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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 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 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

2

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 female-

owned 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 “pre-

emerging 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).

3

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).

4

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

5

rates of business ownership, business incorporation, business earnings, and personal and household

characteristics associated with business ownership between men and women, between native- and foreign-

born 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-minority-

owned 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).

6

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 American-

owned 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, Non-

Hispanic 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

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 self-employed 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).

White 62%

Black 33%

Others 5% Native Born

Hispanic 48%

Asian 23%

Others 29%

Foreign-Born

7

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

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


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Total US-White US-Black Foreign ForeignHispanic

ForeignAsian

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Male

Female

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

Mexico India El Salvador Honduras Vietnam

Male

Female

8

(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 foreign-

born, 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.

9

Figure 4. Job Earned Income for Male and Female Business Own ers


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 part-

time 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

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

Total US-white US-black Foreign foreignHispanic

foreignAsian

Men

Women

10

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 co-

ownership 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


(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).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Total US-white US-black Foreign foreignHispanic

foreignAsian

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Men

Women

11

Table 1. Industrial Distribution of Business Owners (%)

Industry Sector

Total Native White

Native Black

Foreign Hispanic

Foreign Asian

M F M F M F M F M F

Agriculture Mining 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 0.0

Construction 18.

2 2.4 16.3 3.8 15.6 0.0 45.3 0.0 4.3 1.9

Manufacturing 3.2 3.7 3.8 3.0 0.8 1.3 1.7 4.9 4.7 16.1

Wholesale Trade 3.1 1.6 4.2 1.7 0.5 2.4 1.8 0.0 0.0 4.6

Retail Trade 25.

3 28.2 22.7 25.7 24.2 21.9 30.3 37.6 48.4 38.5

Utilities and Transportation and Warehousing 4.6 1.1 2.8 0.9 10.4 2.3 5.8 0.0 4.2 0.0

Information and Communications 1.4 0.8 2.0 1.4 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate 9.4 9.0 12.0 10.9 8.6 10.2 1.1 2.1 4.7 2.2

Professional 19.

0 19.6 22.5 21.8 12.7 14.7 7.1 23.6 5.2 3.0

Education, Health, and Social Services 3.4 13.4 4.1 13.1 3.0 23.1 1.3 1.6 3.7 11.9

Art Entertainment Recreation 5.5 6.6 4.0 7.0 6.3 1.0 1.9 10.0 11.7 9.5

Other Services 6.6 13.1 5.2 10.0 17.5 23.0 3.7 20.2 11.6 12.3


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 foreign-

born 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

12

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 foreign-

2 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 foreign-born 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.

13

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 2007–2011

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

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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

bachelor’s degree is not a significant variable for most groups, an Asian holding a bachelor’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 owners’ 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.

15

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

Variable Total U.S.-born White

U.S.-born Black

Foreign-born

Foreign-born Hispanic

Foreign-born Asian

Female -0.468*** -0.366*** -0.392 -0.678*** -0.543* -1.499***

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 0.094

Black -0.308*** -0.115

Hispanic -0.286* -0.191

Asian -0.282* -0.166

Mixed race -0.378 0.032

English -0.018 0.12 -0.744* Years in the United States 0.012* 0.028* 0.013

_cons 7.945*** 7.788*** 9.328*** 7.811*** 6.093*** 7.713***

Adj-R2

N 2001 1407 198 351 101 89 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.

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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 foreign-

born 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 foreign-

born 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

17

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

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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,

19

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

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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

21

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

22

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

23

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

24

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

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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.”

26

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

27

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.

28

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

29

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.

30

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.

31

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