@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Arts, Faculty of"@en, "Anthropology, Department of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Phrast, Indira-Natasha"@en ; dcterms:issued "2009-02-10T18:05:17Z"@en, "1995"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Arts - MA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description """In recent years there has been in Canada, as in other industrial societies, a substantial increase in the size of the self-employed element in the occupational structure. This reverses a long standing trend and challenges traditional social economic theories that predicted and explained the historic decline. From the mid-nineteen seventies new theories that foretell and/or account for the renaissance of the small business sector emerged. Particularly noticeable in the most recent period is the rapid growth in the numbers of female entrepreneurs which has risen three times as fast as the rate for self-employed men in Canada. Feminization of small businesses calls for sociological research to explore why more women are starting up their own enterprises. Given their disadvantaged positions in the labour market what particular obstacles did they have to overcome? Also this raises interesting questions about how family obligations and gender roles affect growth and vitality of small enterprises. The purpose of this thesis is to explore and help to explain how self-employed men and women organize family and business. Forty self-employed men and women in British Columbia were interviewed in December 1994 to December 1995. The data were obtained from a semi-structured interview questionnaire. The study found that self-employed men and women coordinate business and family responsibilities differently. Gendered outlooks on the family emerged which in turn influenced motivation for becoming self-employed, determined the types of enterprises chosen, and ways in which business and family are organized."""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/4394?expand=metadata"@en ; dcterms:extent "10181505 bytes"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note "Balancing Business and Family: A Comparative Study of the Experiences of Male and Female Entrepreneurs, i n B r i t i s h Columbia BY INDIRA-NATASHA PRAHST B.A., University of Guelph, 1991 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) We accept t h i s thesis as conforming to the standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November 28th, 1995 © Indira-Natasha Prahst, 1995 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of _J[Y]-H\\rO^>o\\O^y a n c ^ ^ O C / o / o ^ y -The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date Dec 1 ^ 9 5 DE-6 (2/88) 11 ABSTRACT In recent years there has been i n Canada, as i n other i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s , a substantial increase i n the size of the self-employed element i n the occupational structure. This reverses a long standing trend and challenges t r a d i t i o n a l s o c i a l economic theories that predicted and explained the h i s t o r i c decline. From the mid-nineteen seventies new theories that f o r e t e l l and/or account for the renaissance of the small business sector emerged. P a r t i c u l a r l y noticeable i n the most recent period i s the rapid growth i n the numbers of female entrepreneurs which has ris e n three times as f a s t as the rate for self-employed men i n Canada. Feminization of small businesses c a l l s f o r s o c i o l o g i c a l research to explore why more women are s t a r t i n g up t h e i r own enterprises. Given t h e i r disadvantaged positions i n the labour market what p a r t i c u l a r obstacles did they have to overcome? Also t h i s raises i n t e r e s t i n g questions about how family obligations and gender roles a f f e c t growth and v i t a l i t y of small enterprises. The purpose of t h i s thesis i s to explore and help to explain how self-employed men and women organize family and business. Forty self-employed men and women i n B r i t i s h Columbia were interviewed i n December 1994 to December 1995. The data were obtained from a semi-structured interview questionnaire. The study found that self-employed men and women coordinate I l l business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s d i f f e r e n t l y . Gendered outlooks on the family emerged which i n turn influenced motivation for becoming self-employed, determined the types of enterprises chosen, and ways i n which business and family are organized. i v TABLE OF CONTENTS T i t l e Page i Abstract i i Table of Contents i v Acknowledgement v i i i Dedication v i i i Chapter I. Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 4 Forces Behind Self-Employment 10 Sex-Segregation i n the Canadian Labour Force 16 Theoretical Framework: Di v i s i o n of Labour 20 within the Household Social Context 24 Definitions 26 Chapter I I . Links to the Literature 31 Chapter I I I . Research Agenda 64 Research Questions 64 Framework For Assessment 65 Data C o l l e c t i o n and Sample Selection 66 Representativeness of sample 74 Procedure 74 Access 75 Rapport 79 Interviewer E f f e c t 81 Interpretation of Data 81 Co l l e c t i o n Methods and Limitations 85 li m i t a t i o n s of interviewing 86 Data analysis 86 Chapter IV. Data and Findings Introduction 95 P r o f i l e of Self-employed Sample 98 Breakdown of Four Groups 106 Organization of Business and Domestic L i f e 115 Problems Encountered 136 V Household Arrangements 163 Attitude to Present Situation 171 Conclusion of Chapter 182 Chapter V Purpose of research: 187 Significance 188 Limitations 192 Recommendations 193 Trends 196 Conclusion 197 BIBLIOGRAPHY 199 APPENDICES 210 Appendix A. Interview Questionnaire 210 Appendix B. Letter: purpose of research 221 Appendix C. Consent Form 223 Appendix D. Model (process of family o b l i g a t i o n ) . . . 225 Appendix E. Vancouver Home-Based Business Association 226 v i LIST OF TABLES Table 1 C o n f l i c t Statements 88 Table 2 Results of L i k e r t Questions 91 Table 3 Breakdown of Business Type 102 Table 4 Percentage of Success d e f i n i t i o n s 104 Table 5 Four Groups of Entrepreneurs 106 Table 6 Percentage of Business and Family and Family Organization 116 Table 7 Percentages of Blending or Separating 123 Business and F a m i l y ' a c t i v i t i e s v i i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Self-Employment i n B.C 3 Figure 2 Self-Employment i n B.C. by Sex 4 Figure 3 Percentage of r e g i s t r a t i o n of businesses 99 Figure 4 Percentage of \"business sector type\" 101 V l l l ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Brian E l l i o t t for h is scholarly support and supervision of t h i s study, as well as the advice and assistance of the other members of my committee, Dr. Dawn Currie and Dr. G i l l i a n Creese i n conducting the research; to Dr. Martin Meissner who offered constructive c r i t i c i s m ; Ann Van Beers, Nariko Takayanagi and Margaret Baskett for o f f e r i n g both encouragement and i n s p i r a t i o n i n writing t h i s t h e s i s . Appreciation i s expressed to Walter Coole, Executive Secretary of the Vancouver Home-based Business Association and i t s members. I would l i k e to thank the many entrepreneurs of B r i t i s h Columbia who gave f r e e l y and generously of t h e i r time. I would also l i k e to recognize the men i n my l i f e . To my husband Armin, thank you for your constant support, encouragement and assistance with the graphics. To my dad and my brother Benji, my acknowledgement of your true entrepreneurial s p i r i t s . Last but not lea s t , to my mother whose support and guidance cannot be thanked enough. DEDICATION This thesis i s dedicated to my mother Dr. Karin Doerr 1 Chapter I: The Research Question Introduction The purpose of t h i s thesis i s to examine how self-employed men and women i n B r i t i s h Columbia organize t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and the competing demands of business and family on t h e i r l i v e s . In recent years there has been i n Canada, as i n other advanced i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s , a substantial increase i n the size of the self-employed element i n the occupational structure. This r i s e r e f l e c t s the massive economic restructuring that i s currently under way i n Canada and i n other modern s o c i e t i e s . The consequence of t h i s phenomenon has been linked to macro environmental forces including g l o b a l i z a t i o n , technological advances, demographic s h i f t s and government p o l i c i e s which have been changing the workforce pattern at a fa s t rate. The advent of new technologies such as the micro computer, modem, and the fax machine have helped to make small business more vi a b l e . Unemployment i n large-scale organizations has led individ u a l s into self-employment to create jobs for themselves and gaining some sense of personal cont r o l . Self-employment has also been shaped by s h i f t s i n s o c i a l and personal preferences (Goffee and Scase, 1985). Currently B r i t i s h Columbia i s facing serious s t r u c t u r a l changes i n the workplace, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the resource sectors. Recognizing t h i s change, the Ministry of B.C. and the Government have encouraged the development of small-sized businesses so 2 that the economies of l o c a l communities would be less dependent on large, t r a d i t i o n a l resource-based industries ( P r o f i t s , 1993). The trends suggest that i f agriculture i s excluded, B.C. has the highest l e v e l of self-employment i n Canada (B.C. S t a t i s t i c s , 1993). Between 1981 and 1993 the t o t a l self-employment i n B.C. increased from 174,000 to 255,000. The comparative proportion of the workforce who are self-employed i n Canada i s approximately 10% (The Labour Force, Cat. No. 71-001). There has been a s i g n i f i c a n t increase i n self-employment among women which i s an important trend i n i t s e l f . Almost 10 percent of employed women i n Canada are self-employed (Anderson, 1995). Since 1975, the t o t a l number of self-employed women i n Canada has ri s e n three times as f a s t as the number of self-employed men. Women's t o t a l self-employment since 1981 to 1993 increased by 75% from 48,000 up to 84,000 i n 1993 marking them as the fast e s t growing segment of the small business population. Men increased by 35% from 126,000 i n 1981 to 171,000 in 1993 ( S t a t i s t i c s Canada, March 1993). Thus, self-employed women are the fas t e s t growing group of small business owners i n Canada. The growth of self-employed indivi d u a l s by sex i s demonstrated i n Figure I. 3 Figure 1 Self-employment in B.C. 1976 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Year • • Woman self employed EZZJ men self-employed - * - % women 8E (out TOT) - B - % women 8E (out 8E) (B.C. women's programs, 1985). The self-employment trends of B.C. between 1975-1984 were produced from S t a t i s t i c Canada's monthly labour-force survey. Total self-employment refers to four categories of s e l f -employment: business a c t i v i t i e s of employer (employing more than one or more), \"own accountant\" (without paid help) and with an incorporated or unincorporated business. Figure 1 shows a steady increase of the t o t a l number of self-employed from 1975 to 1984 and the r i s e i n female entrepreneurship. Different data sources (Labour Force Annual Data, 1988-March 1993) show si m i l a r trends. Figure 2. 3 0 0 2 5 0 2 0 0 160 1 0 0 6 0 0 salf employment trends for B.C. by aex people (thousands) • I I I I • 1 • • I ' • v: • : • •••• B • • m HI I I I I I I mm m i I I I I - • ~ i I I 3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 16 1 0 5 1881 1082 1888 1884 1886 1888 1887 1888 1888 1880 1881 1BX83 (March) Year men women women % (of Total) (Labour Force Annual Data, 1988-March 1993) Figure 2 shows that there i s a general increase i n s e l f -employed numbers except i n 1988 and March 1993 where s e l f -employed numbers decreased. Among t h i s group of self-employed individuals are those who are home-based. This subgroup of the self-employed sector i s on the r i s e (Belcourt et a l . , 1991; Ministry of Economic 5 Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991) and w i l l be growing over the next decade (Foster and Orser, 1993). The \"renaissance\" of self-employment i s i n many ways int e r e s t i n g and c a l l s f or a s o c i o l o g i c a l investigation and explanation. General Marxian theories foresaw the eventual demise of small businesses as they were swallowed up i n the competitive process by larger enterprises. For the greater part of t h i s century the small business sector has been i n decline, but the shrinkage was p a r t i c u l a r l y marked a f t e r the second world war. However i n the 1980's we see a r e v i v a l of t h i s sector and Post In d u s t r i a l and Post Fordist perspectives have concerned themselves with c a p i t a l i s t development highli g h t i n g forces that shape the growth of t h i s entrepreneurial sector. The former perspective predicted that technological advancements would boost the small business sector because new technologies open p o s s i b i l i t i e s f or self-employment. Often knowledge rather than c a p i t a l was the c r u c i a l resource. I t i s t h i s t r a n s i t i o n that formed what B e l l (1973) c a l l e d the \"Post I n d u s t r i a l Society\" where knowledge i s an important commodity. The l a t t e r perspective focuses i t ' s explanation on the development of smaller and more f l e x i b l e labour forces. Propositions from the labour market segmentation theory and gender theory point to the barr i e r s women experience within the labour force and within the home. These b a r r i e r s help to explain why women i n such large numbers are turning to self-employment. 6 The high growth rate of women i n small business started my inte r e s t i n t h i s topic. My concern stems from the apparent contradiction i n the values underlying the demands of men and women within the home and business. Women i n the labour force are expected to be committed to t h e i r jobs while they are required to place family obligations i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s (Coser and Rokoff, 1970). These incompatible expectations f a l l on women i n t h e i r dual business and family roles (Coser and Rokoff, 1970). The fac t that men operate i n both environments and place work i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s , i s s o c i a l l y acceptable. Though i t i s generally recognized that women are often confronted with a dual r o l e of the home and career, most studies focus on women i n regular employment, as c l e r i c a l administrators, sales workers, as nurses and teachers. The consequences of t h i s have been reported i n studies on dual career earner f a m i l i e s ; being primarily responsible for the household and working outside the home can lead to r o l e overload, c o n f l i c t , stress and exhaustion for women (Meissner et a l . , 1975; Lennon et a l . , 1994; Glass, et a l . , 1992 and Hochschild, 1989). Luxton et a l . (1990) state that some women i n Canada are heavily burdened with care giving r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and are referred to as the \"sandwich generation\" because they care for children, and elders at the same time. Much of the Canadian research on self-employment examines the p r o f i l e s , f i n a n c i a l conditions of businesses and some 7 studies deal with the experiences of self-employed i n d i v i d u a l s . Some researchers argue that discrimination on the part of banks and lenders and lack of business experience are problems women often encounter (Li t t o n , 1987; H i s r i c h and Brush, 1986; Stevenson, 1984; Swift, 1988; Lavoie; 1984; Belcourt, et a l . , 1991). Researchers have used these factors to explain why women tend to operate smaller sole proprietorship type businesses compared to t h e i r male counterparts who run larger enterprises that are incorporated. The few studies on entrepreneurship that address family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s report that there are dilemmas i n managing business and household duties (Goffee and Scase, 1985; Belcourt et a l . , 1991; Towler, 1986; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991; Longstretch, et a l . , 1987; Stevenson, 1986, Stoner et a l . , 1990) but exactly what they are and how they influence the enterprise and the business owner has yet to be examined i n d e t a i l . More s t r u c t u r a l explanations which take into account current labour force trends and changing family patterns should be considered i n the analysis of the experiences of s e l f -employed in d i v i d u a l s . Also, larger questions should be raised about \"intangible s o c i e t a l b a r r i e r s \" (Brush, 1993:29) and family values when considering problems women encounter (Brush, 1993). More insight into the family/business interface needs to be examined, since the context i n which findings are often examined or explained i s outdated. The rapid growth i n self-employment, but es p e c i a l l y the 8 \"feminization\" of small business, could be said to prompt research on the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s of family and business because i t raises questions about how t h i s very demanding, time-consuming kind of work can be done by women who have family obligations. We know that women assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for household duties and that they experience work overload and stress from having to juggle family and work a c t i v i t i e s . Hence, one can assume that female entrepreneurs who assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the family and household would encounter d i f f e r e n t experiences i n juggling the two spheres. Since l i t t l e has been written on domestic arrangements of entrepreneurial middle class groups, focus on t h i s group of workers f i l l s an important gap i n the Canadian research and i s of s o c i a l and economic concern. For one, small businesses play a v i t a l r ole i n B.C.'s changing economy ( P r o f i t s : 1993:6). C o l l e c t i v e l y small businesses (including home-based ones) are an important economic enti t y and are not marginal forms of economic a c t i v i t y (Foster and Orser, 1993). In fac t they have been f u e l l i n g economic growth i n Canada and they account for 85% of the province's new jobs ( P r o f i t s : 1993:6). Therefore any potential b a r r i e r s to business success are of economic concern. Secondly, female owned businesses are of special i n t e r e s t since they make up almost f i f t y percent of the business population. They are also more l i k e l y to confront problems of re c o n c i l i n g t h e i r family and business l i v e s because women often perform most of the household tasks. These extra commitments can a f f e c t the growth of t h e i r 9 businesses and the well-being of t h e i r f a m i l i e s . For these reasons i t i s important to generate further insight into potential dilemmas entrepreneurs might face i n coordinating t h e i r business and family a c t i v i t i e s and whether gendered patterns emerge. This focus responds to recommendations proposed by other prominent researchers i n entrepreneurship: \"The scope of the women entrepreneurs' r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s for household tasks, general maintenance and repairs, c h i l d rearing, and decision making ( f i n a n c i a l , investment and other issues a f f e c t i n g the family) has yet to be studied i n d e t a i l \" (Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Therefore, the purpose of t h i s research i s to examine from a s o c i o l o g i c a l position and i n a Canadian context how male and female entrepreneurs, including those who are home-based, organize t h e i r domestic l i v e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y how they t r y to reconcile the demands of both business and family. Since many women choose home-based businesses to accommodate family needs, i t seems reasonable to also investigate t h i s important sub-group of the small business sector. The following questions are addressed i n t h i s study: 1) How do self-employed men and women organize business and family? 2) What are the outcomes of coordinating business and family? 3) Are self-employed indiv i d u a l s s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r domestic arrangements? 4) How do self-employed persons cope with t h e i r present s i t u a t i o n of managing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? There i s need for a s o c i o l o g i c a l perspective which considers recent labour market trends and the family i n i t s 10 analysis of self-employed women. This perspective i s of paramount importance since much of the data on entrepreneurs to date are analyzed only from an economic perspective. Forces Behind Self-Employment Many theoris t s have concerned themselves with the changes i n the workforce. The intention of t h i s section i s to b r i e f l y present propositions about c a p i t a l i s t development that provide insight into factors influencing the growth of the s e l f -employment sector. Brief overviews of the Monopoly C a p i t a l i s t , Post Fordist, Post Industrial perspectives are presented. Perspectives on Women's Labour Market Segmentation help to explain the increased a c t i v i t y among female entrepreneurship. However, t h e o r e t i c a l viewpoints regarding gender ideology and women's domestic labour are the main t h e o r e t i c a l tools that thread through the thesis to explain how self-employed men and women coordinate business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . These perspectives are chosen since the experiences of self-employed women cannot be adequately examined without taking the family into account. Why i s self-employment on the r i s e ? In Canada as i n many other i n d u s t r i a l countries, we are witnessing the impact of economic restructuring, the downsizing of many sectors i n the corporate and public sector and high unemployment (Orser and James, 1992). Some of the increase i s a d i r e c t consequence of the destruction of jobs i n the older industries. However, i n other cases i t i s generated by the emergence of new technologies 11 connected with the major transformation of western and world economies. More and more production a c t i v i t y i n the i n d u s t r i a l i z e d world i s organized around a new c l u s t e r of industries related to computers, information, communication and genetics. The transformation of the i n d u s t r i a l base and the growth of very large service sectors i n modern economies have been interpreted i n many ways. There are several general perspectives, and t h e o r e t i c a l approaches used to analyze the causes and consequences of the re-structuring that has occurred. Theories of modernization have been \"replaced\" by Post Industrial and Post Fordist claims (Arai, 1995) which seem to o f f e r the most persuasive arguments. The main arguments i n theories of Monopoly Capitalism focus on the concentration and c e n t r a l i z a t i o n of Capital i n large firms (cf. A r a i , 1995). Large companies overpower the p e t i t e bourgeoisie who operate i n the peripheral sectors of society. According to t h e i r claims, small businesses would not survive because of t h e i r i n a b i l i t y to compete with larger enterprises. This perspective foresaw the eventual demise of small enterprises. U n t i l 1970, i t was reported that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t decrease among the self-employed sector (Steinmetz and Wright, 1989). Research began to recognize t h i s group i n the beginning of the 1970's (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1974). The formation of new professional associations, s p e c i a l i z e d trade journals, research and new forms of educational programs suggest 12 an emerging in t e r e s t i n the increase i n entrepreneurship. Also, more recently women are recognized as an active group i n t h i s sector (Winter, 1980; Stevenson, 1986; Lavoie, 1988; Belcourt, et a l . ; 1991; H i s r i c h et a l . , 1986 and Goffee and Scase, 1985). These findings do not lend support to the claims that small businesses would eventually disappear, i n fact the converse i s happening rendering the perspective of Monopoly Capitalism inadequate. Instead, one could argue that the trends suggesting an increase i n self-employment support the Post I n d u s t r i a l and Post Fordist perspectives which predicted the growth i n t h i s sector. Other observers have continued to examine the changes i n i n d u s t r i a l c a p i t a l i s t s o c i e t i e s , and have l a b e l l e d current trends \"Post I n d u s t r i a l society\". Most representative of t h i s group i s Daniel B e l l (1973) who recognized the s h i f t i n the U.S. occupational structure. The emergent sectors of Post I n d u s t r i a l i s t society are the service sectors which lean towards decentralization and f l e x i b i l i t y . B e l l (1973) argued that post-i n d u s t r i a l society could come to involve more production and the dissemination of knowledge. Power would no longer reside i n ownership of property but access to knowledge would be the key. Another proponent of t h i s perspective i s John Naisbett (1982). He includes diverse occupational groups such as secretaries, data entry clerks into h i s category of information workers, concluding that now the information sector constitutes the majority of the workforce. \"The new source of power i s not i n 13 money in the hands of a few, but information i s i n the hands of many\" (cf. Krahn and Lowe, 1988:33). Naisbett suggests that technology empowers the i n d i v i d u a l so that small firms can compete i n arenas previously dominated by large ones (cf. Foster and Orser, 1993). The discussion of p o s t - i n d u s t r i a l society has moved the analysis forward drawing our attention to the growth of the service sector and to the r e s u l t i n g changes i n occupational opportunities (Krahn and Lowe, 1988). Among these opportunities i s the small business sector. The census data show that there i s an increase i n the service sector for Canada. The Canadian economy i s moving toward a greater emphasis on services where 70% of Canadians are currently working i n the service sectors. By the year 2000 i t i s predicted that t h i s w i l l increase to 75 percent of the labour force (Foster and