’ve gotta be a part of certain groups to even be considered.” These comments relate back to the earlier discussion about differentiated access to social networks by gender and ethnicity which, in many cases, translates into differentiated access to resources.

Most of the women who reported that Charlotte is “clique-ish” are African American. This finding may indicate that ethnic and racial minorities face larger barriers to accessing social capital-related resources.

A significant number of Hispanic and Asian business owners expressed a concern that they lacked support in starting their businesses for several reasons: insufficient credit, not being in business for more than a year, being unfamiliar with the financial opportunities available, the confusing process and paperwork involved, limited opportunities to access health care, and an overall lack of information. Many of these women have little or no financial support to start and run their businesses, in part because such support is hard to get, but also sometimes because they were unable to identify possible sources of support in the first place. Instead, they used their 401k or other savings, or they borrowed from family members.

In reality, there are some resources available to would-be entrepreneurs, but many of the women interviewed, particularly the foreign-born, are either unfamiliar with them or found them difficult to navigate. This observation is tied with the main policy recommendation based on the findings: to improve financial support for women-owned businesses. Such support is most needed when women are first starting their businesses. “I think what we really need is a source of funds for entrepreneurs in that [startup] stage. We need to have a pool of investors that entrepreneurs can go and apply for,” one participant suggested. “Such a program would especially target “minorities because the mainstream society has their own sources of funding. Mainstream society has a little bit more access I would say and minorities are underserved.” she argued. Opportunities to get financial and other types of support are also important to grow existing businesses; for instance, to allow a business owner to start hiring people. Despite the growing numbers of women-owned businesses, most businesses remain small, and women entrepreneurs are not hiring (m)any employees. Therefore, such support is critical to ensure their continued success and growth throughout coming years.

V. Conclusions and Recommendations In Mecklenburg County, rates of business ownership differ based on foreign-born status, gender, and race and ethnicity. Women, particularly those who are U.S.-born, are much less likely to own a business. The rate of business ownership is significantly higher for the foreign-born persons than for the U.S.-born labor force. U.S.born blacks and women in particular have the lowest rate of business ownership overall.

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A higher percentage of business owners with at least a bachelor’s degree are women, across all the ethnic groups. However, the earned income from work is lower for women business owners than for men, and the rate of business incorporation is lower for women-owned businesses than for businesses owned by men. At the household level, across all ethnic and racial groups, male business owners are more likely to be married than female business owners. However, among the business owners, females are much more likely than males to have a spouse who is also a business owner. In other words, female business owners are more likely to co-own a business with their spouses than men.

In terms of business types, ethnic and racial minority groups tend to concentrate in a limited number of industrial sectors, and women-owned businesses are more likely to be concentrated in retail-related, supportive, and personal services-oriented sectors than businesses owned by men, across all racial and ethnic groups. Most notably, foreign-born Hispanic are concentrated in professional and management industries more so than not only their co-ethnic male counterparts but also when compared with other racial or ethnic minority groups.

Most of the women interviewed started their businesses based on their “entrepreneurial personalities” and ability to leverage experience from former work as well as for reasons such as better pay, a balance between work and family, or an escape a corporate environment to thereby obtain more freedom and flexibility. Women business owners tend to be more holistic in measuring their success and goals, and they tend to run their businesses differently than men. Women measure their success in dollars, but also based on the business’ compatibility with their values, vision, greater purpose in life, ability to contribute to the community, and flexibility for balancing work and family. These values are well-incorporated into their leadership styles and businesses operation strategies.

Work-life or work-family balance is on the forefront of women entrepreneurs’ experiences. For some women, balancing between home and work has been a struggle due to long working hours compounded by familial responsibilities. For others, owning a business makes the task of balancing easier because it allows them to have more flexibility than working for someone else. For most women, it is important to make an intentional effort to have this balance to avoid being completely swallowed by their careers.

Many but not all participants shared discriminatory experiences and, as result, have the perception that they are somewhat disadvantaged, compared with other business owners due to their status as female business owners and/or business owners of color. The disadvantages come from gender stereotyping; customer discrimination; difficulties in connecting to broader, male-dominant social networks; and the difficulties of managing both family roles and work. Additionally, women of color may face more difficulties in breaking through the social barriers to broader networks and opportunities. At the same time, culture in the country of origin plays a role for many immigrant women business owners in terms of how they view gender’s role in family and at work.

