Inclusive Leadership Framework to Promote a Climate for Participation: A Framework to Address Inclusiveness, Tokenism, Equity, and the Advancement of Female Entrepreneurs

Introduction

Although entrepreneurship is recognized as having a wide range of employment generation, social and economic benefits (Luke et al., 2007; Steyaert & Katz, 2004; Valliere & Peterson, 2009) a lack of diversity in the entrepreneurial workforce has been identified as a key challenge to realizing these benefits. Groups who are underrepresented in entrepreneurship include migrants, individuals belonging to ethnic minorities, individuals who identify as living with disabilities, and individuals with low educational attainment (Blackburn & Smallbone, 2015; Wishart, 2018). Women are also underrepresented in entrepreneurship numbers, accounting for an estimated 10% of entrepreneurs globally (Ge et al. 2022; Saidapur & Sangeeta, 2012).

The benefits of including women in greater numbers include reducing gender inequalities and poverty (Gu & Nie, 2021) and increasing economic freedom (Kimhi, 2010) and economic and social development (Ge at al., 2022; Sajjad et al., 2020). The presence of women can also lead to higher levels of innovation (Price Waterhouse Coopers International, 2019), better idea generation (Burgess & Tharenou, 2002), and improved decision-making and problem-solving (Trehan, 2018). The involvement of women in entrepreneurial ventures has been linked to lead to a greater chance of survival of a new venture (Cunningham et al., 2017; Weber & Zulehner, 2010). On the contrary, having few women can lead to increased psychological distress of those women in the workplace (Elwér et al., 2013) and may work to normalize an unequal gender distribution in organizations as acceptable (Warren & Antoniades, 2016). Despite this a widespread recognition that institutional, cultural and regulatory factors play a large role in women’s access to entrepreneurial opportunities, interventions to improve female entrepreneurial outcomes have tended to focus on developing and nurturing women’s human and social capital (Wishart, 2018) rather than addressing the structural violence and organizational practices that impede their participation.

In recent years although there has been some increase the numbers of female entrepreneurs, there is significant regional variation in this shift (Elam et al., 2021; Ennis, 2019; Modarresi & Arasti, 2021) and it remains difficult for female entrepreneurs to break into traditionally male dominated industries (Martin et al., 2015; Overå, 2017). As a result, despite attempts to increase the participation of women in entrepreneurship activity, if little is done to change underpinning structures that inhibit the full participation of women or other minority groups (Khadem, 2019) such efforts may be perceived as merely tokenistic (Zimmer, 1988; Devillard et al., 2018).

This chapter commences by outlining the imperative for, and benefits to be achieved by including and supporting more women in entrepreneurial ventures. It then turns to the ways that approaching the greater inclusion of women in entrepreneurial activity through the lens of social justice theory can ensure that tokenism is avoided, and initiatives built on the principles of fairness and justice by granting equal access and participation based on the achievement of basic rights (Rawls, 1971). Connecting with the notion of inclusive leadership (Boekhorst, 2015), this understanding is used to conceptualize a framework for organizational inclusiveness framework which outlines the key dimensions which shape or influence the achievement of an inclusive environment which invites, fosters and supports the full participation of women in entrepreneurial ventures. The chapter concludes by offering suggestions for future research in the area of gender inclusion beyond the binary gender perspective taken in this chapter and potential application outside the entrepreneurial field.