Orser, 1993). Small businesses are well-equipped to access and transmit information and t h i s allows them to exploit these market niches (Arai, 1995). Another group, the Post Fordists, have concerned themselves with processes of \"economic restructuring\" to best interpret s o c i e t a l changes (Burrow, G i l b e r t , P o l l e r t , 1992). The concept of Post Fordism can best describe the global restructuring under way i n our society (Bonefeld and Holloway, 1990). The term Fordism ref e r s to the c a p i t a l i s t formations which occurred from the 1930's to the 1950's (Harvey, 1989). Fordism was characterized by mass production based on the assembly l i n e p r i n c i p l e adopted successfully by Henry Ford, by r i s i n g wages, 14 which provided a basis for a new r e l a t i o n s h i p between \"mass consumption\" and \"mass production\", and by a set of supportive i n s t i t u t i o n s - the welfare state (Harvey, 1989). I t has been assumed that the process of restructuring we have been experiencing i n recent years has led to the emergence of \"Post-Fordism,\" which involves a new pattern of C a p i t a l i s t s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s (Burrow et a l . , 1992). \"Post-Fordism\" i s said to be characterized by new methods of production based on micro-e l e c t r o n i c s , small batch niche products, j u s t - i n time systems of production, by f l e x i b l e working practices and a new r e l a t i o n between production and consumption (Bonefeld and Holloway, 1990). This increased restructuring has led to a demand for a new \" f l e x i b l e worker\", able and w i l l i n g to perform a va r i e t y of tasks, and more broadly for a \" f l e x i b l e workforce\" -one that can be expanded and contracted rapi d l y (Burrow, et a l . , 1992:2). Under these conditions firms have to be f l e x i b l e enough to meet the r a p i d l y changing marketplace, since the new global market i s characterized by standards of variety, customization and q u a l i t y (Foster and Orser, 1993). Small businesses can respond quickly to market needs and produce and design innovative products by t h e i r f l e x i b l e capacities to meet quick changing market demands, without layers of bureaucracy. This f l e x i b i l i t y allows small businesses to e x p l o i t the market niches. Also information and computer technology have made small enterprises more vi a b l e . However, a Post Fordist society as a c a p i t a l i s t society has been associated with inequality. Globalization has increased the 15 number of competitors and that has influenced price, q u a l i t y and service standards which have to meet the c r i t e r i a of the international market. With increasing competition, employers have taken advantage of the pools of surplus labour (unemployed) to push f o r more f l e x i b l e work practices (Harvey, 1989). These practices occurring within the context of weakening unions involve a move away from regular employment towards increasing reliance upon part-time, temporary or sub-contracted work arrangements. Bonefeld and Holloway (1990) characterize the in d i v i d u a l worker as non- unionized, having a low income, few benefits and l i t t l e job security. In t h i s Post Fordist era, large numbers of low paying, u n s k i l l e d jobs are created primarily i n the service sector, jobs which are strongly routinized, and are insecure because workers are subject to increased lay o f f s as they become replaced by new technologies. Inevitably, male and female workers are effected by these changes. These transformations c l e a r l y i l l u s t r a t e how the changing structures of capitalism under Post Fordism have influenced the working conditions of both male and female workers and growth i n the small business sector. Unlike the perspective of Monopoly Capitalism, the changes for Post Fordists seem to be i n the d i r e c t i o n of increased f l e x i b i l i t y and decentralization (Arai, 1995). Overall we see that the s t r u c t u r a l changes i n the economy and i n labour markets, (the loss of opportunities for wage employment, the demand for f l e x i b i l i t y , and a s h i f t from access 16 to raw material to information) are a l l factors that shape the growth of self-employment according to the Post I n d u s t r i a l i s t and Post Fordist perspectives. How are women affected by the growth of t h i s new \"Post Fordist\" and heavily service oriented economy, e s p e c i a l l y i n a modern economy that i s s p l i t into core and periphery? Some writers l i k e Armstrong, (1984) suggest that women within an increasingly \" f l e x i b l e \" labour market are badly affected by these changes where they f i n d themselves operating i n peripheral sectors of the labour force. H i s r i c h argues that the Post Fordist workplace i s characterized by \"new hierarchies among wage earners\" (cf. Ar a i , 1995). No doubt, i f women are concentrated i n the peripheral sector of the economy, they would be on the lower end of the scale i n the l e v e l of renumeration they receive. These i n e q u a l i t i e s stem primarily from i n j u s t i c e s based on gender which are rooted i n the unequal r e l a t i o n s within the pubic and private spheres of economic and s o c i a l l i f e , which are at the core of Capitalism. Women's conditions within the labour force are examined below and should o f f e r further i n s i g h t into why women i n p a r t i c u l a r are increasing t h e i r a c t i v i t y i n self-employment. Sex-Segregation i n the Canadian Labour Force Since World War I I , women have increased t h e i r labour force p a r t i c i p a t i o n by at least one t h i r d (Malveaux, 1990). As women's status i n the global market has increased, the Canadian government ( l i k e others) has passed laws which address the 17 access of women to employment opportunities and improved wages (equal opportunity l e g i s l a t i o n ) . Increased access to education among women has provided more resources for women to compete for jobs i n the ex i s t i n g market. Walby, (1989:138) suggested that the \"erosion of some forms of p a t r i a r c h i c a l practices i n paid work\" has given women a d i f f e r e n t place i n the restructuring labour market. However, despite these changes, gaps between male and female working conditions s t i l l e x i s t today. Several writers have assumed a d i v i s i o n between core and peripheral sectors i n the labour market (Barron and Norris, 1976) and a tendency for core workers to be equated with male workers and peripheral with female workers (Walby, 1989). A disproportionate number of women are found i n lower-paying i n d u s t r i a l sectors and are earning less than 68% of what men earn ( S t a t i s t i c s Canada, 1991). On examining women's employment in Canada, the most s t r i k i n g trend s t i l l i s that of occupational segregation. Occupational and i n d u s t r i a l segregation by sex means that women are confined to a narrow range of occupations (Walby, 1989). There are over f i f t y percent of Canadian women who are concentrated i n the service sector whereas men are spread more evenly between various sectors ( S t a t i s t i c s Canada, 1991). In Canada, as i n other countries, there has been a marked increase of part-time female workers. In 1988, 30% of women i n B.C. worked part-time which i s up from 25% since 1975. In 1988, 9% of part-time workers were male. In Canada, 70% of female part-time women workers were i n service sector jobs (Alfred, 18 1989). Part-time women workers f i t the model of peripheral workers since they have minimal righ t s to permanent employment and do not have the same prospects as men, receiving few or no benefits and are poorly paid with l i t t l e job se c u r i t y (Walby, 1989). However, a case challenging a \"core-periphery dualism\" can also be made esp e c i a l l y i n c l e r i c a l work (Walby, 1989:133). There i s much controversy as to the place of c l e r i c a l work i n the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n system. Some service sector work, stable secure positions and the requirement of technical s k i l l s , can be associated with primary jobs and should therefore be considered as part of the core (Walby, 1989). On the other hand, there are those jobs that are i n the periphery as mentioned above where men can also be employed. Also there has been a marked increase i n post-secondary education enrollments of women which allows them to be represented i n various professions ( S t a t i s t i c s Canada, 1991). Hence, the analysis of core and periphery i s not s a t i s f a c t o r y because not a l l women's jobs are peripheral nor are a l l males jobs i n the core. Since we are experiencing many new types of jobs that require disparate s k i l l s , core and peripheral d i s t i n c t i o n s do not capture the complexities of jobs and the sectors to which they belong. We see that many women were confined to the \"ghettoized job\" conditions (part-time work, segregation, low wages). Hence, for some women self-employment may be a means of escaping poor working conditions and li m i t e d promotion prospects (Goffee and Scase, 1983) which perspectives on the segmentation of the 19 labour market suggest. For others, turning to self-employment i s one means of overcoming the problem of juggling t h e i r dual roles of mother and worker woman. Another reason for the growth i n female entrepreneurship i s that i t provides a way back into gainful work af t e r a period staying home to care for children i f t h e i r s k i l l s have become somewhat outdated. No doubt i f the competition for paid work i s more f i e r c e s t a r t i n g a small business i s an appealing option. Technologies i n the form of the microcomputer, fax machines and modems are making small business more viable for women with c h i l d rearing obligations (Orser and James, 1992). For some women the structure of the labour market i s changing too slowly to accommodate the needs of working women with children, adequate day-care, and greater exemption of tax from day-care. Hence, for these women, establishing a home-based business can minimize the adverse e f f e c t s of career interruptions and of r a i s i n g a family (Aronson, 1991). Perspectives on woman's work conditions demonstrate that women's inequality within the labour market with respect to job segmentation and lower wages ex i s t s . One explanation i s wage discrimination, where women earn less than men f o r the same work. A second explanation derives from the segregated structures of the labour market which r e s u l t s i n lower female wages (Krahn and Lowe, 1988). The dual approach linked women's t r a d i t i o n a l role i n the home to t h e i r role i n the workplace. The assumption here i s that women tend to choose part-time 20 employment i n order to balance the two roles they occupy. In the Post Fordist era we see how the notion of f l e x i b i l i t y as a method of production also exists i n the form of labour f l e x i b i l i t y . These conditions have manifested themselves i n the form of increased automation r e s u l t i n g i n replacement of work and s h i f t s into part-time employment e s p e c i a l l y among those i n peripheral sectors. To escape these conditions, women opt for self-employment. The growth i n service a c t i v i t y , greater technological innovation and information are more accessible to small businesses allowing them to c a p i t a l i z e on these emerging industries (Orser, and James, 1992). These technologies are making small business more viable for women with c h i l d rearing obligations. Some would argue that self-employment could be a means to overcome gender inequality within the workplace, greater job mobility and higher earnings (Goffee and Scase, 1985). Theoretical Framework: Division of Labour within the Household The changes within the structure of the family have also propelled women into self-employment. The s o c i o l o g i c a l change i n the structure of the family unit can be attributed i n part to the increase i n women entering the workforce and i n establishing t h e i r own ventures. In the l a s t three decades, the structure of women's l i v e s has been reformulated. Paid employment now increasingly dominates women's l i v e s as i t does men's. Women's increased p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the workplace has led to a greater number of dual-earner families (Alfred, 1989) and the working 21 father and stay-at-home mother i s becoming less common (Duffy, Mandell, Pupo, 1989). High l e v e l s of unemployment amongst men and women, labour market uncertainty, and the steady erosion of wages have forced more families to i n t e n s i f y t h e i r wage-earnings by means of wives seeking paid employment (Duffy et a l . , 1989). The economic, s o c i a l and demographic changes i n recent decades have upset the once established pattern of work and family (U.S. Bureau of National A f f a i r s on Work and Family, 1986:31). However, the t r a d i t i o n a l ideology which prescribes that a cer t a i n core of domestic labour i s woman's work and that \"the d e f i n i t i o n of housework i s women's work\" (Ferree, 1991:162) has not changed. These prescriptions i n e v i t a b l y constrain women's p o s s i b i l i t i e s both within the home and at work as they must now juggle paid work and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Trying to f u l f i l family and work obligations can often lead to c o n f l i c t i n g roles and work overload (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Although the change i n the a l l o c a t i o n of unpaid labour by gender between the late 1960's and 1970's was small, many notable trends emerged (Ferree, 1991). According to Pleck (1985) women reduced the time given to housework, those who were employed reduced i t even more, and husbands increased t h e i r time i n c h i l d care but not i n housework. Luxton et a l . (1990) explored the impact of woman's paid employment a c t i v i t y on the domestic d i v i s i o n of labour and found that husbands of working women did not s i g n i f i c a n t l y increase i n t h e i r involvement i n domestic labour. Explanations as to why women take on the additional \"load\" 22 of unpaid work assigned to them by gender vary (Ferree, 1991:158). According to resource theory, the key issue i n div i d i n g household labour i s the r e l a t i v e power of each spouse with respect to t h e i r external resources (Blood and Wolfe, 1960). These resources can take the form of education and income and can act as a bargaining t o o l i n the sharing of household labour. Although recognizing that husbands and wives vary i n power, such theories view resource-based power as operating i n e s s e n t i a l l y gender-neutral ways (cf. Berk, 1985). Feminist research on men's p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n housework has found that time demands are more important, but resources do make some difference (Coverman and Sheley, 1986). Conclusions for \"who does what\" are summed up by Thompson and Walker (1989:856) \"There i s no simple trade-off of wage and family work hours between husbands and wives, nor do partners a l l o c a t e family work based on time a v a i l a b i l i t y \" (cf. Ferree, 1991:160). This approach received c r i t i c i s m because t h e o r e t i c a l l y , the resource model should be more sensi t i v e to v a r i a t i o n i n women's experience within the labour force (cf. Ferree, 1991). As Ferree (1991:160) c i t e s from Blumenberg and Coleman (1989) \"gender disadvantage i n the wider society i s transmitted into the inte r n a l power structure of the in d i v i d u a l household.\" According to perspectives of gender theory, the symbolic and s t r u c t u r a l association of housework as woman's work i s treated as a s o c i a l f a c t (Ferree, 1990). \"Understanding the a l l o c a t i o n of housework as part of the s o c i a l d e f i n i t i o n of womanhood explains why women's paid 23 employment does not excuse women from t h i s s o c i a l demand\" (cf. Ferree, 1991:160). Women who i n t e r n a l i z e t r a d i t i o n a l norms measure t h e i r own achievements based on f u l f i l l i n g these roles which r e f l e c t s c r e d i b i l i t y on them as women and wives (Berk, 1985) and j u s t i f i e s performing t h i s \"unpaid labour.\" Some writers claim that many working women s t i l l take on the t r a d i t i o n a l role within the home to deal with g u i l t that they are not doing enough for t h e i r families (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Timson, 1993). The i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n of t r a d i t i o n a l norms for men and women within the household has served to explain the unequal d i v i s i o n of labour within the home and i s one way i n which our society creates gender (Hartmann, 1981). However, i t i s important to recognize that the modern female gender role i s changing. This i s r e f l e c t e d i n major s o c i e t a l changes such as escalating divorce rates and families headed by single mothers. These patterns suggest that many women are attempting to negotiate these new contradictory r o l e requirements within the home (Duffy, et a l . , 1989). Men are also affected by these changes and are faced with obligations that extend beyond f i n a n c i a l support to include parenting the children, housework and supporting the marriage. But despite these changes, women continue to juggle the c o n f l i c t i n g demands of family and work. Wives' own expectations of themselves and those of t h e i r husbands i n performing less housework explains why the changes i n the gender d i v i s i o n of housework of employed wives has occurred where women are reducing t h e i r own hours of 24 housework (Pleck, 1985). Tr a d i t i o n a l expectations of men and women within the home based on gender, as well as the resources they have, together w i l l be useful i n explaining how self-employed men and women i n t h i s study organize t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and the outcomes t h i s may have on t h e i r l i v e s . S o c i a l Context It i s important to situate the study of self-employed men and women i n the context of t h e i r position i n Canadian society as a whole. Women confront a range of problems i n society where ideology j u s t i f i e s t h e i r roles within the home and paying women les s . When they are business women they face problems as well (Belcourt, et a l . , 1991). One of the dilemmas woman encounter i s that i n the business world they operate i n a male dominated sphere and therefore have to prove that they are viable business indivi d u a l s (Goffee and Scase, 1985; Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Secondly, women have been sources of unpaid labour i n a s s i s t i n g t h e i r husbands i n t h e i r businesses (Goffee and Scase, 1985). Thirdly, they are affected s o c i a l l y because of c u l t u r a l prescriptions that they be primarily responsible for c h i l d rearing and housework. Consequently they are less able to leave t h e i r homes to pa r t i c i p a t e i n organizations of established networks (Belcourt et a l . , 1991) and therefore may not have a well established network of trading and business relationships which are considered to be important resources for generating c l i e n t s . On the same note studies reveal that women are often 25 stereotyped as incapable business women (Belcourt et a l . , 1991), and are therefore not taken seriously i n the business world. Those women who choose to work outside t h i s male-defined work model are also not counted as serious business people (Campbell, 1994:8). This stereotype creates s t r u c t u r a l b a r r i e r s for women in accessing loans and i n dealing with suppliers (Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Another obstacle women face i s the lack of experience i n the business world (Schwartz, 1976; Stevenson, 1984; Winter, 1980). This makes women more vulnerable because they are limited i n the type of businesses they can est a b l i s h and are less aware of available market opportunities. These obstacles make operating a business more d i f f i c u l t for women. For female entrepreneurs to be accepted i n the world of business one would assume that they need more time, since they must work harder i n t h e i r enterprises to prove t h e i r s k i l l s as business owners to receive equal access to business opportunities. If the mainstream culture dictates that women should take on the primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for the household as well as for child-care then coordinating these r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s with those of business requires considerable time. These stereotyped expectations of women's roles within the household and business world can be conceived as ba r r i e r s f o r s e l f -employed women since they are faced with the two burdens of tr y i n g to prove v i a b i l i t y as business owner and as parent. These constraints present themselves for some women at the outset of establishing t h e i r businesses. For these reasons, any experience 2 6 of a self-employed male or female cannot be understood separately from his or her s o c i a l experience within the context of the labour market and within the family. De f i n i t i o n s I t i s important to c l a r i f y c e r t a i n terms employed throughout t h i s t h e s i s . Defining a Small Business Owner: Selection of the appropriate basis for defining and understanding a small business owner creates a challenging problem for academic researchers. Some focus on the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the business i n terms of i t s si z e based on the number of employees (Cunningham et a l , 1991). Yet others r e f e r to the a c t i v i t i e s of the p e t i t e bourgeoisie and concern themselves with t h e i r p osition within the economy (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981). Self-employed: The t i t l e s such as the self-employed, small business owner, entrepreneur, owner manager, p e t i t e bourgeoisie are used interchangeably throughout the t h e s i s . For the purpose of t h i s study, the d e f i n i t i o n of the self-employed i s based on the one established by Lavoie (1984) \"the head of a business who has taken the i n i t i a t i v e of launching a new venture, who operates from within or outside the home, who i s accepting the associated r i s k s and i s i n charge of i t s day to day management (Lavoie, 1984). 27 Small business: Firms are t y p i c a l l y c l a s s i f i e d as small on the basis of number of employees or annual sales (Gallant, 1990). In Canada, a business with sales under $2 m i l l i o n per year and less than 100 employees i n the manufacturing sector and 50 employees i n other sectors i s considered a small business (Gallant, 1990). Women-owned businesses report earnings around one-third less than male-owned businesses (White, 1984; Belcourt, 1991). Entrepreneur; I t i s important to understand how the ro l e of the entrepreneur i s embedded i n the s o c i a l world of work. The term entrepreneur originates from the French verb \"entreprendre\" which means to undertake, to venture, to t r y (Gallant, 1990). According to Carland, Hoy and Carland, currently no single d e f i n i t i o n of entrepreneur has been uniformally accepted i n the l i t e r a t u r e (cf. Gallant, 1990). Entrepreneurship has meant many things to d i f f e r e n t people for the l a s t eight hundred years (cf. Gallant, 1990:20): \"the word entreprendre (with the connotation of doing something) was i n use as early as the twelfth century and in the course of the f i f t e e n t h century the corresponding noun entrepreneur developed.