This often stands in stark contrast to the role of gender and family as perceived by many of the native-born white and black women, who expect and explicitly expressed that they should be treated equally to men; they are dissatisfied when they are not.

On the other hand, some women adamantly insisted that there is no difference between male and female entrepreneurs. In some cases, being a female business owner is even considered as an asset. According to these women, entrepreneurship grants women independence, confidence, and purpose as well as the opportunity to contribute to society. Furthermore, traditionally ‘female’ assets may be leveraged such as being good at 28

communicating, multitasking, and having strong intuition. The notion that being a woman is an advantage rather than a disadvantage is concentrated in particular industries, such as interior design and health care.

The women entrepreneurs have used social networks extensively for hiring employees and subcontractors, finding clients, and forming partnerships with other businesses. Professional business organizations play a significant role in such development and networking. Ethnicity and kinship are very important, especially for Hispanic and Asian women. In particular, family members, spouses, and extended family members often work for the woman’s business as employees or subcontractors. In many cases, professional networking, social networking, personal life, and businesses are all intertwined for women business owners. However, not all women entrepreneurs have access to these networks. Many of them said such networks have nothing to offer them, especially for women with very small budgets, few or no personnel, and those must be physically at work for long hours. For them, there is little time for networking, and they may depend more on local ties than citywide ones.

An overwhelming majority of participants stated that philanthropy and giving back to communities is one of their biggest goals in running their businesses. This is especially true in Charlotte, because the business climate here is perceived to emphasize the interconnectedness of community and business, and involvement with the community is commonly regarded as a fundamental component of a successful business plan. Women entrepreneurs’ community involvement takes many different forms and may be tied with their faith, ethnicity, or nationality, particularly for foreign-born and ethnic minority women business owners.

Many women business owners perceive Charlotte to be an entrepreneurial, pro-business community with plentiful opportunities for networking. However, others reported that Charlotte is a “clique-ish” city and that, to be successful, a business owner has to “play the game.” In particular, ethnic minority women, particularly African Americans, often expressed their frustration in accessing the opportunities and networks Charlotte has to offer. A significant number of Hispanic and Asian business owners also reported that they lacked support in starting their businesses.

Based on the findings and discussions, we recommend the following considerations for the public:  Promote awareness of the contributions of women-owned businesses to both the local business communities and to the public. Such awareness will help increase understanding regarding the role of gender in both family and society and overcome problematic gender-based stereotyping and the related negative perceptions of women business owners.  Programs and organizations that serve women and ethnic minority businesses must do a better job of addressing and helping women to overcome the specific obstacles they face. Specific suggestions include supporting and increasing programs that mandate female and minority participation in business, and integrating child care assistance into startup assistance programs.  Supporting agencies and organizations should provide more avenues for social networking within local business communities and encourage communication between women-owned businesses and the supporting groups, especially for ethnic and racial minority women and small business owners with limited budgets.  Stronger supporting organizations should be developed to provide information, mentoring, training, technical assistance, and liaison between women-owned businesses and all other stakeholders.

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 Stronger relationships between women-owned businesses and banks and local financial institutions should be developed and encouraged.  Because of women entrepreneurs’ strong ties with local communities, local place-based economic development programs could benefit from integrating women-owned businesses into their agendas. In this sense, government, local organizations, and women-owned businesses can partner for community building and neighborhood revitalization.  Immigrant entrepreneurs have tremendous potential to both create new markets and service existing ones in the Charlotte area. Women-owned businesses are and continue to be a crucial component of this movement. Although better social and institutional infrastructure serving the needs of immigrants could help everyone in this region, special attention to the rapid growth of immigrant and ethnic minority women-owned businesses will benefit the entire region.  Additional analysis should be conducted to understand the two-way interactions between women-owned businesses and their communities. Insights from these analyses will help to better inform policies and practices that will contribute to the socioeconomic upward mobility of women and the ethnic minority labor force, and to the continued revitalization and economic development of our region.

Acknowledgments This study was supported by the Women + Girls Research Alliance at UNC Charlotte. Tetiana Lysenko, Jackson Deziel, and Mike Kvassay provided timely and excellent assistance for this study. Suzanne Leland, Ph.D., graciously moderated the focus group discussion with women business owners, and her students from “PPOL 8622 Qualitative Research Analysis” generously helped with the data transcription of the focus group discussion. Astrid Chirinos at the Latin American Chamber of Commerce of Charlotte helped us reach out to Latino women business owners. Finally, we appreciate all the women business owners who participated in our study for sharing their time and insights with us.

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