‘Whose name’s on the Awning’? Gender, Entrepreneurship and the American Diner. (Gender, Place and Culture. August, 2008)
Erin R. Anderson from Clark University presents a case-study of a present-day diner in Worcester, Massachusetts and traces the life-narratives of two working-class women through their emergence as entrepreneurs in the diner industry. The article uses the case study to explain the societal factors in America that draw women entrepreneurs into the service or retail trade industries.
Topic: Should the new administration offer incentives for investing in women-owned businesses?
Category: Academic Research
What is it? A peer-reviewed article published in Gender, Place & Culture accessed through the Informaworld online database.
Publication Information: Gender, Place & Culture. Volume 15, issue 4, August 2008, pages 395-410. ISSN: 0966-369X
Author: Erin R. Anderson
Location: Accessed through Informaworld.com database. Abstract is available here.
Accessed: February 22, 2009. 17:30 PST
Support:
Annie Jenkins- Owner and operator of the diner
Berk, Sarah F. – Plenum Press , New York
Hanson, Susan and Pratt, Geraldine (1995) Routledge , New York.
Sarah Berk asserts that a sense of gender is constructed within the domestic space of the women’s childhood homes through the division of household labor. The studies of Hanson and Pratt in 1995 confirms the notion that employment and entrepreneurial opportunities are constrained temporally and geographically by given domestic arrangements. The life story of Annie Jenkins is an example of how a life in the domestic sphere inevitably drives professional ambitions toward the service or retail industries.
Audience and Agenda: The aim of Gender, Place & Culture is to provide a forum for debate in human geography and related disciplines on theoretically-informed research concerned with gender issues. The journal is published by Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. The Taylor and Francis Group relies on advertisement revenue and subscriptions from specific institutions to publish their journals.
Usefulness: The case-study presented in this article provides valuable insight into the current tendencies of American women with regard to entrepreneurship. The majority of women entrepreneurs tend to start business in the service or retail trade industries. The argument is made that the concept of gender in the latter half of the twentieth century was constructed within the domestic space of childhood homes through the division of household labor. The successful entrepreneur in the article became successful because of her personal talents in the hospitality field. She would not have had the opportunity if it was not for her second husband granting her financial help. The case-study indicates that many women simply need a financial boost in order to start successful businesses, and that this is necessary given the gender barriers within the current infrastructure.
Works Cited:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a795158663~db=all~order=page
http://anniesclarkbrunch.com/staff.html
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/0966369X.html
Filed under: Academic Research Sources, Source Notes
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