\" Entrepreneurs are characterized as persons who are f l e x i b l e problem solvers, empire builders, have ri s k - t a k i n g a b i l i t i e s and have managerial s k i l l s (Gallant, 1990). Some claim that s p e c i f i c values such as the need for achievement are necessary preconditions for entrepreneurship. This b e l i e f stems from the assumption that an in d i v i d u a l growing up i n a culture that rewards and encourages industriousness i s most l i k e l y to have a 28 high need to work hard and achieve something meaningful (Cunningham, et a l . , 1991). Max Weber concluded i n h i s c l a s s i c text on The Protestant Work Ethic and the Theory of Capitalism that some cultures achieve more than others because of the values of t h e i r people. In t h i s case, Protestant countries encourage the need for achievement. Much research has i d e n t i f i e d only men as entrepreneurs and \" l i t t l e attention has been given to female entrepreneurs\" (Schwartz, 1976). Also assumptions remain unchallenged that an entrepreneurial endeavour w i l l function for p r o f i t , w i l l be f u l l - t i m e and w i l l exhibit aggressive growth-orientation (Campbell, 1994). I t i s important to highlight that these values constitute a bias for work i n the paid economy and may exclude many entrepreneurial women who operate home-based businesses (Campbell, 1994) or under circumstances of r a i s i n g a family. P e t i t e Bourgeoisie: The d e f i n i t i o n s behind the a c t i v i t i e s of small business owners are varied. Marx's \"petite bourgeoisie\" was a small-scale c a p i t a l i s t who r e l i e d primarily on h i s or her own c a p i t a l and labour. The use of labour from an employee or family member i s conceived as an extension rather than an exp l o i t a t i o n of t h e i r labour i n order to earn a l i v i n g (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981). The a c t i v i t i e s of the p e t i t e bourgeoisie are not uncommon with the small business owners of t h i s study. They also have paid employees including family members who are hired to a s s i s t rather than replace t h e i r 29 labour, support which i s c r u c i a l f or sustaining the business. The hard work, long hours and heavy reliance on family input has been considered to be a form of s e l f - e x p l o i t a t i o n (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981) which entrepreneurs i n t h i s research often engage i n , rather than exploitation of proletarians. Gender; I t i s necessary to define the word gender, and to dis t i n g u i s h i t from the c l o s e l y related word sex. \"Sex can be viewed as the physiological differences between males and females and gender as the socio c u l t u r a l elaborations of these differences. Sex i s the b i o l o g i c a l dichotomy between females and males. Gender, on the other hand, i s what i s s o c i a l l y recognized as femininity and masculinity\" (Mackie, 1983:1). The c u l t u r a l norms and values of society at a p a r t i c u l a r point i n time, i d e n t i f y c e r t a i n ways of behaving, f e e l i n g , thinking as appropriate for males and other ways of behaving, f e e l i n g and thinking as appropriate for females. (Mackie, 1983). Housework: Includes the c l u s t e r of tasks that are involved with cleaning, maintaining, and repairing the home, with the purchase and preparation of food, with doing the laundry and with mending clothes (Rosenberg, 1990). Part of housework for the purpose of t h i s study also involves what as been termed as \"motherwork\" which i s : \"the c u l t u r a l l y organized set of tasks that are part of feeding, clothing, nurturing and s o c i a l i z i n g a c h i l d (or children) u n t i l he or she leaves the home and becomes s e l f -supporting\" (Rosenberg, 1990:60). C o n f l i c t : refers to a clash or tension between opposing elements r e s u l t i n g from coinciding time demands of both business and 30 family. These tensions can also be influenced by c o n f l i c t i n g norms and values (Katz, 1989). Dual-Role: The dual-role i s described as a s i t u a t i o n i n which tasks with the household and business compete for scarce resources. Here resources refers to time and energy which are required to some extent or another for the performance of either r o l e within the business or household (Moore, (1960). Thesis Overview This thesis focuses on several issues. Chapter One includes a statement of the problem, and a discussion of factors c o n t r i -buting to the growth of self-employment among men and women. Also, general assumptions about the d i v i s i o n of labour within the household provide a framework within which business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of entrepreneurs are analyzed and explained. This i s followed by d e f i n i t i o n s of terms used i n t h i s t h e s i s . Chapter Two contains a review of the pertinent l i t e r a -ture that deals with the p r o f i l e s of entrepreneurs and the expe-riences of self-employed men and women with a p a r t i c u l a r focus on t h e i r domestic arrangements. Chapter Three presents the research questions, design and methods. Findings and discussion are presented i n chapter Four, followed by a summary, directions f o r future research, l i m i t a t i o n s and conclusion i n chapter Five. 31 Chapter II Links to Lite r a t u r e Introduction Although there has been some increase i n research i n s e l f -employment i n the l a s t few years, work on women business owners i s i n i t s infancy. Many questions remain unanswered and we are l e f t with several gaps to be f i l l e d . Themes explored i n e x i s t i n g research on female entrepreneurs centre on motivations for business start-up, gender related b a r r i e r s during phase of ownership and p r o f i l e s of self-employed women. There i s some research on the experiences of self-employed women which focuses on motivations and b a r r i e r s . Although there are a few studies that examine the domestic arrangements of self-employed men and women, the treatment of research i n t h i s area has been very general, and has dealt with broad questions. From my review of the e x i s t i n g l i t e r a t u r e , no Canadian study has act u a l l y compared i n depth the domestic arrangements among self-employed men and women. This chapter w i l l provide a general overview of the main themes that emerge i n the l i t e r a t u r e on self-employed in d i v i d u a l s . An examination of the domestic arrangements, the experiences, b a r r i e r s and general p r o f i l e s of small business owners should help to uncover the vari e t y of domestic work arrangements that male and female entrepreneurs make. Methodology The research methods employed i n past studies are predominately surveys and interviews. The problem with studies 32 in t h i s area i s that they attempt to discover the world of women as business owners, but impose an already structured view of the world based on male centred ideas (Stevenson, 1990). Studies that deal with the experiences of self-employed persons tend to generalize findings based on male subjects to women (Brush, 1992). A lack of comparative research between self-employed men and women ex i s t s . There i s also need to explore the experiences of women against a control group of men that are drawn through the same sampling methods at the same time and employ i d e n t i c a l survey instruments. These issues are raised i n the l i t e r a t u r e review. Theoretical Frameworks and Feminist approaches to Entrepreneurship Most of the writing on the experiences of self-employed indivi d u a l s i s e s s e n t i a l l y descriptive and few studies are coming from c l e a r l y a r t i c u l a t e d t h e o r e t i c a l perspectives. According to Brush (1992) much research of women and small business does not r e l y on c l e a r l y defined theory of either women's experiences or entrepreneurship (Brush, 1992). Fischer e l a l . (1993) state that there i s a lack of integrative frameworks for understanding issues related to gender, sex and entrepreneurship. There i s much researcher bias i n the analysis of data. Stevenson (1990) states that there i s l i t t l e attempt at explanation of women's entrepreneurial experiences. She s p e c i f i c a l l y refers to Huisman and deRidde's (1984) study of small businesses i n twelve countries. These authors concluded 33 that women do not expand t h e i r businesses because they \"are esp e c i a l l y active i n smaller companies\" (cf. Stevenson, 1990:). Stevenson proposes an alt e r n a t i v e explanation that women have less access to c a p i t a l or t i e s to a home-based business and family which could have a s i g n i f i c a n t impact on women's a b i l i t y to expand t h e i r businesses. Where some t h e o r e t i c a l grounding i s provided, most of the research i n t h i s area has concentrated on in d i v i d u a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , using t r a i t approaches derived from psychology (cf. Barrett, 1994). Many of these studies have been derived from o r i g i n a l research conducted on male only samples of business owners. McCleland's (1961) concept of achievement motivation i s frequently used as an indicator of entrepreneurship aptitude, but was developed using only male samples. Social action and network theories from sociology have been used to account for ways i n which women s t a r t t h e i r businesses. However, these studies are flawed because of the tools they r e l y on such as invalidated instruments designed to investigate men and used on female entrepreneurs i n terms of ch a r a c t e r i s t i c s and entrepreneurial experiences. As Stevenson argues (1990:440 c i t i n g Ward and Grant, 1985) the s o c i o l o g i c a l account suffers from a series of male biases that pervade sociology as a d i s c i p l i n e : 1) omission and under representation of women as research subjects, 2) concentration on masculine dominated sectors of s o c i a l l i f e , 3) use of concepts and methods which portray men's 34 rather than women's experiences and 4) the use of men's l i f e s t y l e s as the norms against which s o c i a l phenomena are interpreted. According to Barrett (1994) these d e f i c i e n c i e s are now beginning to be redressed and s p e c i f i c strategies and the incl u s i o n of women i n research i s being proposed i n feminist writing on entrepreneurship. Fischer et a l . (1993) deal with feminist frameworks i n female entrepreneurship. Two frameworks employed i n t h i s study are L i b e r a l Feminism (LF) and Social Feminism (SF). The Li b e r a l Feminist perspective suggests that women are disadvantaged r e l a t i v e to men due to overt discrimination and factors that deprive them of v i t a l resources such as education and relevant experience which leads women to have less successful businesses. The aim of t h i s approach i s to i l l u s t r a t e that women can reach a state of s i m i l a r i t y with men i f systemic and s t r u c t u r a l forms of discrimination against women are removed. This perspective i s consistent with research that provides evidence that overt discrimination, such as lack of access to resources, impedes women's business a c t i v i t y (Belcourt, et a l . , 1991; Goffee and Scase, 1983; H i s r i c h and Brush, 1986; Stevenson, 1986). Kallenberg and Leicht (1991) found i n t h e i r study that the lack of business experience was associated with having smaller businesses. Social Feminism suggests that due to differences i n early and ongoing s o c i a l i z a t i o n women and men d i f f e r inherently. Women are t y p i c a l l y more group based and s o c i a l (relationship driven 35 i n t h e i r s o c i a l interactions) compared to t h e i r male counterparts. Though t h e i r approaches as entrepreneurs may d i f f e r , women are equally e f f e c t i v e when they are compared to men. Previous research comparing males and females along values and t r a i t s are consistent with a s o c i a l feminist perspective (cf. Fischer, 1990) as well as findings revealing that women d i f f e r from men i n t h e i r entrepreneurial motivation ((Ministry of Central S t a t i s t i c s Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Small Business Development, 1986; Stevenson, 1984; Winter, 1980). Research suggests that whatever male and female differences e x i s t they do not determine business performance (Fischer et a l . , 1993). Only one study (Kallenberg and Leicht, 1991) examined whether or not potential differences related to discrimination or s o c i a l i z a t i o n a f f e c t business performance. The findings from a large randomly selected group of entrepreneurs reveals that there were few differences i n education and i n the business motivations among the male and female entrepreneurs from the manufacturing, r e t a i l and service sectors. However, t h i s study found that women's lesser business experience could explain t h e i r smaller s i z e businesses and lower sales. However, Fischer et a l . (1993) c a l l into question whether the disadvantages found i n Kallenberg and Leicht's (1991) study are s u f f i c i e n t l y great to cause women to be less successful i n business. A random sample of manufacturing r e t a i l and service type firms was examined. They tested three hypothesis drawing on two 36 perspectives 1): L i b e r a l Feminism: women w i l l have less entrepreneurially relevant formal education than men and t h e i r firms w i l l therefore be less successful 2) L i b e r a l Feminism: Women w i l l have le s s entrepreneurially relevant experience than men and t h e i r firms w i l l therefore be less successful 3) Social Feminism: Women w i l l d i f f e r from men i n t h e i r entrepreneurial motivation, a t r a i t previously linked to entrepreneurial success. Kallenberg and Leicht (1991) found that women did have less experience than men i n managing employees and working i n sim i l a r firms. They also discovered that women d i f f e r e d from men in having greater f i n a n c i a l motivation. However they did not fi n d support for t h e i r claims of women having less access to relevant education. The authors claim that overt bias against women has been neglected and that more attention should be drawn to customer or supplier bias, or gender differences i n management s t y l e . However, there i s no reference to women's dual r o l e as a possible b a r r i e r to business success. The authors conclude that both the L i b e r a l Feminist and Social Feminist theories may not be substantiated by future research, because of the mixed support for the hypothesis. This approach received c r i t i c i s m from Barrett (1994) who argued that feminist theories have a broad function extending beyond being proven. Barrett (1994) postulates that these two perspectives are i n s u f f i c i e n t on t h e i r own to explain women's business performance. In Stevenson's (1990:440) a r t i c l e on t h e o r e t i c a l recommendations, she proposed that theories of female 37 entrepreneurship should take the form of \"a new d e f i n i t i o n of r e a l i t y : the r e a l i t y i n which women l i v e . \" However, Barrett (1994) refutes employing a \"separatist research strategy\" because by writing women into the models, e x i s t i n g male frameworks remain unchallenged and unchanged and are merely being replaced by female models. Brush (1992) terms her perspective on women's entrepreneurship as the \"integrated perspective\" which i s rooted i n psychological and s o c i o l o g i c a l theories which state that women are more re l a t i o n s h i p driven i n t h e i r s o c i a l interactions. Here women perceive t h e i r ventures as an interconnected system of relati o n s h i p s . The c r i t i c i s m of t h i s approach l i e s i n i t s \" r i s k of perpetuating a new best way\" of female entrepreneurship i n place of the male oriented \"one best way\" that dominated before (Barrett, 1994). Overall, upon reviewing the feminist and th e o r e t i c a l elements of ex i s t i n g research on entrepreneurship the assumptions used are often contradictory or t h e o r e t i c a l l y inadequate (Barrett, 1994). The problem l i e s i n a lack of integrative framework or s o c i o l o g i c a l explanation i n the research on small business for use i n explaining women's inequality. This i s also a function of, \"the r e l a t i v e newness of the f i e l d . However, i f we want to be e f f e c t i v e . . . i n the knowledge we generate, now i s the time to take a close look at previous research, synthesize the findings and u t i l i z e other scholar's contributions to women's developmental issues and lay a s o l i d foundation on which to base future investigation\" (Sekaran, 1990). 38 Other researchers i n the f i e l d of female entrepreneurship also recommend combining feminist perspectives and those of d i f f e r e n t d i s c i p l i n e s (Barrett, 1994). Motives behind self-employment Studies demonstrate that self-employed individuals e s t a b l i s h t h e i r own enterprises for a vari e t y of reasons and for some there i s l i t t l e choice (Goffee and Scase, 1985). Some writers conclude that female motivations for s t a r t i n g a business are s i m i l a r to those of men and are i d e n t i f i e d as: the desire to be independent (also includes f l e x i b l e hours) and the need to achieve (Fraboni and Saltstone, 1990; Schwartz, 1976:47; Stevenson, 1984). Fraboni and Saltstone (1990) found that need for accomplishment, independence and a b i l i t y to choose ones l i f e s t y l e are valued more by both male and female entrepreneurs than monetary gain which contradicted the findings of an e a r l i e r study by Schwartz (1976). Some studies on female entrepreneurs reveal that motivational factors for becoming self-employed can be gender related and linked to the economic inequality women experience i n the labour force (Ministry of Central S t a t i s t i c s Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Small Business Development, 1986; Stevenson, 1984; Winter, 1980) and for f i n a n c i a l independence (Lavoie, 1979; Collom, 1981; Stevenson, 1983). Some researchers discovered that women es t a b l i s h t h e i r own ventures to avoid the d i f f i c u l t tasks of climbing the corporate ladder (Stevenson, 1978; Winter, 1980). Others found that female entrepreneurs choose self-employment for more i n t r i n s i c reasons, for the challenge (Ministry of Central S t a t i s t i c s Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Small Business Development, 1986; Lavoie, 1979; Collom, 1981) and for increased s a t i s f a c t i o n (Ministry of Central S t a t i s t i c s Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Small Business Development, 1986). Depending on the ind i v i d u a l entrepreneur's stage i n the l i f e - cycle and whether or not they are parents, studies demonstrate that there are differences i n t h e i r motivations for self-employment; research suggests that women tend to est a b l i s h t h e i r businesses because i t i s more compatible with t h e i r demanding role i n c h i l d rearing because of greater f l e x i b i l i t y afforded by sett i n g ones own work hours (Scott, 1986; Roberts, 1994; Towler, 1986). This i s ra r e l y reported by male entrepreneurs. Business c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s Studies on Canadian and some American self-employed women found that they are represented predominantly i n service and r e t a i l based businesses (Small Business Secretariat, 1979; Cachon, 1989; Swift, 1988; Towler, 1987; Stevenson, 1983; Lavoie, 1979; Collom, 1981; Schwartz, 1976; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). Men on the other hand are concentrated i n a variety of sectors, primarily i n the manufacturing and building contractor industries ( S t a t i s t i c s Canada, 1991; Al f r e d , 1989; Swift, 1988). Swift (1988) found i n her study which compared 40 Canadian male and female entrepreneurs, that women were more heavily concentrated i n the service industry compared to men. Other studies demonstrated that women are i n a cross section of i n d u s t r i a l , commercial, service and manufacturing sectors (Winter, 1980; Stevenson, 1984). A possible reason for the high proportion of women concentrated i n either service or r e t a i l businesses, has been explained as such ventures requiring less c a p i t a l compared to those i n manufacturing (Towler, 1987). Other interpretations have been lack of relevant experience or s k i l l s , which often forces women into t r a d i t i o n a l l y female sectors (Cachon, 1989). Registration of Business There are d i f f e r e n t legal forms an organization can take. For the purpose of t h i s study the advantages and marked differences between the sole proprietorship and an incorporation are b r i e f l y described. Under a sole proprietorship, you are free to carry on business under any name. The law does not recognize the name of a proprietorship and the proprietor w i l l be named personally. The assets of a proprietorship belong to the in d i v i d u a l and not the business. Therefore creditors have a leg a l claim on both the investments i n the business and the personal assets of the owner. Owners are f u l l y l i a b l e for debts incurred while acting i n the course of the business (Incorporation and Business Guide for B.C., 1995). An incorporated organization i s a leg a l e n t i t y . Just l i k e 41 a r e a l person, i t has a separate existence. The assets and debts of a corporation belong to i t - n o t the shareholders. The advantages to incorporating are: 1) limi t e d l i a b i l i t y which means that your l i a b i l i t y as a shareholder i s limi t e d to the amount of money you owe the company 2) community recognition of an incorporated company which usually has more c r e d i b i l i t y with banks, creditors and customers, because the trouble and expense of incorporating indicates a long range plan for your business that i s then more l i k e l y to be taken seriously and 3) tax advantages. There can be substantial tax advantages to incorporating a business: tax reduction on business earnings (the f i r s t $200,00 of a l l net income from active business i s about 22%), expense deductions and s p l i t t i n g income among several other benefits (Incorporation and Business Guide for B.C., 1995). Canadian comparative studies on the type of businesses male and female entrepreneurs operate suggest that men are more l i k e l y to incorporate t h e i r businesses (Fraboni and Saltstone, 1990; Swift, 1988). Research on B.C. self-employed women reveal that they are more l i k e l y to be registered as sole proprietors i n the service industry (Central S t a t i s t i c s , 1986; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). One factor that might explain the preponderance of sole proprietorship among women i s the ease of set-up compared to incorporated firms where requirements are more stringent and have higher set up costs (Lavoie, 1988). If 42 women business owners seek to expand or incorporate t h e i r businesses possessing l i t t l e c a p i t a l can make i t d i f f i c u l t for them to meet the minimum business si z e and c o l l a t e r a l requirements imposed by most lenders. Also, since women are predominantly i n service oriented work, they are less l i k e l y to have fix e d assets that can serve as c o l l a t e r a l compared to manufacturing or other types of businesses (Bush et a l . , 1991). Since women finance t h e i r ventures through personal assets and savings (given the low wages they earned i n the past) i t i s not surprising that few have s u f f i c i e n t money to incorporate t h e i r businesses. Revenues The average earnings of self-employed women are well below those of men. A comparative s t a t i s t i c a l analysis found that male business owners i n Canada reported annual earnings some 66% higher than earnings found by women, which suggests that wage gaps also e x i s t i n entrepreneurship ( S t a t i s t i c s , Canada, 1986). It also suggests that the gap i s much larger i n t h i s area than i n the work force as a whole. Female-to-male earnings r a t i o i s 71.8 percent and the average annual earning of women i n 1992 i s $28,350, (Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 1994). Women-owned businesses report earnings around one-third less than male-owned businesses (White, 1984; Belcourt, 1991). On examining revenues generated among female entrepreneurs i n Canada, findings reveal that women's annual income i s often i n s u f f i c i e n t to incorporate t h e i r businesses. Belcourt et a l . 43 (1991) found i n t h e i r Canadian sample that 80% of female entrepreneurs earned less than $50,000 annually. These figures were also consistent with other Canadian studies (Stevenson, 1984; Swift, 1988; Ministry of Central S t a t i s t i c s Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Small Business Development, 1986). According to Stevenson (1984) factors that might account for the smaller revenues of female entrepreneurs are the type and structure of the enterprise. Other factors that can account for t h i s are owning smaller businesses, discrimination from lenders and differences i n education or work experience (Belcourt, 1991) . Home-Based Business On the one hand, home-based businesses are often characterized as t r a d i t i o n a l cottage industry types of enterprises which are also part of the so-called \"underground economy\" ( P r i e s n i t z , 1988). They have not been taken seriously (Towler, 1986) or suffer i n establishing c r e d i b i l i t y i n the business world (Good, and Levy, 1992). On the other hand, with the growth among self-employed women other researchers have i d e n t i f i e d that many entrepreneurial women run highly successful and v i s i b l e home-based businesses ( P r i e s n i t z , 1988) thus increasing t h e i r legitimacy. There has been increased i n t e r e s t i n the study of home-based business a c t i v i t y (Foster and Orser, 1993; Olson, 1989; Pr i e s n i t z , 1991 and Roberts, 1994). They tend to be under represented i n r e t a i l and wholesale and over represented i n the 44 service, transportation and communication sectors ( P r i e s n i t z , 1991; Orser, 1993). P r i e s n i t z (1988) studied the a c t i v i t y of 530 female Canadian home-based business owners by means of a questionnaire. The r e s u l t s showed that f o r t y - f i v e percent of the respondents chose to operate t h e i r businesses from home so they could be available for t h e i r f a m i l i e s . T h i r t y percent established t h e i r businesses to have a more f l e x i b l e work schedule, while 25 percent mentioned the low overhead, tax deductions and saving on tr a v e l time. Olson (1989) reports that self-employed men and women establ i s h home-based businesses for d i f f e r e n t reasons and i n di f f e r e n t ways. She suggests that more highly paid forms of home-based businesses are the preserve of professional males who have contacts p r i o r to leaving the job market. Costello, (1989) found that women est a b l i s h home-based businesses to resolve the c o n f l i c t i n g demands of business and household. Other problems commonly experienced by home-based business owners are i s o l a t i o n (Olson, 1989; Towler, 1986; Roberts, 1994) lack of opportunity for personal i n t e r a c t i o n with other people (Good and Levy, 1992), increased stress and longer hours as disadvantages of working from the home. Olson (1989) and Costello (1989) point to the potential of home-based work adding to c o n f l i c t s of combining home and work. Good and Levy (1992) concur with the above r e s u l t s , where the p r i n c i p l e drawback for home-based businesses relates to separating business l i f e from personal 45 l i f e . Advantages of home-based a c t i v i t y l i e s i n the freedom and f l e x i b i l i t y of scheduling, and saving on commuting time (Olson, 1989). Success factors f o r a P r o f i t a b l e Business Comparative research on the p r o f i t a b i l i t y of male and female business owners suggests that women have less p r o f i t a b l e ventures. Also factors related to f i n a n c i a l venture success are di f f e r e n t for males and females (Miskin and Rose, 1990). Miskin and Rose (1990) found i n t h e i r American study that females who started t h e i r businesses at the same time as males reported a lower l e v e l of p r o f i t a b i l i t y a f t e r a two year period. They discovered that factors related to venture success, affected the p r o f i t a b i l i t y of male and female entrepreneurs d i f f e r e n t l y . Previous experience or ownership, market f a m i l i a r i t y and support from family were not s i g n i f i c a n t l y related to venture p r o f i t a b i l i t y f or female respondents. However, these were s i g n i f i c a n t factors a f f e c t i n g p r o f i t a b i l i t y f or male entrepreneurs. Perceived support from friends instead of family and product development of the business were s i g n i f i c a n t factors influencing p r o f i t a b i l i t y f or women. These findings are explained i n terms of the s o c i a l issues that discriminate against the development of business s k i l l s and performance related self-confidence of females i n the workplace. The researchers also state that women have to spend more time being s o c i a l i z e d into work which may compete for t h e i r time more than t h e i r male counterparts and impinge upon t h e i r f i n a n c i a l 46 success. However, unlike t h i s study, some American and Canadian research on female entrepreneurs report that previous business experience and f i n a n c i a l s k i l l s (Candid et a l . , 1988; Stevenson, 1983) and l e v e l of education (Candid, et a l . , 1988), are important explanatory variables for the venture success of men and women. Barriers to Fina n c i a l Success Many small business owners f i n d d i f f i c u l t y i n obtaining c a p i t a l to s t a r t an enterprise and to sustain and develop i t i n i t s infancy, an issue which has been very well documented (Zimmer et a l . , 1987). Some recent writing suggests that women may face more problems than men when i t comes to dealing with banks because banks discriminate against women (Litt o n , 1987; Hi s r i c h and Brush, 1986; Schwartz, 1976; Stevenson, 1984; Swift, 1984; Lavoie, 1984/85). Belcourt et a l . (1991) found that half of t h e i r sample of female Canadian entrepreneurs perceived some degree of discrimination from lenders and suppliers. However, i t i s important to point out that many of these studies did not include a male control group. A l l small business owners face f i n a n c i a l problems, they are not unique to women. In a survey conducted for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Swift and Riding (1988) compared a matched sample of business owners who had applied to the banks for c r e d i t . They concluded that banks required at least 300 percent c o l l a t e r a l on li n e s of c r e d i t for women, while only one-quarter of the men were subject to such stringent requirements. However, Swift et 47 a l . (1988) also demonstrate that women-owned businesses tend to be younger and more heavily based i n the service sector than those of men, exhibiting d i f f e r e n t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s than male businesses. Therefore the differences between patterns of small business ownership between and men and women allow alternative explanations of what might at f i r s t appear to be gender bias (Swift and Riding, 1990). However, i t i s important not to loose sight of the findings mentioned e a r l i e r , which revealed that women tend to own smaller businesses i n the high-risk competitive r e t a i l and service sectors and are unincorporated. These business c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s are not favourable for obtaining business loans since there i s no r e a l estate, no heavy machinery nothing s o l i d that the bank can seize against a loan (Campbell, 1990) unlike t h e i r male counterparts who tend to have incorporated businesses i n manufacturing. Other b a r r i e r s are lack of business experience and handling money (Schwartz, 1976; Stevenson, 1984; Winter, 1980) and lack of management experience. Research shows that inept management as well as i n s u f f i c i e n t c a p i t a l are major causes for business f a i l u r e (Schwartz, 1976). Another obstacle i s c o n f l i c t between family and business (Goffee and Scase, 1985; Neider, 1987; Scott, 1986). Common bar r i e r s c i t e d i n the B.C. survey on female entrepreneurs was a lack of suitable child-care and time away from business a c t i v i t i e s . Recent national studies of women running home-based businesses i n Canada demonstrate that they are di s t r a c t e d by family and household tasks (Belcourt et a l . , 48 1991) and experience c o n f l i c t i n meeting family and business demands (Longstretch, et a l . , 1987). A d i f f e r e n t dilemma often encountered among self-employed women i s the lack of networks and contacts (Lavoie, 1984). However, i t i s important to emphasize that i n B r i t i s h Columbia there are several organizations open to small businesses, including women and a woman's business advocate, Kathleen Costello, who i s currently working with banking associations and other f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s to a s s i s t women business owners. Also several business conferences held throughout the province, for example, \"Business Success for Women\" sponsored by The Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, are available for women. Therefore the opportunities for networking are more available and open to women than they were i n the past. However, since women have l i t t l e time or the necessary resources many are prevented from taking advantage of these opportunities (Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Experiences of Self-Employed There are few i n depth q u a l i t a t i v e studies of the experiences of self-employed men and women. Few studies are of an ethnographic kind, and not many report i n d e t a i l the o v e r a l l experience of t r y i n g to run a small business. But there are some including Bertaux's (1981) work on French bakers and Bechhofer and E l l i o t t ' s (1981) study of small shopkeepers. However, few deal with the experiences of women (Stevenson, 1986; Belcourt et a l . , 1991 and Goffee and Scase, 1985). 49 Stevenson's (1984) study involved a comprehensive survey of the experiences of 1200 self-employed women who own small businesses i n the Maritime provinces. The primary motive for establishment of a business venture among these women was independence. Barriers unique to them as women were: being a woman business owner i n a world perceived by many to be a male domain; ba r r i e r s r e s u l t i n g from c o n f l i c t i n g roles of being wife/mother; f i n a n c i a l d i f f i c u l t i e s ; and fear of not being taken seriously as a business owner. The greatest needs among these women were i n developing business management s k i l l s . Over s i x t y percent f e l t that managing a business and the household simultaneously presented d i f f i c u l t i e s . The researcher claims that dual work r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the home and business presents c o n f l i c t for women which may not be as s a l i e n t for male business owners. Belcourt et a l . (1991) conducted a nationwide study of one hundred and ninety-three Canadian women on t h e i r struggles, challenges and achievements as entrepreneurs. The findings revealed that most of the women entrepreneurs are married with children working over 70 hours a week to meet t h e i r business, household and family needs. They bear most of the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for household maintenance, but share the task of r a i s i n g the children with t h e i r spouses. However, i t i s unclear whether the women valued these r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s or whether they could not afford to hir e extra help. Contrary to popular b e l i e f , researchers found that a high l e v e l of personal and professional 50 demands are compatible with high l e v e l s of s a t i s f a c t i o n and competence. They also found that i s o l a t i o n from support networks and i s o l a t i o n that stems from the \"exclusionary\" and \"discriminatory\" treatment i n the business world was a major problem (Belcourt, 1990; Goleman, 1986). Belcourt et a l . (1991) describe t h i s seclusion as women working i n the \"glass box of i s o l a t i o n , \" where female entrepreneurs are surrounded by opportunities but do not have the time or necessary \"resources\" to grasp them. Although t h e i r study was one of the better representative Canadian survey studies to date on women entrepreneurs, t h e i r sample was selected from Dun and Brandstreet's l i s t of chief executive o f f i c e r s . This means that the survey represented larger businesses (in t h i s case, those that applied f o r c r e d i t approval and that had employees). So, valuable though these findings are, they s t i l l leave us with l i t t l e knowledge of the numerous r e a l l y small enterprises run by women. The small business sector has remained outside the exi s t i n g research community and c a l l s for research of a large randomly selected sample of small business owners, including home-based businesses. Goffee and Scase's (1985) study investigated the experiences, attitudes and l i f e - s t y l e s of f i f t y - f o u r female business owners i n the U.K. The findings revealed that women esta b l i s h t h e i r businesses for a vari e t y of reasons and the major ones were: independence, to generate a larger income, as a vehicle to express c r a f t s k i l l s without neglecting domestic 51 r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , and personal autonomy. The greatest gain derived from business ownership among the women was an increase i n personal s e l f - confidence and feelings of greater autonomy. Major problems unique to women were: c r e d i t discrimination and dependency on others for t h e i r s u r v i v a l and prosperity. They also found that several women experienced tension i n t h e i r business dealings because they were forced to exploit t h e i r female i d e n t i t y i n dealing with customers and suppliers. Although not reported as one of the major b a r r i e r s facing women, respondents f e l t that they encountered more c o n f l i c t between business and family than t h e i r male counterparts. In a previous study on the experiences of male entrepreneurs Scase and Goffee (1982) found that male entrepreneurs could not survive without the \"unpaid\" contribution of wives who are forced to be responsible for both the family and home. In t h i s study, females did not have comparable help from t h e i r husbands. They conclude that although women share s i m i l a r expectations and rewards to those of male entrepreneurs, women s t i l l face d i s t i n c t l y gender related problems. Economic inequality, marital status and domestic commitments are considered to be s i g n i f i c a n t factors influencing these experiences, e s p e c i a l l y i n the start-up phase (Goffee and Scase, 1985). Since Stevenson (1984) and Belcourt et a l ' s (1990) studies did not have male experiences to compare to those of women, i t i s d i f f i c u l t to discern to what extent they are unique to women. Of equal importance i s to also know whether there are 52 experiences unique to men. Goffee and Scase (1985) compared previous findings on the experiences of male entrepreneurs to those of females i n t h e i r present study, which allowed them to id e n t i f y some problems that were unique to women. However, there was no detailed description on the way domestic and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are organized for the individ u a l s involved, making i t d i f f i c u l t to i d e n t i f y what consequences t h i s had for t h e i r businesses. Goffee and Scase's (1985) study i s among the few that analyze the experiences of female entrepreneurs from a so c i o l o g i c a l perspective taking into account women's labour market experience as an explanation for choosing s e l f -employment. However, much global economic restructuring has occurred i n the labour market since the 1970's. The changing structures of Capitalism under Post-Fordism which involve changes i n the re l a t i o n s of production and under Post Industrialism the move towards a transformation of knowledge and the increase i n the service sector have a l l shaped the working conditions of modern society. How women have been affected by these changes needs to be addressed. The Dual Segmentation Theory which Goffee and Scase, (1985) employed i n t h e i r analysis has drawbacks i n inter p r e t i n g the economic inequality of women. This i s because the work d i s t r i b u t i o n of males and females i n the labour market i s too complex to be separated into either primary or secondary labour markets. There are several other factors beyond the discriminatory practices of employers that have to be considered i n explaining women's unequal workplace 53 conditions. Domestic obligations are prime among them. Domestic R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s There i s no detailed comprehensive account of the domestic arrangements of both male and female entrepreneurs. In a study of stress among small business people one might expect that there would be some focus on the tensions between business and family but the fa c t i s Fraboni and Saltstone (1990), whose study reported no s i g n i f i c a n t differences i n work stress, f a i l e d to consider the family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of ind i v i d u a l s . The stress assessment was based on work load, u t i l i z a t i o n of s k i l l s and role ambiguity, but not on the family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of the indi v i d u a l s . This might explain why the r e s u l t showed no s i g n i f i c a n t stress difference between males and females. The findings of Miskin and Rose (1990) revealed no difference i n the perceived support of the family of either male or female / entrepreneurs. However, the aspects of support that were measured i n that study were ambiguous and lacking important d e t a i l . Other researchers found that women experience d i f f i c u l t y i n juggling business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (Stevenson, 1984; Belcourt, 1990; Goffee and Scase, 1985; Cachon, 1989; Towler, 1987; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). The e f f e c t s on women are increased demands from t h e i r families f or time (Towler, 1987; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). Thus women f e e l more 54 pressure, as they are t r y i n g to cope with family and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . This condition i s referred to as the \"superwoman syndrome\" (Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). Some studies r e f l e c t t h i s s i t u a t i o n and show that working mothers get fewer hours of sleep and have less l e i s u r e time than t h e i r working husbands (Duffy et a l . , 1989; Belcourt, 1990; Stevenson, 1984; Goffee and Scase, 1985). Longstretch, et a l . (1987) examined time constraints on 114 self-employed women i n America, both f u l l - t i m e and part-time. The findings suggest that women who are self-employed spend much more time i n household work than t h e i r comparable male business owners. Women who run t h e i r own businesses f u l l - t i m e spend approximately 25 hours a week on household chores i n addition to t h e i r working hours. This study did not compare male business owners. Stoner et a l . (1990) focus s p e c i f i c a l l y on c o n f l i c t s encountered by female entrepreneurs r e l a t i n g to home and work. Their findings reveal that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t c o n f l i c t between home and work ro l e s . Work-home ro l e c o n f l i c t , fatigue, d i f f i c u l t y i n relaxing and schedule c o n f l i c t s are the four top ranked c o n f l i c t dimensions. Questions concerning whether \"work demands produced at-home i r r i t a b i l i t y \" and whether the business took up time they would prefer to spend with family produced no cle a r conclusion. The drawback with t h i s study i s the one sided view of the c o n f l i c t of coordinating business and family a c t i v i t i e s . Statements used to measure t h i s c o n f l i c t only dealt with business influencing the family. Questions on family influencing the business were not incorporated into the c o n f l i c t statements. Overall, the research on self-employed individuals c l e a r l y suggests that there i s a lack of research that examines the domestic arrangements of self-employed men and women. It i s known that i n recent years the number of Canadian households i n which both husband and wife contribute to family income has rise n s t e a d i l y (Falkenberg et a l . , 1990). This i s not surpr i s i n g when today many families require two pay cheques to maintain a minimal standard of l i v i n g . No doubt the need to examine the r e l a t i o n s h i p between work and family has i n t e n s i f i e d with the increasing growth i n the number of dual-earner families i n our society, not to mention the growth among self-employed women. The entry of women into the paid labour force and i t s impact on family l i f e i s important to examine, e s p e c i a l l y f or women who are mothers, because i t has greatly added to the amount of work that they are responsible for (Hessing, 1991). Often the family and the workplace have been characterized as \"greedy i n s t i t u t i o n s \" because of the commitment of time and energy that each demands (cf. Glass and Camarigg, 1992). The i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n of demands on working parents has been es p e c i a l l y acute for mothers since they are apt to re t a i n c h i l d rearing as t h e i r primary duty even while they work i n the labour market (Glass et a l . , 1992). Several studies have documented the gendered d i v i s i o n s of 56 household labour and reveal women's continued r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to perform most of the housework (Meissner et a l . , 1975). A study of the households i n Hamilton, Ontario suggests that when women are employed t h e i r husbands do a l i t t l e more housework than when women are f u l l - t i m e home makers but there s t i l l remains an unequal d i v i s i o n (cf. Luxton et a l . , 1990). A survey of 800 households (of a l l classes) showed that where women were f u l l -time housewives, husbands did between 7.5 to 8 hours of housework and when women were employed f u l l - t i m e husbands invested 9.5 hours per week (cf. Luxton, et a l . 1990). Pleck (1985) found that married women perform around two-thirds of the household chores such as cooking, cleaning and laundry. In a follow up study of one hundred working class households i n F l i n Flon, which i s a mining town i n northern Manitoba, Luxton (1990) examined women's work i n the home to discover whether or not changes had occurred since her previous study f i v e years before. She found that married women with paying jobs s t i l l performed more housework. However she did f i n d a change i n attitude i n the form of women exerting pressure on t h e i r husbands to take on more household r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . Overall we see that women who pa r t i c i p a t e i n the labour force s t i l l assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of household work. Lennon and Rosenfield (1994) examined the sources and consequences of employed wives' perceptions of fairness i n the d i v i s i o n of housework. Data used for the study derived from the National Survey of Families and Households conducted i n 1987-57 1988 by the centre for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin. Interviews from 13,017 households were conducted. In t h e i r analysis comparing the amount of housework done by women and men from dual-earner marriages, they found that employed men perform an average of 18.2 hours of housework per week. In contrast women report doing 33.2 hours of housework each week, almost twice as much as employed men. The re s u l t s are explained from a s o c i a l exchange viewpoint that women who have fewer alternatives to marriage than men and limi t e d economic resources are more prone to viewing t h e i r housework r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s as f a i r , while women with more opportunities and alternatives view the same type of household d i v i s i o n as unfair. Upon recognizing from e x i s t i n g studies that women i n fac t are occupying a \"dual r o l e \" i n performing most of the housework compared to t h e i r male counterparts, i t i s important to focus on the dual role and what i t s i g n i f i e s . The dual r o l e i s useful to understand women's role i n the workplace because i t demonstrates the l i n k between women's t r a d i t i o n a l roles within the family and t h e i r labour market po s i t i o n . Several perspectives reviewed so far on entrepreneurship do not take into account women's domestic r o l e as a factor a f f e c t i n g t h e i r p osition i n the labour force. Coser and Rokoff (1971) affir m that women are expected to place family obligations ahead of career demands which account i n large part for women's low representations i n academic positions. This i s explained from the perspective that high 58 status positions require serious commitments. Since women are not \"expected to be committed to t h e i r work because t h i s would cause disruption i n the family system they choose positions where they do not have to be too committed and jobs where they are e a s i l y replaceable\" (Coser and Rokoff, 1971: 543). Thus the concentration of women i n low paying jobs or part-time positions are explained as a matter of choice on the part of women t r y i n g to balance out t h e i r dual r o l e s . There are two approaches that can be distinguished i n the study of the dual roles working mothers carry. F i r s t the \"role expansion\" model by Marks (1977) which views the dual s i t u a t i o n more p o s i t i v e l y . Here the dual role i s seen as enriching the indi v i d u a l with additional resources which helps the dual role occupant to improve her performance and to reduce s t r a i n (Katz, 1989). On the other hand, the rol e s t r a i n approach maintains that the two roles (work and family) compete for scarce resources. This approach was developed by Gad (1960) Moore (1960) and Slater (1963). Here the dual role i s described as a si t u a t i o n with which several tasks compete for scarce resources. Strain i s generated which expresses i t s e l f i n a reduction both q u a l i t a t i v e l y and quan t i t a t i v e l y on the roles outputs. This approach predicts negative consequences that manifest themselves i n physical and emotional fatigue, p o s s i b i l i t y of withdrawing from the dual role by either q u i t t i n g work or tr a n s f e r r i n g to part-time work (Katz, 1989) or for that matter self-employment. Several problems have been i d e n t i f i e d for women i n these 59 situations (Falkenberg, 1990). Having a double load influences o v e r a l l s a t i s f a c t i o n (Lennon et a l . , 1994), psychological (Katz, 1989) physical stress (Coser and Rokoff, 1971) and work overload and c o n f l i c t (Meissner et a l . , 1975). Hochschild (1989) found that wives expend more e f f o r t and time i n paid and unpaid work and less i n l e i s u r e time compared to husbands. They r e f e r to t h i s s i t u a t i o n as the \"second s h i f t \" . According to Holahan and Gi l b e r t (1976) the time commitment required by the work role leaves women with inadequate time for household and child-care a c t i v i t i e s (cf. Falkenberg, 1990). Negative e f f e c t s r e s u l t i n g from the dual role were reported i n Glass et a l . ' s (1992) study. They used data from the 1977 Quality of Employment survey (QES) containing 537 women and 944 men. In t h e i r analysis they also assessed gender i n t e r a c t i o n with family status and employment conditions i n t h e i r determinants of job-family c o n f l i c t . Findings revealed that three interactions were marginally s i g n i f i c a n t : mothers of small children, mothers i n larger firms and married mothers report greater job-family c o n f l i c t than fathers i n s i m i l a r circumstances. The authors explain these findings i n terms of domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and child-care being c u l t u r a l l y assigned to mothers and that job-family c o n f l i c t are acute to women. The findings c l e a r l y demonstrate the negative consequences that r e s u l t from meeting the demands of family and paid work. Whether work and family tension w i l l be less or more acute for small business owners i s d i f f i c u l t to say at t h i s point 60 since there i s very l i t t l e in-depth research that has been conducted i n t h i s area. However, one can assume that s e l f -employed women who are home-based would experience d i f f e r e n t problems i n coordinating business and family than women i n general because they work from the home. Problems unique to home-based businesses are i s o l a t i o n and separating business and family duties. Also women who are home-based often do not have the same kind of networks or s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s working women i n general tend to have. They are also less l i k e l y to have access to domestic discourse which can provide emotional and p r a c t i c a l support for working women i n dealing with t h e i r domestic arrangements (Hessing, 1991). However, one major advantage that self-employed women may have over working women i n general i s greater f l e x i b i l i t y of time afforded by being t h e i r own boss. This f l e x i b i l i t y allows them more l a t i t u d e for meeting family needs as they ari s e compared to women who are not t h e i r own bosses. Conclusion II Studies of dual career families suggest that women continue to perform more housework than t h e i r male counterparts and suffer from role c o n f l i c t . From the research on the experiences of female entrepreneurs c o n f l i c t between business and family duties and creating boundaries were reported (Belcourt, et a l . , 1991; Longstretch et a l . , 1987; Stoner et a l . , 1990; and Goffee and Scase, 1985). However these studies did not compare male experiences to those of women nor was there a detailed 61 description on the way domestic and business duties were actu a l l y d i s t r i b u t e d and organized. The e x i s t i n g studies suggest that women i n general suff e r from the extra burden of domestic work including those who are self-employed. However, research also points to problems of i s o l a t i o n , coordinating business and family, and creating boundaries that are unique to home-based business owners. But no research examined whether domestic obligations r e s t r i c t commitment to business growth. Having smaller and less p r o f i t a b l e businesses among women business owners i s explained by the L i b e r a l Feminist perspective as r e s u l t i n g from a lack of education and lack of relevant business experience. However, there i s no reference to household duties as p o t e n t i a l l y a f f e c t i n g women's business growth. Since research i n female entrepreneurship i s i n i t s infancy there i s a lack of the o r e t i c a l frameworks dealing with the experiences of s e l f -employed women. There i s need for further development i n t h i s area e s p e c i a l l y with the increase i n self-employment among women. Overall the l i t e r a t u r e reveals that family and domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s have been overlooked and undervalued i n t h e i r e f f e c t on the businesses of self-employed individuals by the fact that they have been excluded or treated i n a masculinist way i n the Canadian s o c i o l o g i c a l l i t e r a t u r e . This review points to the need for a study that examines how self-employed men and women coordinate t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and 6 2 the outcomes t h i s type of organization may have on t h e i r l i v e s . Such an investigation i s of s o c i a l and economic concern for the following reasons: f i r s t , entrepreneurship contributes to economic growth i n B.C and i n Canada, therefore i t i s important to examine factors that may prevent men and women from business growth. Second, research suggests that home-based business owners experience d i f f e r e n t problems i n coordinating business and family (creating boundaries and blending the two a c t i v i t i e s ) . How they deal with these issues i s e s p e c i a l l y important since there i s a movement back toward workplace and family operating i n the same location. Third, i n families there must be a degree of consensus about what i s involved i n the roles each family member plays. Lack of consensus between who does what within the household, and women being overloaded with work i n the home and business, c a r r i e s with i t the potential for c o n f l i c t between spouses, and i n some cases divorce. Too l i t t l e time spent with the family i s another outcome and should be taken seriously. Raising and s o c i a l i z i n g a c h i l d i s an important s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i v e process which requires time and a healthy home environment conducive to teaching a c h i l d how to be a functioning member of society (cf. Hagadorn, 1990). Investigating how self-employed men and women coordinate t h e i r business and family a c t i v i t i e s i s warranted given that differences which do e x i s t might help to account for variations i n the experiences of male and female enterprises. This focus also f i l l s an important gap i n the l i t e r a t u r e . The study 63 reported i n the subsequent chapter draws on studies by Belcourt et a l . (1991); Stoner et a l . (1990) and Goffee and Scase (1985). 64 CHAPTER III Research and Method Research Agenda This chapter reviews the research questions developed for the study, the sample sel e c t i o n , the data c o l l e c t i o n , and the approach to data analysis. Reasons for employing t h i s method as well as the problems commonly associated with the method w i l l also be reviewed. The c o l l e c t i o n of data i n B r i t i s h Columbia covered the period of one year between December 1993 to December 1994. A. Research Questions Research to date does not provide us with an in-depth understanding of the domestic arrangements of self-employed men and women. This research i s a step towards a greater understanding of the nature of the organization of household and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of entrepreneurs with families and the outcomes i n dealing with these obligations. The data w i l l be interpreted from a s o c i o l o g i c a l view point and w i l l consider recent labour market trends of men and women and family organization. This focus f i l l s an important gap i n the Canadian l i t e r a t u r e on self-employed i n d i v i d u a l s . A series of research questions and a research design was developed to generate information to answer the research questions and objectives posted below: 1. How do self-employed men and women organize t h e i r business and family l i v e s ? Do they organize business around the family or the family around the business? Do they attempt to blend or separate t h e i r businesses from t h e i r families? 65 2. What problems ( i f any) do male and female entrepreneurs encounter i n coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? 3. What resources (assistance i n family and domestic help) do male and female entrepreneurs draw on to avoid c o n f l i c t as they mange business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? 4. How are domestic and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s divided? 5. What are the consequences of t r y i n g to coordinate business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s for the l i v e s of self-employed men and women? These research questions provide a basis for understanding the experiences of both men and women with respect to t h e i r domestic and business l i v e s and provide a foundation from which future research can b u i l d i n answering some of the questions raised. B. Framework For Assessment The lack of comparative and i n depth research i n Canada on how self-employed indiv i d u a l s deal with t h e i r domestic and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s supports a descriptive and an exploratory research strategy. The strengths of q u a l i t a t i v e research methods are esp e c i a l l y evident i n research that i s of an exploratory and a descriptive nature and that make clear reference to the context, set t i n g , and the subject's frame of reference (Marshall and Rossman, 1989). The aim of t h i s research therefore i s not to achieve a representative sample but rather to c o l l e c t information about these kinds of experiences. 66 C.Data C o l l e c t i o n and Sample Selection ( i ) . Interview The nature of the study i s exploratory. The best way to obtain information around issues of business and family coordination i s by interview rather than by questionnaire. The choice between alte r n a t i v e techniques of interviewing involves taking into consideration the type of information required and the way i n which the analysis of the data would take place. Upon recognizing the drawbacks of employing structured and informal types of interviews, t h i s study r e l i e s on a semi-structured interview with a good many open-ended questions to allow for discovery. The reasons for choosing t h i s type of method are as follows. F i r s t interviews allow for an i n depth investigation of areas which cannot be explored qu a n t i t a t i v e l y . The aim of t h i s research i s to get closer to the experience of being a small business owner, and to be able to o f f e r an in-depth understanding of t h e i r experiences i n coordinating business and family obligations. An ethnographic approach, to l i v e with entrepreneurs, might help to access some of t h i s information. However, a more fe a s i b l e technique i s to develop an interview schedule which i s s u f f i c i e n t l y open-ended to allow the matters of meaning to emerge. For the purpose of t h i s study, interviewing i s an important method to understand what the respondents \"mean by what they say\" (Mishler, 1993) i n response to the questions posed about domestic and business arrangements. 67 Stevenson (1990) asserts that entrepreneurship i s a highly personal and subjective process and for t h i s reason i t may be an inappropriate way to t r y to measure such experiences by means of a t o t a l l y structured interview schedule or questionnaire. To adequately understand t h i s process, i t i s necessary to shed l i g h t onto \"how\" entrepreneurs attach meaning to t h e i r experience. This can be best achieved by means of an interview that can capture the complexity surrounding the entrepreneurial experience (Stevenson, 1990). This information i s often overlooked and not categorized i n ex i s t i n g Canadian census data. Secondly, the interview allows us to hear peoples s t o r i e s and t h e i r own voices on ce r t a i n d e f i n i t i o n s l i k e success. Through open- ended questions on p a r t i c u l a r d e f i n i t i o n s one does not run the r i s k of imposing an already structured view of the world of entrepreneurs based on male-centred notions and de f i n i t i o n s (Stevenson, 1991). Structured surveys may not adequately discover the world of women as a business owner. This has been c i t e d as a common problem i n research on female entrepreneurship. For these reasons an i n depth interview method was preferred and has been encouraged among researchers on female entrepreneurship: \"We- are s t i l l at the exploratory stage i n terms of developing theories of entrepreneurship and as such, more qu a l i t a t i v e face to face and i n depth interview methods are more appropriate\" (cf. Stevenson, 1991:442). In addition to face-to-face interviews, phone interviews were conducted. These methods allowed respondents to t e l l t h e i r s t o r i e s i n t h e i r own words about t h e i r experiences discussed 68 further i n t h i s chapter. ( i i ) Interview Questionnaire Construction of Schedule In order to translate research objectives into a series of questions an interview schedule was constructed (Appendix A). In creating the interview schedule, open-ended questions were developed and some were taken from e x i s t i n g questionnaires Belcourt, et a l . , 1991 and Stoner et a l . , 1991). Semi-structured and open-ended questions were chosen. These questions were designed so that they could be e a s i l y administered. The questionnaire consisted of s i x broad sections. The f i r s t part dealt with demographic and family related information (age of respondents, l e v e l of education, age and number of c h i l d r e n ) . The second part of the questionnaire dealt with information about the business. Respondents were asked about the type of business they operated, number of employees and hours worked i n the enterprise. Information about business c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and the general p r o f i l e of the entrepreneur are important since age, number of employees, hours worked i n the business and age and number of children have been shown to influence business and family c o n f l i c t (Stoner et a l . , 1990; Belcourt et a l . , 1991; Longstretch et a l . , 1987; Goffee and Scase, 1985). L i b e r a l Feminist Theory on female entrepreneurship claims that education and p r i o r relevant business work experience are two important factors that explain the smaller, less p r o f i t a b l e ventures women have r e l a t i v e to t h e i r male counterpart. This information i s 69 important since these factors could be conceived as resources that could help entrepreneurs i n managing business and family obligations. The t h i r d section of the questionnaire contained open-ended questions on d e f i n i t i o n s of success and motivation for becoming self-employed and how family and business are organized. The open- ended questions were es p e c i a l l y useful to hear the entrepreneurs own voices on these issues. The motivation for establishing an enterprise i s an important factor that can help to understand how business and family are coordinated since t h i s often influences the type of business selected and whether i t w i l l run from inside or outside the home. Home-based business owners tend to blend t h e i r business a c t i v i t i e s which may be d i f f e r e n t f or entrepreneurs operating businesses from outside the home (Towler, 1986). The fourth section examined how entrepreneurs cope with the demands i n the business and family using three d i f f e r e n t a t t i t u d i n a l approaches. To accomplish t h i s , I adapted Belcourt et a l . ' s (1991) typology of coping responses, which proposed three types of coping strategies: 1) To redefine ones p r i o r i t i e s 2) Changing one's own expectations or habits and 3) Do a l l the demands (within the home and business). The f i f t h section of t h i s questionnaire l i s t e d s i x statements related to tensions i n meeting business and family obligations. These statements were drawn and adapted from Stoner et a l . ' s (1990) study on home ro l e c o n f l i c t which were 70 o r i g i n a l l y drawn from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. Stoner et a l . (1990:35) used these statements to measure work-home role c o n f l i c t on small business owners. Each question was designed to ascertain the extent to which business exerted an influence over time spent at home. However, I found these statements to be r a d i c a l l y i n d i v i d u a l i s t i c because there was an i m p l i c i t assumption that only business obligations would exert an influence over the family instead of family obligations impacting the business, which may be es p e c i a l l y applicable for women entrepreneurs. To overcome t h i s deficiency of a one sided view of work/home c o n f l i c t , I modified and also reversed the questions so that information about family obligations exerting an influence over the business could also be captured. A four point L i k e r t - s t y l e scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree) was u t i l i z e d for each of these s i x items. The data from these questions helped to reveal whether or not the entrepreneurs perceived tension i n meeting family and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . In order to understand how business and family are organized i t i s important to know how much time i s spent on housework, since housework i s said to be an obstacle among s e l f -employed women i n meeting business and family demands (Longstrech, 1987; Stoner et a l . ; 1990 and Goffee and Scase, 1985). To investigate time spent on housework, a small \"time budget\" was developed drawing from the one used by Meissner et a l . (1975) i n t h e i r study of household demands. Since responses 71 that r e l y on past events are subject to errors of r e c a l l , s p e c i f i c questions on time spent on household duties were also included i n the questionnaire i n order to obtain a more r e l i a b l e and accurate account of the domestic arrangements of these entrepreneurs. These questions asked respondents to estimate time spent on housework per task, day and per week. This open-ended format was chosen since these measures may r e f l e c t more accurately actual time than those measures that are based on estimates of t o t a l time spent on household tasks per day (Shelton, 1992). There were three pre-test interviews which were used to complete and r e f i n e the questionnaire. I t took approximately one month to develop the questionnaire. Geographical Location The need for a r e l a t i v e l y accessible s i t e explains why Greater Vancouver, including The West End, North Vancouver and Burnaby, were selected. Coquitlam, New Westminster, White Rock, Surrey and Mission were chosen for telephone interviews because of the greater distance from the c i t y of Vancouver. Selection of Type of Business Owner The c r i t e r i a set for business owners i n t h i s study were: parents, l i v i n g with t h e i r spouse, with children l i v i n g at home who were up to a maximum age of 18. The business had to have been i n operation for at least one f u l l year, operated by the owner t h i r t y hours or more per week, and the owner had to be 72 involved i n i t s day to day management. These c r i t e r i a were established i n order to f a c i l i t a t e comparison of subjects. Since family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s were a major focus of t h i s study i t was necessary that a l l the subjects were l i v i n g with t h e i r spouse and were parents of children l i v i n g at home. This approach also minimizes differences between comparison groups since i t helps to e s t a b l i s h a d e f i n i t e set of conditions under which a category exists (Glauser et a l . , 1967). Recruitment of Business Owners Forty self-employed men (20) and women (20) were recruited for interviewing using non-random recruitment techniques. One of the d i f f i c u l t i e s i n doing research on small business owners i s the lack of a data base from which to draw a sample which can be seen as representative of women entrepreneurs (Stevenson, 1990). Finding a comprehensive data set on business owners i n B.C. was problematic. I wanted to have a mixed group of business owners who operate from the home and outside the home to see what experiences might be d i f f e r e n t . I decided to sele c t from s e l f -employed individuals a subgroup of home-based business owners for several reasons. F i r s t there i s a substantial increase i n a c t i v i t y of home-based businesses (Foster and Orser, 1993; Roberts, 1994); secondly, they are often excluded i n studies; t h i r d l y , t h e i r experiences and domestic and business arrangements may be d i f f e r e n t than enterprises operating outside the home; and fourth, self-employed women with children often choose home-based businesses to coordinate the two spheres 73 (Roberts, 1994; Towler, 1986). The process of sel e c t i o n was guided by an in t e r e s t i n obtaining entrepreneurs who were home-based and who operated businesses from outside the home. The sample of self-employed individuals to be interviewed was chosen i n a vari e t y of ways. Since I am a member of the home-based business association I had access to the Home-Based Business Directory. This directory l i s t e d telephone numbers of home-based businesses i n B r i t i s h Columbia and a few i n Alberta. Because the c r i t e r i a I set was quite limited, I phoned a l l the businesses i n Greater Vancouver, The West End, North Vancouver and Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, White Rock, Surrey and Mission that were l i s t e d i n t h i s directory. I became acquainted with the acting President and Secretary of the Vancouver Home-Based Business Association (of which the researcher i s a member) who also assisted i n the recruitment process through advertisements i n the Computer B u l l e t i n D i a l - A - F i l e . I r e l i e d on a d i f f e r e n t source to r e c r u i t entrepreneurs running businesses outside the home which came from four key sampling frames: Members of the Breakfast Club, The Vancouver Trade Show, The YMCA Entrepreneurial Program, and snowballing ( r e f e r r a l s from respondents, contacts through various organizations and personal contacts). Individuals I knew were chosen for the pre-test interviews because my friendship would allow more d i r e c t feedback from them and I f e l t more comfortable interviewing them as the f i r s t subjects. However, I did not use 74 respondents that I already knew as part of the data set. Representativeness of Sample Sampling small business owners, e s p e c i a l l y those who are home-based, i s known to be d i f f i c u l t . The extent to which findings can be generalized to a l l entrepreneurs i s lim i t e d because of the nature of the sample and the q u a l i t a t i v e process used to generate the data. However, the r e s u l t s from t h i s study were consistent with studies of entrepreneurs i n B r i t i s h Columbia and there were no r e s u l t s that led one to suspect that the entrepreneurs were exceptional or unrepresentative. Procedure Forty self-employed individuals (twenty males and twenty females) were recruited for interviewing. This number was chosen because i t was considered to be a manageable number of entrepreneurs to interview i n depth. Subjects were f i r s t contacted through telephone c a l l s to see whether they f i t t e d the established c r i t e r i a . This was an important preliminary step since the c r i t e r i a I selected were very s p e c i f i c . In the phone c a l l I s p e c i f i c a l l y explained the nature of my study and i t s objectives. If the in d i v i d u a l matched the p r o f i l e and showed int e r e s t , I asked whether I could send a l e t t e r explaining the nature and objectives of the study and how they were selected (Appendix B). In the l e t t e r there was a section i n d i c a t i n g that the researcher would phone respondents approximately one week aft e r they received the l e t t e r and i f possible set a convenient time and place to meet those who agreed to p a r t i c i p a t e , that the 75 interviews w i l l be tape recorded (with p r i o r permission of the interviewees) and would run approximately one to one and a half hours. E t h i c a l considerations were also considered. To ensure anonymity, i t was stressed i n the l e t t e r that the volunteer's r e a l names would not be used i n any written or taped material, and a consent form was also attached (Appendix C). For t h i s reason names are not used i n the discussion. From at least 150 phone c a l l s and other personal contacts, 68 contacts f i t t e d the c r i t e r i a . Ten refused altogether, eleven were too busy, three showed no int e r e s t , and four were not comfortable revealing information about t h e i r businesses. Gaining Access Gaining access to small businesses required me to be persistent and patient. Several business owners did not f i t the c r i t e r i a I was looking for, either because they were not l i v i n g with a spouse, because were working only part-time or had children not l i v i n g at home. Also several entrepreneurs with families were not interested because they did not have one to one and a half hours to spare. However, some entrepreneurs who did q u a l i f y were very cooperative, and seemed interested i n the research I was conducting. I t was also easy to set a mutually convenient time with those entrepreneurs who were intrigued. Other entrepreneurs were reluctant to p a r t i c i p a t e or even to l i s t e n to me during the phone stage of my recruitment because they did not have the time, were uninterested or suspicious. In some cases I persisted p o l i t e l y and explained the importance of 76 my study and the si g n i f i c a n c e of t h e i r contribution. I made an e f f o r t to assure those respondents who were apprehensive over the phone, that the content of the interview was s t r i c t l y c o n f i d e n t i a l . I also reassured these entrepreneurs that I was a UBC student and not a f f i l i a t e d with Revenue Canada, as some feared. It was very tough to f i n d business owners who met the exact c r i t e r i a that I was looking f o r . Since the entrepreneurs I chose for t h i s study had l i t t l e spare time to devote to an interview, I was l e f t with two choices: reduce my sample siz e to t h i r t y or interview f o r t y respondents but resort to phone interviews. I chose the l a t t e r . Those entrepreneurs who had l i t t l e time to spare preferred to be interviewed over the phone on the spot or l a t e r i n the evening when the children were asleep. Others agreed to a phone interview simply because i t was f a s t e r . There were several instances where telephone interviews had an advantage over face-to face interviews. The chief advantage of the telephone interview i s that i t i s f a s t and requires less time than a personal interview. Through the phone interview I was able to save on t r a v e l time, there were less interruptions and they were more focused than with a face-to face interview. Also, i n large c i t i e s where escalation i n personal property crimes have lead to an increasing reticence to admit strangers in homes, phone interviews have been e s p e c i a l l y convenient here. I also found i t easier to interview male subjects over the phone because I f e l t more comfortable asking them questions about 77 t h e i r domestic arrangements than face-to face. This was e s p e c i a l l y convenient because i n a few face-to face interviews some of the male respondents were apprehensive about discussing household issues which was manifest i n t h e i r body language involving (blushing, no eye contact or staring at me and waiting for a reaction). These were uncomfortable moments and di s t r a c t e d me at times from the interview. However, i n a telephone interview, I was able to avoid these types of s i t u a t i o n s , since the respondents' remained more anonymous than i n personal interviews. Therefore under these circumstances, respondents were more open and free to discuss t h e i r problems of coordinating business and family and I was able to concentrate more on the interview. Over the phone the interviewer i s not so much of a threat to the respondent as he or she cannot i d e n t i f y her (Bailey, 1978). However, disadvantages with the phone interview did emerge. For one, I did not have the necessary equipment that would allow me to tape record phone interviews. Secondly, I f e l t that respondents were less motivated over the telephone and were on occasions less l i k e l y to take the phone interview seriously compared to face-to face interviews. This f e e l i n g would emerge when the responses from the interviewees were short, abrupt and r e f l e c t i n g l i t t l e thought. In some instances I would hear noise i n the background which I discovered were sounds of a respondent either wiping the kitchen counter, or cooking (which the interviewees were kind enough to t e l l me). This could not occur 78 in a face-to-face interview. Another d i s t r a c t i o n that occurred during the phone interview was being put on hold just as some of the most important questions were being answered. Unfortunately when they were back on the l i n e t h e i r f i r s t comment would be,\"sorry about that..now where were we.\" Although they would attempt to answer the question again t h e i r response lacked the depth of the f i r s t one. After such interruptions i t was inevitable for some of the respondents not to be diverted and focused on t h e i r business rather than on the interview. At times I f e l t very rushed conducting phone interviews. In some cases, a f t e r half an hour of interviewing, one respondent would breathe heavily and ask, \"are there s t i l l more questions?\" even though I made i t clea r i n the l e t t e r and on the phone that the interview would require at least one hour of t h e i r time. However, t h i s should not come as a surprise since most of the respondents who were extremely busy chose a phone interview because i t i s fas t e r . It would have been better to have a l l the interviews tape recorded and derived from the same sampling method. However, the same questionnaire was employed i n the phone interview and the qua l i t y of the material was not worse on major items around issues of coordinating business and family and thus did not disadvantage me that much. In t o t a l I interviewed 43 entrepreneurs. Three interviews served as a pre-test through which i t became known that additional questions surrounding family obligations were needed. Twenty eight personal interviews 79 were conducted i n addition to 12 telephone interviews. To understand how self-employed men and women coordinate t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and the impact t h i s type of organization may have on these entrepreneurs, i n depth tape recorded semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted except with the phone interviews, on a few occasions where the location was inappropriate and i n one face-to face interview where a respondent did not permit i t . The aim of the interview was to get beneath the surface on issues of how and why these entrepreneurs organize t h e i r business and family arrangements i n c e r t a i n ways, the problems they face i n meeting the competing demands of both spheres, coping mechanisms, and the motivation f o r becoming self-employed. Also ce r t a i n information about the nature of the business and owner p r o f i l e were obtained. R a p p o r t \"Attention i s directed to how an interviewer can e s t a b l i s h a r e l a t i o n s h i p that i s conducive to a respondent's expression of b e l i e f s and attitudes given the sp e c i a l feature of the interview s i t u a t i o n \" (Mishler, 1993:29). I t i s important to recognize i n interviews that small business owners often f e e l vulnerable and apprehensive when i t comes to questions about t h e i r business revenues or t h e i r private l i v e s . The respondents may also be evasive about personal matters regarding t h e i r household arrangements. Since I spoke with my respondents before I interviewed them, I got a f e e l for who they were and consequentially prepared myself i n advance to deal with these issues to the best of my a b i l i t y . 80 The sample I interviewed ranged from home-based, formal, informal businesses to ventures i n prestigious downtown o f f i c e s . I dressed accordingly to the place and type of business. For example, when I interviewed businesses operating from downtown o f f i c e s I wore a blazer and blouse. Otherwise I wore casual pants and a sweater. My attitude and interview s t y l e changed according to the type of business owner. With some smaller enterprises I was quite informal and i n i t i a t e d the interview by commenting on the weather or speaking with the owner's children who peered on as I entered t h e i r home or store. With businesses set up i n a more formal manner I maintained a more professional approach. I always expressed i n t e r e s t i n the products or services offered by the businesses. The purpose of these adjustments to the interviews was to e s t a b l i s h rapport which was a c r u c i a l part of the data c o l l e c t i o n . Mishler, (1993) c i t e s Oakley, who asserts that the contradiction between the need for \"rapport\" and the requirement of between interview comparability cannot be solved. She proposes a mode of feminist interviewing that requires personal responsiveness and involvement on the part of the interviewer: \"A feminist methodology... requires, further, that the mythology of \"hygienic\" research with i t s accompanying mystif i c a t i o n of the researcher and the researched as objective instruments of data production be replaced by the recognition that personal involvement i s more than dangerous bias- i t i s the condition under which people come to know each other and admit others into t h e i r l i v e s \" (cf. Mishler, 1993:31) 81 Interviewer E f f e c t Since I was the only person conducting the interviews i t i s d i f f i c u l t to know i f the findings would be s i m i l a r i f someone else (namely) a male conducted the interviews. Since the nature of the interview also involved open-ended questions and depending on the s i t u a t i o n , the context and my own state of mind or mood, my s t y l e varied. A r e l a t i v e l y more formal interview s t y l e was used i n o f f i c e settings. A more \"maternal\" approach was employed when young children were present and a s e n s i t i v e , caring approach was used when business owners were emotional and s e n s i t i v e . Throughout, I assumed the proper role to adopt and maintain the cooperation of the respondent because f o r : \"most interviewing situations i t i s most productive of information for the interviewer to assume a non-argumentative, supportive and sympathetically understanding r o l e \" (cf. Mishler, 1993:27). The fact that the interviewer was female seemed to have some influence during the interview. The women assumed that since the interviewer was female she could i d e n t i f y with t h e i r \"domestic\" problems. Unfortunately t h i s resulted i n incomplete responses and required further probing on my part. For these reasons i t i s d i f f i c u l t to determine what the interviewer e f f e c t s on the subjects were. However, \"one needs to be aware of the unique aspects of the two person int e r a c t i o n and potential e f f e c t s on the v a l i d i t y of the data obtained\" (Mishler, 1993:30). Interpretation of Data An interview i s a case of verbal i n t e r a c t i o n between two 82 persons (Bailey, 1978). C r i t i c a l here i s recognizing that words may have d i f f e r e n t meanings depending upon the subculture i n which they are used. The experiences of self-employed men and women may be quite gendered i n c e r t a i n aspects of t h e i r l i v e s . These experiences may lead them to understand and i n t e r p r e t the interview questions d i f f e r e n t l y and could therefore respond disparately to some of the questions posed. The strength of t h i s interview format was i t s f l e x i b i l i t y i n dealing with these issues. The interviewer was able to probe for more s p e c i f i c answers and to control for consistency i n the responses and to c l a r i f y any misunderstandings. Here the interviewer was able to ensure that there was a j o i n t construction of meaning on the questions asked (Bailey, 1978). To insure that the responses were accurate and that I was interpreting them c o r r e c t l y , I often repeated the interviewee's responses, as a way of confirming what they said. On more sensi t i v e issues regarding problems and domestic arrangements (some of my male respondents expressed discomfort on t h i s subject and f e l t a l i t t l e threatened) a semi-structured interview s t y l e involving open-ended questions enabled me to adjust my research questions according to the personality and attitude of the interviewee on some questions. Through t h i s type of interview, the respondent's own voices on coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s were captured. The interviewer was able to record spontaneous answers and responses expressed i n story format as examples of t h e i r experiences. These s t o r i e s are more l i k e l y to be captured 83 verbally because people may prefer to respond vocally instead of i n written format which can be more time consuming and less convenient. A drawback with t h i s method of interviewing was that i t was easy to record only what one thought to be appropriate and s a l i e n t to the research. This occurred on occasions when I was unable to tape record the interview due to the inappropriate location of the interview. Such locations were The Bread Garden, or Starbuck's Cafe where there was quite a b i t of noise i n the background. This occurred also on phone interviews which were not tape recorded. However, since the issues of coordinating business and family, and household arrangements were c r u c i a l to the research, I focused my attention around these lengthy responses and attempted to capture everything that was said around them. A further weakness of the semi-structured interview i s that on the open-ended section of the interview, one question could e l i c i t a lengthy response not very relevant to the question. I attempted to probe for as much information as I could, which required more time on some occasions than others before the necessary information was revealed. On other occasions some \"yes\" or \"no\" responses which required further depth had to be worked out through c a r e f u l probing and patience. The disadvantages of employing interviews was the time they take. Also the recruitment scheduling was very exhausting and time consuming. The face-to-face interviews were lengthy and 84 required the interviewer to t r a v e l a great distance. Another dilemma I encountered was around the issue of commitment. How committed am I expected to be to my subjects and where do you draw the line ? These questions arose when one of the male subjects, phoned me back a f t e r the interview and persisted to ask me more questions about my research which I was glad to answer over the phone at the time. However, a month l a t e r I received several phone c a l l s from the same respondent. On one occasion the respondent appeared angry at me because I did not return his c a l l back immediately. In any event, he asked to meet with me to discuss coordinating his business a c t i v i t i e s around his disabled son. At that moment I f e l t that I had a moral obligation to answer some of his questions so we made a \"tentative\" arrangement to meet i n a public cafe. However, I returned the c a l l to reschedule one hour e a r l i e r because my husband needed the car. That night, the respondent cancelled the meeting and I never heard from him again. This incidence lead me to question whether i t i s such a good idea to have the phone numbers and addresses of the interviewers on the consent l e t t e r . Because the respondent i s doing the interviewer a \"favour\" i n taking the time to be interviewed, the interviewer f e e l s a moral obligation to reciprocate and c l a r i f y issues the interview prompted. However, u l t e r i o r motives of t h i s male respondent which may or may not have been at play caused the interviewer unnecessary stress and could have been avoided by not giving out home phone numbers. Safety issues also crossed my mind because 85 some of my interviewees operated home-based businesses requiring me to enter into homes that were strange to me i n addition to being with a complete stranger alone for an hour or more. Place of Interview and C o l l e c t i o n Methods The data c o l l e c t i o n methods varied depending on where the interview took place and whether i t was a face-to-face interview or over the phone. Interviews that were conducted i n home-based businesses, i n downtown o f f i c e s or i n stores were tape recorded and I f i l l e d i n the interview questionnaire as I posed questions. Through a series of questions I attempted to e l i c i t relevant information from respondents. Tape recording was useful here so as to capture the context i n which the respondent was answering the question or expressing a ce r t a i n viewpoint on a p a r t i c u l a r issue raised. I t also allowed the interviewer to be more attentive to the respondent through eye contact. Interviews conducted i n more public and loud settings (Bread Garden, Starbuck's, food courts i n malls, White Spot Restaurants) and phone interviews were not tape recorded. Interviews that were not tape recorded were more d i f f i c u l t to conduct since I had to concentrate more on what was being said and simultaneously write and maintain eye contact to show an i n t e r e s t . However, I found that the occasions when I bent down to write allowed the respondents to speak more f r e e l y and they seemed to be less distracted upon describing t h e i r experiences than on occasions when there was eye contact. Also looking down helped to conceal 86 some of my countenance s l i p s when interviewees would respond i n predicted manners around issues of housework. One male respondent said to me \"I know what your thinking, you must think I am a male chauvinist..I can see i t i n your eyes.\" This comment made me more aware and conscious of my f a c i a l expressions so I made an e f f o r t , though d i f f i c u l t at times, to remain neutral. This was es p e c i a l l y hard i n interviews with some of the male respondents. The average interview lasted approximately one hour. However, they varied depending on where they were conducted. Interviews i n o f f i c e s lasted no more than an hour since these owners s p e c i f i c a l l y stated they only had one hour to spare, phone interviews lasted around t h i s time too. Longer interviews ranged between one and a half to two hours i n duration and tended to take place i n stores or at the owners home and often involved a tour of the business. Data Analysis: Data From Questionnaires The data from the interview questionnaire were transcribed. The open-ended questions were examined by observing patterns of responses and placing them into categories which were subsequently coded. Hours per week devoted to housework were added up from the time budget. Frequency counts were made from the coded responses which were translated into percentages. Three important points of focus were selected for analysis i n order to understand how business and household 87 r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are coordinated and the outcomes t h i s type of arrangement could have on the l i v e s of entrepreneurs. 1. Business c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and time devoted to the business, (type, structure, f l e x i b i l i t y of time, home-based). 2. Family c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s (age of children) and household arrangements (actual hours spent on domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ) . Rough estimates of time spent on domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s per day were compared to the measurement estimates the respondents gave per household task. This approach made i t easier to monitor how consistent the respondents estimate on time spent on housework were. If there was an incongruencey between the estimates given per day and per task, I used the l a t t e r ones because previous research has shown that estimates per task y i e l d higher estimates than those based on an estimate of time spent per day on household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (Shelton, 1992). 3. Strategies employed to organize business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The focus here was whether business or family took p r i o r i t y i n coordinating the two spheres and i f the two were blended or separated. Analysis of Four Groups of Entrepreneurs This study examined how s e l f employed individ u a l s manage t h e i r business and domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and the outcomes t h i s organization may have on t h e i r business and/or family l i f e . The data were analyzed around outcomes of coordinating the two spheres. Four groups emerged out of my attempts to make sense of the data on the s i x business and family c o n f l i c t statements shown i n table 1. 88 Table 1 Six L i k e r t Questions: 64a My family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s often c o n f l i c t s with my business schedule: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 64b My business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s often confli c t s . w i t h time spent on family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 65a In my family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s I have so much to do that i t takes time away from my business: strongly agree agrees--— disagree strongly disagree 65b I have so much to do i n my business that i t takes time away from my household and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : strongly agree agree disagree- strongly disagree 66a My household and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s take up time I would l i k e to spend on my business: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 66b My business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s take up time I would l i k e to spend on my family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : strongly agree agree disagree strongly d i s a g r e e — -I chose to analyze my sample based on two sets of questions. The f i r s t set derives from responses from s i x statements which formed four groups. The second set involves a series of open-ended questions used to v e r i f y responses obtained from the L i k e r t questions that c l a s s i f i e d four groups of entrepreneurs. But before I explain how the groups were selected 89 i t i s important to examine why I chose to base my analysis on four groups of entrepreneurs based on where they stood on a continuum of meeting the competing demands of family and business. During the analysis, i t became cle a r that several patterns of managing business and family emerged. A typology of entrepreneurial groups based on manners of coordinating business and family a c t i v i t i e s I thought would be a useful way to analyze my sample and to capture t h i s d i v e r s i t y . Stevenson (1990) states that entrepreneurs are not an homogeneous group and that t h i s d i v e r s i t y can be captured i n an analysis by developing typologies. This approach i s not uncommon, as Goffee and Scase (1985) analyzed t h e i r sample of female entrepreneurs i n the form of typologies because the experiences of self-employed women were s p e c i f i c to cer t a i n \"types\" of women. The data derived from the s i x c o n f l i c t statements were used to form the groups. The four groups emerged based on the following patterns: business or family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s may exert a greater influence over the other, demands i n family and business a c t i v i t i e s are so great r e s u l t i n g i n c o n f l i c t a r i s i n g i n attempts to meet both obligations. The fourth s i t u a t i o n i s one where responses suggest that commitments to business and family a c t i v i t i e s are less and do not produce a s i t u a t i o n of c o n f l i c t . Hence, coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are considered to be more balanced compared to the other three groups. Each question was designed to ascertain whether family or business exerted a greater influence over the 90 other. How respondents were c l a s s i f i e d into the four groups are described below. Four groups based on patterns of business and family organization 1. Time centred around the business (Business-centred groupV. Subjects that f e l l into the business-centred group answered either agreed or strongly agreed on at least two of the following three questions (64b, 65b, and 66b) (as shown above) on business a f f e c t i n g family and were c l a s s i f i e d as i n d i v i d u a l s who were business-centred. The pattern of these responses suggest that a c t i v i t i e s i n the business are more weighted than those of the family. 2. Time centred around the family (Family-centred group). The reverse pattern occurred for respondents who answered either strongly agree or agree on at least two of the following three questions (64a, 65a, and 66a) where family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s affected the business. The responses indicate that r e l a t i v e to the business-centred group, these enterprises are more centred around family a c t i v i t i e s . 3. Business and family are c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n (Conflict-ridden Group) Responses where business owners consistently strongly agree or agree the majority of times on a l l six questions (64a, 64b, 65a, 65b, 66a, 66b) on business and family issues, revealed a s i t u a t i o n where a c t i v i t i e s were heavily weighted on both sides i n meeting the two domains of business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Relative to the other group t h e i r s i t u a t i o n resulted i n c o n f l i c t coming from both spheres i n coordinating business and family a c t i v i t i e s . 4. Business and family are i n balance (Balance Group) In contrast to the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, responses that read strongly disagree or disagree a majority of times on a l l s i x questions (64a, 64b, 65a, 65b, 66a, 66b) suggested that meeting business and family a c t i v i t i e s were i n greater harmony compared to the responses from the other three groups. Two answers that were inconsistent, thus d i f f i c u l t to c l a s s i f y , required a judgement c a l l and were c l a s s i f i e d into the 91 family-centred group according to other responses on t h i s issue. The r e s u l t s are l i s t e d below in table 2. Results from L i k e r t Questions Table 2. Business-centred Group Question # SA A D SD To t a l 64a 5.3 26.3 68.4 0 100 64b 10.5 42.1 47.4 0 100 65a 0 0 89.4 10.6 100 65b 10. 6 84 5 0 100 66a 0 10.5 73.7 15.8 100 66b 15.8 84.2 0 0 100 Family-centred Group Question # SA A D SD To t a l 64a 0 67 ; 33 0 100 64b 0 33 66 0 100 65a 0 33' 67 0 100 65b 0 0 100 0 100 66a 0 100 0 0 100 66b 0 100 0 100 Table 2. Results from L i k e r t Questions C o n f l i c t Group Question # SA A D SD To t a l 64a - 40 50 10 0 100 64b 40 60 0 0 100 65a 30 70 0 0 100 65b 40 50 10 0 100 66a 20 50 30 0 100 66b 20 60 20 0 100 Balanced Group Question # SA A D SD T o t a l 64a 0 12.5 62.5 25 100 64b 0 12.5 75 12.5 100 65a 0 0 87.5 12.5 100 65b 0 0 87.5 12.5 100 66a 0 12.5 75 12.5 100 66b 0 0 87.5 12.5 100 93 Since these questions alone are not adequate indicators to dis t i n g u i s h the degree of c o n f l i c t and harmony experienced among respondents i n coordinating business and family a series of open-ended questions were incorporated into the analysis. These questions not only served to access information about the types of problems experienced, degree of harmony or c o n f l i c t , but were also used to t e s t the responses from the l i k e r t questions to see i f they hold. (The re s u l t s of the l i k e r t questions and the open-ended responses are compared i n the findings section of t h i s t h e s i s ) . Information on the business c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and p r o f i l e of the entrepreneurs are incorporated into the analysis to determine, as i n other studies, whether they influence how business and family are organized. I chose ten factors (they are discussed i n greater d e t a i l i n chapter IV) that have been frequently c i t e d to influence and explain business and family arrangements. I examined the data to determine whether the ten factors emerged d i f f e r e n t l y or s i m i l a r l y among the four groups of entrepreneurs. Overall the analysis of t h i s study revolved around four groups of entrepreneurs derived from s i x L i k e r t questions. A series of open-ended questions were also incorporated into the analysis to t e s t the above typology and to examine how entrepreneurs organize t h e i r domestic and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , the outcomes these arrangements had on t h e i r l i v e s and how they dealt with t h e i r current s i t u a t i o n . The ten 94 factors were employed as explanatory tools to interpret these experiences; where they f e l l short i n t h e i r explanations, resource theory and gender ideology were incorporated into the analysis to interpret experiences that were unique to either the male or female entrepreneurs. 95 Chapter IV; Data and Findings Introduction The purpose of t h i s study i s to examine how self-employed men and women organize t h e i r household and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and the e f f e c t that meeting the two competing demands can have on t h e i r l i v e s . F i r s t , the findings and discussion include a b r i e f demographic p r o f i l e of the business owners and the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e i r enterprises to provide an o v e r a l l picture of the respondents i n the interviews. Second, i n t r y i n g to analyze the material one set of L i k e r t questions seemed to o f f e r the best general way of capturing my concern with household and business arrangements and enabled me to subdivide the sample i n useful ways on these issues. Based on t h i s set of s i x questions the respondents are organized into four groups around issues of coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : 1) Time centred around the Business (Business-centred) 2) Time centred around the Family (Family-centred) 3) Business and Family are c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n (Conflict-ridden group) 4) Business and Family are i n Balance (Balance group) This mode of analysis was chosen to capture the d i v e r s i t y found i n the experiences of managing business and family commitments. However, upon analyzing the data i t looks as though the four broad groups do not provide a comprehensive understanding of where the owners stand i n the degree of c o n f l i c t and harmony 96 they experience i n coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The analysis of the four categories takes us so f a r , but i n order to get further at the research question I found i t necessary to draw on a series of open-ended questions related to aspects of business and family coordination. Third, ten factors that may help to explain why entrepreneurs organize t h e i r businesses i n p a r t i c u l a r ways are presented b r i e f l y (home-Based, operating business outside the home, spouse's working status, number of hours devoted to the business and to housework, f l e x i b l e or i n f l e x i b l e with work schedule, outside help for cleaning household, salary, age and number of children and spousal support). These factors are chosen since past research has demonstrated that they could influence business and family c o n f l i c t (Stoner et a l . , 1990) and may have a bearing on how domestic and business workloads are arranged. These factors including gender ideology, are incorporated into the analysis to explain some of the underlying processes that lead to c e r t a i n patterns of organizing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , and the e f f e c t managing the two may have on t h e i r ventures, families and themselves. Fourth, the findings revolve around three themes. The f i r s t i s a discussion of how business and family are organized. I t has become increasingly common i n our society for business and domestic l i f e to be p h y s i c a l l y separated. But i n some areas of the economy and i n some economic niches, the two continue to be c l o s e l y enmeshed and are often p h y s i c a l l y linked. Shopkeepers 97 l i v i n g over t h e i r stores was once a common pattern, but these days a whole variety of businesses can be home-based, where t h i s type of blending occurs. Today with the resurgence of s e l f -employment and with women fi g u r i n g c e n t r a l l y i n t h i s change there are many d i f f e r e n t types of businesses that can be run from the home, es p e c i a l l y those i n the service sector. No doubt mixing family and business often creates c o n f l i c t and competing demands for business owners. How they mange the two varies a great deal. These range from either constructing a business around the family, or revolving family around the enterprise. Other ways entrepreneurs coordinate the two spheres i s by either separating business and family a c t i v i t i e s or blending the two where f a m i l i a l r e l a t i o n s are intimately linked. For some the way they arrange the two works well. However, others have not developed s a t i s f a c t o r y strategies and report much tension and exploitation of themselves, a r i s i n g from being pulled i n two d i r e c t i o n s . These issues are examined since decisions about how business and family are coordinated can be a means of better managing the two r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . This however, depends on the entrepreneurs p a r t i c u l a r s i t u a t i o n and whether or not they are home-based. The second theme deals with the outcomes of p a r t i c u l a r ways of organizing business and family on cert a i n aspects of t h e i r businesses, t h e i r families and themselves. The focus i s guided by an attempt to answer the following questions: a) what problems do these entrepreneurs face i n attempting to coordinate 98 business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? b) how do family obligations a f f e c t t h e i r businesses? c) what suffers i n the process of managing the competing demands of business and family a c t i v i t i e s ? and d) are these entrepreneurs s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r current household arrangements? Entrepreneurs often est a b l i s h t h e i r businesses with clear goals, however, some f i n d themselves i n situations where t h e i r actual s i t u a t i o n i s incongruent with t h e i r i n i t i a l expectations of the types of r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and commitments with which they are faced. Exploring the attitudes of male and female business owners i n coping with the demands of the business and family i s the t h i r d theme that i s examined and should add to an understanding of t h e i r management of work and family. Three coping strategies are examined: 1) changing ones expectations, 2) doing i t a l l or 3) redefining ones p r i o r i t i e s . Profile of Self-Employed Sample Business Characteristics A t o t a l of 40 interviews (twenty males and twenty females) were completed i n the Vancouver area. In t h i s sample, (63%) of the respondents ran home-based businesses, and (37%) operated businesses outside the home. Seventy percent of the female entrepreneurs were home-based compared to s i x t y percent of the male business owners. Forty-five percent of the businesses were sole proprietorship, 38% incorporated t h e i r enterprises and 17% had 99 partnerships (of which one female partnership was with her spouse). However, 60% of the women considered themselves sole proprietors, compared to 30% of the men. Only 15% of the women were incorporated, compared to 60% of the men. Figure 3. Type of Business Structure H Female • Male Incorporated ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ P i p i S ! j 5 R n i ' i i,| „ W'A it , , ' , ., ! i Sole Proprietorship 1 1 r, >• 1 1 1 1 ••; i 5 . . . - ^ . 30% I . 1 I ; H 1 I — 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Partnership 25% 100 This finding shows that a much greater proportion of the male sample had registered t h e i r businesses as corporations which i s consistent with other research i n the area (Fraboni and Saltstone, 1990; Swift, 1988; Lavoie, 1988; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). I t serves to i l l u s t r a t e that there are differences i n business r e g i s t r a t i o n between male and female enterprises. This has important implications for women business owners, since proprietors have less c r e d i b i l i t y than incorporated firms, and face b a r r i e r s when applying for a loan (Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Also there are r i s k s involved for proprietors since the owners personal assets can be seized i f they incur debt. There are many tax benefits that incorporated firms can take advantage of. Some researchers have explained and linked the lack of incorporated firms among women to the high incorporation fees which can range between $500 to $1000. Women are less l i k e l y to be able to afford these fees since t h e i r earnings i n general are lower than those of men, or there are no savings to draw on for women entering the workforce a f t e r c h i l d rearing years. Seventy percent of the businesses i n t h i s study belonged to the service industry. The second most common industry was i n r e t a i l (15%). This finding i s consistent with research demonstrating an increase i n self-employment i n the service industry (Cachon, 1989; Lavoie, 1979; Small Business Secretariat; Ministry of Economic Development, Small Business 101 and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance, 1991). Figure 4. B u s i n e s s T y p e s 2.50% 5 o A A further breakdown of the type of businesses i n table 3 i l l u s t r a t e s the variety of businesses these entrepreneurs run i n the service industry. 102 Table 3. Breakdown of Business Type Business Type Male Female R e t a i l C h r i s t i a n Bookstore, Soccer Sports Equipment Art Card P r i n t i n g Children's Clothing Lighting Signs Service Graphic Designer Consultant (architect) Consultant (business) Consultant (computer) Consultant (electronics) Consultant ( f i n a n c i a l ) Consultant (oceanic graphic) Landscape Design contractor Accountant Autoglass I n s t a l l e r E l e c t r i c a l I n s t a l l e r E l e c t r i c a l Repair Shop Upholstery of Furniture Truck/freight delivery Gold Coins Investor Restaurant Cafe Photography Studio Corporate video production F l o r a l Design Dried Flowers G i f t Baskets Gourmet G i f t Baskets Tooth Brushes Jewellery Animation Design Fundraiser In t e r i o r Designer Computer Services Workshop/leadership Employment Agency Insurance Agency Financial Planning Graphic Designer Manufac-turi n g Production of Decorate-stencils A g r i c u l -ture Grow Flowers Fifty-two percent of the business owners did not have any employees, 38% had between one and f i v e f u l l - t i m e employees and 10% had over 5 employees. Sixty-three percent of the businesses were recently established and f a i r l y young between 2 to 4 years old. Half of those interviewed paid themselves a wage that f e l l into the $25,000 to $50,000 range, the second most common salary range (32%) was $10,000 to $25,000. There was a salary discrepancy between men and women. Most of the women allocated themselves a salary between $10,000 to $25,000, compared to the 103 male entrepreneurs who paid themselves a salary ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. This confirms e x i s t i n g research (Potts, 1994; White, 1984; Belcourt, et a l . , 1991). Demographic P r o f i l e of Business Owners More than half (52.5%) of the respondents were between the ages of 41 to 50. The majority (55%) of the women had a college or u niversity degree, compared to only 25% of the men. F i f t y -f i v e percent of the owners had previous business experience. I t i s of in t e r e s t that 65% of the women had previous experience compared to 45% of the men. These findings contradict l i b e r a l feminist assumptions about female entrepreneurship such that lack of experience and education are the two main resources women are less l i k e l y to have than t h e i r male counterparts. The three most common reasons for establishing t h e i r own businesses were \"to be your own boss\", \"greater f l e x i b i l i t y \" , and \" s e l f - f u l f i l m e n t . \" These r e s u l t s compliment those of Goffee and Scase, (1985); Fraboni and Saltstone, (1990); and Stevenson, (1984). Women operating businesses from t h e i r home chose s e l f -employment to coordinate work l i f e with family l i f e which i s consistent with Canadian research on home-based business a c t i v i t y (Roberts, 1994). Only three men who were home-based established t h e i r businesses for f a m i l i a l reasons. These findings lean towards the research and assumptions from the s o c i a l feminist perspective on female entrepreneurship, that self-employed men and women would have d i f f e r e n t motivations for establishing t h e i r enterprises. This finding i s es p e c i a l l y 104 common among women with children, which a l l of the owners i n t h i s study have. Each respondent was asked to define success for him or herself as a self-employed person. The most common r e p l i e s based on the respondent's own d e f i n i t i o n of success was personal s a t i s f a c t i o n (33%) making a better l i v i n g than before (30%) and achieving a better balance between family and f i n a n c i a l needs (22%) . Table 4: D e f i n i t i o n of Success Kale Female Making a better l i v i n g 40% 20% Better balance on l i f e 20% 25% (meet family and business needs) Personal s a t i s f a c t i o n 15% 50% Other 25% 5% Breaking respondents down by gender, half of the women (50%) and 15% of the males defined success i n terms of personal s a t i s f a c t i o n , 25% of the women (20% of the men) viewed i t as achieving a better balance between business and family and 20% of the women (40% males) defined i t i n terms of making a better l i v i n g than before. Breakdown of the four groups by number and sex of entrepreneur The analysis of the research findings i s based on a typology of four groups of business owners i n terms of where they stand on a continuum i n being affected by t h e i r business and family duties. Understanding whether coordinating business or family obligations produce more tension for one group than 105 for another group, i s important information for answering the research question. Comparing how entrepreneurs i n the four groups arrange t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s might t e l l us more about why one group may experience more c o n f l i c t than another. I t has been reported that domestic commitments have a negative impact on the l i v e s of women, and that men have worked so hard i n t h e i r businesses that i t a f f e c t s t h e i r family l i f e . Therefore i t i s equally important to examine the experiences of coordinating business and family arrangements between men and women; t h i s should be tempered with an analysis of the gendered patterns within each group and across groups. This approach i s s i m i l a r to that of Goffee and Scase (1985). They analyzed t h e i r sample of female entrepreneurs i n the form of typologies, i n order to capture the d i f f e r e n t types of experiences that emerged among t h e i r sample of female entrepreneurs. Their typology was based on four \"types\" of entrepreneurial women' (innovative entrepreneurs, conventional business women, r a d i c a l proprietors and co-ownership). In my study d i s t i n c t experiences of coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s emerged among the entrepreneurs. A typology based on d i f f e r e n t degrees of c o n f l i c t and harmony r e s u l t i n g from managing the two domains of work and family i s one way of capturing these experiences more v i v i d l y . This approach overcomes the l i m i t a t i o n of assuming that there i s only one type of experience i n organizing business and family demands. I draw on Stoner et a l . ' s (1990) c o n f l i c t statements employed i n t h e i r 106 study on work and/home c o n f l i c t (described i n the previous chapter). Their statements are modified for t h i s study and based on the respondent's perception of whether either business or family influences the other. These responses reveal whether p r i o r i t y was assigned to either business or family duties which i n turn were used to c l a s s i f y the entrepreneurs into groups. I i d e n t i f y four groups of entrepreneurs based on where they stand i n adapting business and family arrangements. This i s useful f o r describing d i f f e r e n t patterns of where business and family obligations are weighted. Groups of entrepreneurs are summarized in Table 5. Table 5. Percentages of Four groups of Entrepreneurs N* % Business-centred Male 12 63 (% of t o t a l = 47.5) Female 7 37 Total 19 Family-centred Male 1 33 (% of t o t a l = 7.5) Female 2 67 Total 3 Conflict-ridden Male 2 20 (% of t o t a l = 25) Female 8 80 Total 10 Balance group Male 5 62.5 (% of t o t a l = 20) Female 3 37.5 Total 8 *N=number of respondents 107 As Table 5 i l l u s t r a t e s , male and female entrepreneurs were dispersed d i f f e r e n t l y among the four groups. From t h i s table i t i s apparent that the largest group of the t o t a l sample (47.5%) f e l l into the business-centred group a majority of which were male respondents comprising t h i s group (63% were male respondents compared to 37% female respondents). Twenty-five percent of respondents f e l l into the c o n f l i c t category; consisting of 80% women. Out of a t o t a l of ten respondents i n t h i s group only two were male. Twenty percent of the respondents f e l l into the balance category with 5 male and only 3 female respondents. The smallest group was the family-centred group with only 7.5% of the t o t a l respondents f a l l i n g into t h i s category (two females and one male respondent). The respondents were designated to these four groupings from responses to s i x L i k e r t questions based on the respondents perception of how business and family are coordinated. The decisions behind the i n i t i a l c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of entrepreneurs into the four groups were discussed i n the previous chapter. The pattern of the responses for the business-centred group suggest that a c t i v i t i e s i n the business are more weighted than those of the family. The reverse pattern occurred for respondents c l a s s i f i e d as the family-centred group whose responses indicate that r e l a t i v e to the business-centred group, t h e i r enterprises are more centred around family a c t i v i t i e s . Responses where entrepreneurs consistently strongly agree or agree around issues of family and business revealed a s i t u a t i o n where a c t i v i t i e s 108 were heavily weighted on both sides i n meeting the two domains of business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . In contrast to the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, respondents c l a s s i f i e d as the group i n balance suggested i n t h e i r responses that family a c t i v i t i e s were in greater harmony. However, these four groups must be regarded as a s i m p l i f i c a t i o n , i f only because few owners f i t neatly into any one of the four categories. Just because the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group i s described as a group experiencing c o n f l i c t does not exclude the business and family-centred groups from experiencing tension as well. What i s r e a l l y going on for respondents i n these groups are d i f f e r i n g degrees of p r i o r i t y assigned to either business or family arrangements, where i n some cases business matters are more important and i n others domestic considerations take p r i o r i t y . The main point here i s that often there i s an uneasy tension between the two as well. In the case of the business and family-centred groups, i t i s more weighted to either business or family, unlike the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group where business and family are both perceived to produce tension. The responses from the entrepreneurs c l a s s i f i e d as the balance group suggested that they did not \"perceive\" c o n f l i c t between business and family commitments. However, since these r e p l i e s reveal an almost \" i d e a l \" s i t u a t i o n of \"no c o n f l i c t \" they should be accepted with caution. Whether the responses used to construct t h i s typology hold when a series of other questions are incorporated into the 109 analysis w i l l be examined. The six L i k e r t questions do not r e a l l y reveal enough about the degree of c o n f l i c t or harmony experienced by the entrepreneurs. Hence, a set of open-ended questions are incorporated into the analysis. Ten Important Factors that help to explain how business and family are organized There are vast differences i n the experiences of coordinating work and family which are large l y accounted for by ten factors. An examination of these factors i s important f o r understanding and explaining the domestic and business arrangements of the self-employed individuals of t h i s sample. Studies have demonstrated that several factors influence work/home c o n f l i c t . The most common ones reported i n the l i t e r a t u r e are b r i e f l y presented below. Time pressure has been reported to have a bearing on the extent of work-home role c o n f l i c t (cf. Stoner et a l . , 1990). On the same note, one can assume that number of hours devoted to the business and housework could influence work/home c o n f l i c t . Quite naturally, as more time i s devoted to business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , less time i s available for the family, or the reverse. Other researchers have reported higher l e v e l s of work-family c o n f l i c t for larger families (though not for home-based business owners) (Keith and Schafer, 1980). However, Storm, Hartman and Arora (1990) found i n t h e i r study that the number of children and hours worked are not s i g n i f i c a n t l y related to work-home c o n f l i c t . They state that t h i s may be a unique feature of 110 being a small business owner, where f l e x i b i l i t y of time can accommodate many dimensions of work-home c o n f l i c t . Based on t h e i r findings one can assume that the f l e x i b i l i t y of ones business schedule, could be considered an important factor influencing the degree of c o n f l i c t i n coordinating family and business demands. Greenhaus and Kopelman (1981) found that parents of younger children require more time looking a f t e r and are therefore more l i k e l y to experience c o n f l i c t between work and family than parents with older children. I t has been reported that home-based business owners frequently state problems of juggling business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and maintaining boundaries, which are linked to both business and family functioning i n one location (Towler, 1986). Therefore, one can assume that being home-based could pose d i f f e r e n t problems than not being home-based i n coordinating enterprise and domestic duties. Family support has been considered the key to successful businesses and has been reported as an important factor a f f e c t i n g work-home c o n f l i c t i n studies of working men and women i n general (Stoner et a l . , 1990). Though the research suggests that there are several factors that have been shown to influence the degree of c o n f l i c t experienced i n managing business and family demands, only a few of the studies are based on small business owners. The factors described above seem to influence the patterns of home/work arrangements and so are included i n the analysis of t h i s study. I l l Ten factors influencing Work/Family Conflict/Arrangements 1) Home-Based, operating business outside the home 2) Spouse working: f u l l - t i m e , part-time, not working 3) Number of hours devoted to the business 4) Number of hours devoted to housework 5) F l e x i b l e or not f l e x i b l e with work schedule 6) Outside help for cleaning household 7) Salary owner allocates to s e l f 8) Age 9) Number of children 10) Spousal support Findings: Groups Based Results Business-centred group The findings indicate that more than half (53%) of the owners i n the business-centred group operated enterprises outside the home. Six out of ten males and four out of seven females were not home-based. Sixty-three percent were not f l e x i b l e with t h e i r time (eight out of ten men and four out seven women were not f l e x i b l e ) . F l e x i b i l i t y of time was assessed i n terms of the extent to which they could a l t e r t h e i r work schedule to accommodate family needs, whether they could leave work at any time to run household errands and dropping children o f f to and from school. Eleven out of the nineteen entrepreneurs had a spouse working either part-time or not at a l l (among them ten were male). This finding suggests that there are cl e a r differences between male and female entrepreneurs within t h i s 112 group, which data reveal has s i g n i f i c a n t implications for t h e i r experiences i n coordinating business and family a c t i v i t i e s . These entrepreneurs devoted the least amount of time to domestic and c h i l d care r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ; 12 out of 19 respondents performed 19 or less hours per week on household duties. More than f i f t y percent of the women performed more than 19 hours per week compared to more than half of the male respondents who performed 19 or less hours per week. Again there were gender differences here. These entrepreneurs worked the longest hours per week i n t h e i r businesses compared to the other groups, with the majority (58%, eleven out of nineteen) working over 50 hours per week (Nine out of twelve men compared to two of the seven females). Twenty-six percent (5 out of 19) worked over 60 hours per week (four were male and one was female). Seventy-nine percent (15 out of 19) of the respondents i n the business-centred group had at least two children and tended to have teenaged children. Seventy-four percent of these business owners allocated themselves a salary between $25,000 to $50,000 per year. Fourteen respondents operated service type industries mostly i n consulting (eight male and s i x females). Three respondents were i n r e t a i l (two males and one female). Family-centred group A l l three respondents (two female one male) from t h i s group were home-based, had f l e x i b l e work schedules and had a spouse working f u l l - t i m e . Two respondents had two children under the 113 age of ten. The t h i r d respondent who was female had two teenagers. The two female respondents devoted 20 to 29 hours per week to housework. However, the one male owner performed 30-39 hours per week. The respondents tended to work 40 hours or more per week i n the business. $10,000 to $25,000 per year i s the salary they allocated themselves. Two respondents (both female) ran r e t a i l businesses (card p r i n t s and children's c l o t h i n g ) . The male entrepreneur operated a service industry i n graphic design. Conflict-ridden Like the family-centred group, the majority (80%) of the respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group were home-based and (80%) had a f l e x i b l e work schedule (the two respondents that were not home-based and had an i n f l e x i b l e work schedule were women) . 90% had a spouse working f u l l - t i m e (except for one of the two male respondents). These entrepreneurs had the largest families ranging from two to three children. The majority (7 out of 10) of the respondents i n t h i s group devoted 30 or more hours per week to housework (including one of the male respondents). The majority spent fo r t y hours per week i n t h e i r businesses (40% of the respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group who were female worked over 50 hours i n t h e i r businesses). Most allocated themselves a salary between $10,000 to $25,000 and a t h i r d earned $25,000 to $50,000 per year (including both male respondents). Seven out of ten respondents operated service type industries (including both males i n t h i s group who ran 114 businesses i n computer networking and landscape design). The other service type businesses were i n consulting, and s e l l i n g jewellery. One female respondent ran a manufacturing business i n s t e n c i l s and another owned one i n wholesale producing g i f t baskets. Balance Group Seventy-five percent (6 out of 8) of the respondents were home-based. Two of the male respondents operated t h e i r businesses from outside the home. Eighty-eight percent (7 out of 8) had a f l e x i b l e work schedule, and a l l of the respondents had a spouse working f u l l - t i m e . The majority (5 out of 8) of respondents perform 29 hours or less to housework per week. Two of the three women devoted 30 hours or more. They worked over 40 hours i n t h e i r business. These respondents had the smallest families with either one or two children. They were s p l i t into three equal groups between a l l o c a t i n g themselves a salary of: $10,000 to $25,000, $25,00 to $50,000 and above $50,000 (20% of the men earned $50,000). A l l the respondents i n t h i s group ran service type industries. Two males ran professional businesses one i n (oceanic graphic consulting and the other i n f i n a n c i a l corporate management). The other male operated businesses were i n corporate video production, a photography studio and an e l e c t r i c a l repair shop. Two of the women ran service industries i n f l o r a l design and s e l l i n g toothbrushes. One female entrepreneur ran a r e t a i l outlet of l i g h t s . 115 Gender differences were apparent within and between the four groups on two factors. Female entrepreneurs devoted more hours per week to housework than t h e i r male counterparts i n a l l four groups. Male entrepreneurs tended to have a part-time working spouse to r e l y on. Also, those men with a f u l l - t i m e working spouse claimed to divide the household work equally unlike the f u l l - t i m e working husbands of the female entrepreneurs who did not do t h e i r f a i r share of housework. The business owners i n a l l four groups tended not to h i r e outside help. This finding corresponds with the r e s u l t s reported by Lavoie (1988) where only 10% of the business owners drew on outside help. Also, the majority of these respondents' had spousal support. This finding i s contrary to the assumptions made by Sexton and Kent (1981) who claim that family support f o r females may be limited because husbands are often unsupportive. Organization of Business and Domestic Lives This section explores the diverse patterns of organizing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . I t examines whether business i s organized around the family or the family i s organized around the business, and whether family and business are separated or blended domains. These issues are not addressed i n the research l i t e r a t u r e , or are treated i n a very general way (Belcourt, et a l . , 1991) and are important to an understanding of how business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s are coordinated. The r e s u l t s were drawn from question #49 i n the questionnaire: \"Do you organize your family arrangements around your business or do 116 you organize your business around your family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? \" Percentages of Owners who Organize Family around the Business (by group) Table 6. Business Family Around around around Each Family Business Other Business-centred 16% 68% 16% Family-centred 100% 0 0 Conflict-ridden 40% 30% 30% Balance Group 50% 38% 12% Table 6 demonstrates that only respondents from the family-centred group form a majority i n revolving t h e i r business a c t i v i t i e s around t h e i r f a m i l i e s . However, the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n and balance groups have t h e i r largest proportion on the family side unlike the business-centred group who are more weighted toward organizing the family around the business. Explanations for why Entrepreneurs Organize their Business Around the Family, or choose to revolve their Family Around the Business: Business-centred Group Respondents from the business-centred group tended to revolve t h e i r family a c t i v i t i e s around t h e i r businesses. However, given that t h i s group i s defined as business-centred, finding 16% of the respondents revolving business around family and another 16% doing both, i s quite high. These findings are 117 contrary to those obtained i n the typology and raises the question of whether the typology i s an adequate indicator alone of where to place entrepreneurs with respect to t h e i r business and family commitments. One out of the 12 male respondents i n the business-centred group organized the business around the family. This male entrepreneur was a professional accountant operating his enterprise from a downtown o f f i c e . However, his wife recently established her own r e t a i l business, and thus assisted her by extending his domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The remaining eleven male respondents organized t h e i r families around the business. Five out of the seven female respondents i n t h i s group also organized t h e i r family around the business. However, the other two females revolved t h e i r businesses around the family (they were home-based). Respondents i n the business-centred group revolved t h e i r family a c t i v i t i e s around t h e i r enterprises because they operated businesses from outside the home and did not have a f l e x i b l e work schedule, unlike the respondents i n the other three groups. These conditions placed the business owners i n a s i t u a t i o n where organizing family l i f e around t h e i r enterprises was more fe a s i b l e . Another reason f o r t h i s type of arrangement was having a spouse to r e l y on looking a f t e r the household. This s i t u a t i o n was e s p e c i a l l y relevant to the male respondents where 10 out of 12 had a spouse working part-time or not at a l l compared to one out of the seven female respondents. This extra assistance allowed male entrepreneurs to run a business with less 118 constraints imposed on them by family commitments. Without the assistance of wives many small businesses would not survive (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981; Goffee and Scase, 1985). In t h i s study the wives assisted with the household but also ran errands (going to the bank, post o f f i c e , buying supplies) and taking messages, work which the husbands considered to be very important for the business. Having the extra assistance to r e l y on i n turn allowed these entrepreneurs to operate businesses from outside the home and to e s t a b l i s h more demanding enterprises which often do not allow for a f l e x i b l e work schedule. Although female respondents stated that they also received assistance from t h e i r husbands, the amount of work was less since t h e i r husbands had f u l l - t i m e jobs, unlike the wives of the entrepreneurs who were working part-time or not at a l l . Another important factor that seems to influence the decision to make the venture the f o c a l point of l i f e i s the age of the children. This was i l l u s t r a t e d i n the following comment, \"business comes f i r s t , the age of the kids influenced why I started my business..they are older now..I would not r i s k i t i f the kids were younger.\" (male respondent with teenaged c h i l d r e n ) . This male entrepreneur established a business around which he managed family l i f e . This arrangement was possible because he had teenaged children who were f a i r l y independent and did not require very much time commitment from t h e i r parents. The same pattern of arranging family obligations around the business emerged for some of the female respondents i n t h i s 119 group. This type of arrangement was also influenced by the ages of the children. Some of the female entrepreneurs established t h e i r ventures for s e l f - f u l f i l m e n t and as a way of surmounting constrains imposed by domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and c h i l d rearing. After years of committing themselves to c h i l d care, these women sought self-employment to f u l f i l personal ambitions. These female entrepreneurs had older children and therefore f e l t that operating t h e i r businesses from outside the home and revolving t h e i r family around the enterprise was j u s t i f i e d . In her sample, Scott (1986) found that men and women may have d i f f e r e n t p r i o r i t i e s as business owners, with men stressing \"being t h e i r own boss\", and women placing more emphasis on \"personal challenge\" and \" s a t i s f a c t i o n \" depending on t h e i r stage of the l i f e - c y c l e . This trend also emerged for some of the female respondents with older children who sought s e l f -employment for personal s a t i s f a c t i o n and placed t h e i r businesses i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s . I t was in t e r e s t i n g to observe that the two women who operated enterprises from outside the home and who had younger children, claimed to have f a l l e n into t h e i r present business s i t u a t i o n . One of them did not have a c h i l d when she established her business. The other respondent did not expect to receive such large work contracts which eventually forced her to relocate her business outside the home. Of i n t e r e s t here i s that these two women were restructuring t h e i r enterprises into home-based ones so that they could organize them around t h e i r f a m i l i e s . This point i s i l l u s t r a t e d 120 in the following comment: \"I am aiming for a smaller business so that I can operate from home and have more f l e x i b l e time to be available for my family.\" (female respondent from business-centred group with children under the age of three) The examples of the two female entrepreneurs i l l u s t r a t e that family duties do a f f e c t entrepreneurs and appear to influence women to a larger extent. Part of the reason for these women to be more affected by family obligations, stems from the fact that the male entrepreneurs i n the same group had spouses working part-time or not at a l l . They could r e l y on them to attend to family needs. Also women performed more housework than t h e i r male counterparts. Two of the male respondents with a fu l l - t i m e working spouse divided housework equally with t h e i r wives. This occurred only for three out of the s i x women with a fu l l - t i m e working spouse. Confl i c t - r i d d e n , Balance and Family-centred Groups A l l three respondents (two females and one male) from the family-centred group revolved t h e i r home-based businesses around t h e i r f a m i l i e s , which i s consistent with the typology. Two out of the f i v e male respondents from the balance group organized t h e i r businesses around the family. They are both home-based and have working wives (one part-time the other full-time) which explains why they are more l i k e l y to choose family as the foc a l point. However, being home-based does not always set the stage for organizing business around the family. One of the three male respondents who revolved the family around the business was home-based. This was possible since he had a nanny who looked 121 aft e r his seven month old baby. The other two entrepreneurs who were not home-based, organized business around the family. Among the female respondents (who were a l l home-based) two out of three organized t h e i r businesses around the family. The other female respondent, despite operating her venture from home, revolved her family around the business because her work involved a l o t of t r a v e l l i n g . Half (4 out of 8) of the female respondents from the co n f l i c t - r i d d e n group organized t h e i r business around the family ( a l l the females except for one were home-based). Two females who were home-based claimed to organize business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s around each other. The other two respondents revolved t h e i r family around the business (one was not home-based) . Among the two male respondents i n t h i s group who were both home-based, one revolved his business around the family the other did not. The l a t t e r respondent had a wife working part-time to r e l y on assistance. This s i t u a t i o n of being home-based and therefore i n a pos i t i o n to organize the family around the business i s s i m i l a r to the male respondent i n the balance group (with a seven month old baby) who also made his home-based business the foc a l point because he had a nanny to r e l y on looking a f t e r his son. This s i t u a t i o n does not present i t s e l f to the home-based women i n a l l four groups because they had f u l l -time working husbands and did not have a nanny (except for one female respondent i n the business-centred group who was not home-based). 122 Respondents from the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n , balance and family-centred groups tended to revolve t h e i r businesses around the family because they placed family obligations i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s . This p r i o r i t y was lar g e l y influenced by the age of the children who tended to be younger than those i n the business- centred group. Respondents had to rearrange t h e i r work schedule and adapt t h e i r enterprise to t h e i r c h i l d rather than the c h i l d to the business. In t h e i r case, being home-based and having a f l e x i b l e work schedule allowed them to revolve t h e i r enterprises around family duties and made a l l o c a t i o n of business and family time more manageable. Factors explaining why t h i s type of organization occurs are: being home-based, having younger children and a f l e x i b l e work schedule. These factors also distinguished the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n , balance, and family-centred groups from the business-centred group, who on the other hand, were not f l e x i b l e , operated a business from outside the home, had a spouse working part-time to manage the household and had older children who could look aft e r themselves. However, gender differences did emerge between male and female respondents within and between the four groups. The male respondents had a wife working part-time or not at a l l , and i n some cases a nanny to r e l y on looking a f t e r the household and c h i l d care. Unlike the female entrepreneurs who did not have a nanny or receive the same amount of assistance. Are Businesses Separated or Blended with Family? Another way i n which entrepreneurs organize t h e i r family 123 and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i s by either blending or separating t h e i r business and family l i v e s . Combining business and family involves l i n k i n g the two so that there i s a rela t i o n s h i p between them. Separating them means that there i s no involvement of the family i n the a c t i v i t i e s of the enterprise (Belcourt, et a l . , 1991). The following r e s u l t s are based on responses from question 61b. Table 7. Percentages Separate Blend Each other Business-centred 58% 37% 5% Family-centred 3 3% 67% 0 Conflict-ridden 10% 90% 0% Balance group 12% 63% 25% More than half of the entrepreneurs i n the business-centred group separated t h e i r business and family l i v e s . Respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n , family-centred, and balance groups tended to blend t h e i r business and family a c t i v i t i e s . Explanations f o r Separating Business and Family R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s Some of the factors presented e a r l i e r help to explain why respondents i n the business-centred group opted for separating t h e i r businesses from t h e i r f a m i l i e s . These self-employed individuals ran t h e i r ventures from outside the home. Hence, having a physical separation from family and business makes i t easier to keep the two environments separate. This i s r e f l e c t e d i n the following comment: 124 \" i t i s possible to separate the two since I do not work from the home, and do most of my work i n my o f f i c e \" (female respondent from business-centred group, with two young chil d r e n ) . However, some respondents i n the business-centred group continued to separate t h e i r business and family duties, even when they were home-based. Among the seven male respondents who separated the two spheres, two were home-based. This i s because substances used i n the business were hazardous to t h e i r children ( i e . autoglass and repair business). Five of the male respondents who blended the two environments tended to be home-based. Two of these respondents were not home-based but s t i l l blended the two spheres. For them blending involved taking children with them on d e l i v e r i e s or running errands, since t h e i r wives worked f u l l - t i m e . Generally being home-based or located outside the home influences whether a business w i l l be blended or separated. Upon examining the seven women i n the business-centred group, four of them separated the two environments. However, among them two respondents (despite being home-based) separated business and family since the type of business they ran was inappropriate f o r blending (both ran businesses that involved writing reports and organizing workshops). Three of the women who blended the two spheres s t i l l claimed to l i n k the two environments (despite not being home-based). Some of the strategies these women employed to blend the two environments can be considered unique to them as women. This i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n the following comment, 125 \"I l e t them get involved i n my business so they can see how much I do..the support of my v i s i o n from the childr e n i s important so they are not angry when you cannot be there a l l the time..and also they see that they are taking a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to help me with my success.\" (Female respondent from the business-centred group, with two teenaged children) For these female entrepreneurs i t appears that blending or separating family from business i s influenced by the age of the children. The above female respondent had teenaged daughters and, because of t h e i r age, was able to involve them i n her v i s i o n of success so that they would be more understanding when she invested so much time into her business. This business woman also used her children's support as a resource to gain more cooperation and assistance within the household, which i s an example of both family labour at home and i n the enterprise. Many of the female respondents r e l i e d on t h e i r children to a s s i s t them because t h e i r husbands were working f u l l - t i m e . One respondent from the family-centred group who was home-based was forced to separate the business from her family i n order to keep peace with her husband. \"My husband does not l i k e to see my business s t u f f around the house..in the morning when i t i s cheaper to make phone c a l l s i t gets my husband mad.. .my business has to be i n v i s i b l e for him..he wants me to be there for him when he i s home..so i t s d i f f i c u l t to separate the two...I am influenced by him to organize my work around him when he i s home. \"(Female i n family-centred group with teenaged children) I t was easier for t h i s home-based woman to separate her business from her family because she had a teenaged son who did not need much looking a f t e r . Her s i t u a t i o n i s one where her husband who was older (60) and more t r a d i t i o n a l i n his views 126 about the ro l e of wife and family, believed that when he came home his wife should be there for him. He did not want to see any business work i n the house because a \"house i s a house and work i s work.\" He believed i n a clea r separation of work outside the home and the family. However, for t h i s woman i t was d i f f i c u l t to completely separate her business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s from the home (when her husband was present) because the nature of her business required her to make c a l l s during her family's breakfast and dinner time because i t was cheaper and due to d i f f e r e n t time zones. She i s s t i l l i n the process of solving her dilemma of t r y i n g to meet both family and business duties. Blending Business and Family: Family-centred, Co n f l i c t - r i d d e n and Balance Groups The respondents from the family-centred, c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n and balance groups tended to blend t h e i r family and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Six out of the eight respondents i n the balance group combined the two environments (four of the f i v e males and two of the three females) . Two (one male and one female) respondents i n the family-centred group blended the two spheres. The other female was forced by her husband to separate her business a c t i v i t i e s from the family (which was i l l u s t r a t e d e a r l i e r ) . A l l respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group except for one, fused the two environments. One reason for blending the two spheres among entrepreneurs i n these groups i s operating home-based businesses. The nature of t h i s type of business encourages an atmosphere of involvement because of the 127 f l e x i b i l i t y afforded by being home-based. Also some of the owners had pre-schoolers at home. Having young children makes i t d i f f i c u l t to separate home from the business sphere, e s p e c i a l l y i f the owners are functioning i n the same environment. Involving children varies according to a c t i v i t i e s appropriate f o r t h e i r age, stage of development and along the l i n e s of t h e i r i n t e r e s t s . This i s demonstrated i n the following comments, \"I have a three year old daughter who wants to be with me., she has her l i t t l e o f f i c e i n mine so we play together..so the children are part of what I am doing ..I bring one of my children with me on t r i p s . \" (female respondent, family-centred group, with a 3 year old child) This female respondent was home-based and looked a f t e r her two-and-a-half year old daughter while she ran her home-based business. Separating the two environments for t h i s entrepreneur would be very d i f f i c u l t and at times even impossible. I t i s therefore i n her int e r e s t to f i n d a way of blending her business with her daughter's a c t i v i t i e s i n order to minimize c o n f l i c t . This i s consistent with Belcourt, et a l . (1991) who found that women who own and mange t h e i r own businesses often combine the roles of spouse and small business owner. This respondent's older son accompanied her on some business t r i p s which was a common way of managing business and family for some of the male respondents as well. A further i l l u s t r a t i o n of blending business and family, yet in a d i f f e r e n t way, i s demonstrated i n the following comment by a male respondent who i s home-based, \"My kids love to p a r t i c i p a t e i n the business: they f i g h t to 128 get the fax..they can t e l l the difference between the type of rings, answer the phone, and take the paper out of the fax to give to me. \"(male i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group with children between the ages of 6-12 and 12-18) This respondent taught his children how to operate some of the business equipment, and they became a resource that assisted him. One woman hired her son to babysit and to a s s i s t i n the housework paying him from her own salary because i t i s \"her r e s p o n s i b i l i t y \" to ensure that the household i s maintained. One female entrepreneur paid her son one cent per l e t t e r he stamped. Another i n t e r e s t i n g way of nurturing a sense of family p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the business was i l l u s t r a t e d by the following comment: \"I get my kids involved: they are hired to do the babysitting for parents that take my classes i n the home.\" Other forms of paid labour by family members (children) i n t h i s sample were answering the phone and making d e l i v e r i e s . This finding i s not uncommon. Women shopkeepers and women who develop piece work businesses frequently involve the children i n the a c t i v i t i e s of the enterprise (Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981). Bertaux found that the French baker r e l i e s on his wife to keep shop for him (cf. Bechhofer and E l l i o t t , 1981). According to a fundamental proposition of the Marxist perspective, the family i n c a p i t a l i s t society i s an e x p l o i t a t i v e i n s t i t u t i o n and the family i s most responsible f or women's oppression. In t h i s s i t u a t i o n , self-employed men gain assistance from t h e i r spouse whom they do not pay and i s considered to be exp l o i t i v e . Zimmer and A l d r i c h (1987) found i n t h e i r study that spouses and children of shopkeepers often work for l i t t l e or no 129 pay during odd hours. However, the findings i n t h i s study reveal that the r e l a t i o n s are not of an e x p l o i t i v e nature i n the degree that Marxists viewed i t , but as Bechhofer and E l l i o t t (1981) describe i n t h e i r own study as \"an extension rather than a substitute for t h e i r own labour.\" Parents i n t h i s sample paid t h e i r children and even self-employed women received much unpaid assistance from t h e i r husbands e s p e c i a l l y i n computer work, o f f i c e set up and i n generating c l i e n t s . E a r l i e r i n t h i s t h e s i s , i t was found that the wife's assistance was considered to be an important contribution to the well being of the male entrepreneurs i n the business-centred group, however some of these wives were getting paid, while others did not have another paid job. This kind of assistance demonstrates how the family i s not only a unit of consumption but also a unit of production for the entrepreneurs i n t h i s sample. These findings compliment those by Bechhofer and E l l i o t t (1981) showing how wives and children are bound together i n earning a l i v i n g . Some of these entrepreneurs (especially women) have to use every means at t h e i r disposal to lower costs, and do so by drawing on a spouse or t h e i r c h i l d . The business owners i n t h i s study reduced costs by having t h e i r children work for t h e i r allowance. Apart from reducing labour costs (family can reduce labour costs since they often work for less than the market wage (Zimmer et a l . , 1987), another reason why family members may be preferred i s because they are more predictable and more r e l i a b l e employees (Zimmer et a l . , 1987). 130 One fundamental difference between the self-employed men and women between and within the groups i s having a part-time spouse or a spouse not working at a l l to r e l y on, which the men and not the women had. This means that women received less assistance from t h e i r husbands compared to male entrepreneurs. I t also explains why the women i n the three groups drew more on t h e i r children's help; the male entrepreneurs did not need to because they had t h e i r wives' assistance. However, of in t e r e s t i s that self-employed husbands with f u l l - t i m e working wives did i n f a c t draw on t h e i r children's assistance. Male and Female Differences f o r Blending Business and Family Although the age and type of business influenced the way business and family were blended, gender also influenced t h i s . Female respondents i n a l l four groups attempted to engage family members i n t h e i r business i n order to gain t h e i r understanding, support, and respect for t h e i r work when they could not immediately spend time with t h e i r f a m i l i e s . This did not emerge for any of the male respondents. For these women i t seems as i f blending became a resource on which they drew to gain more cooperation within the household and acceptance from family members for spending time i n the business. One reason why these female entrepreneurs were more i n c l i n e d to blend the two environments stems from ba r r i e r s women are more l i k e l y to encounter than t h e i r male counterparts. One b a r r i e r i s gender ideology, which t r a d i t i o n a l l y prescribes women's primary duties to be i n c h i l d rearing and i n the home, which affected these 131 women. These women have to j u s t i f y the extra time they devote to t h e i r business to overcome g u i l t f e e l i n g s . These facts are supported by the following, \"I t r y to involve my children so that they can understand what I do, they are more forgiving i f I cannot do something with them\" (female from the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, children aged 6-12) This woman explains the importance of the business to her children i n order to gain t h e i r cooperation. This i n turn makes i t easier for her to devote extra time i n the business without f e e l i n g g u i l t y . An important factor that influences the type of strategies used i n blending business and family i s the age of the children. Other problems s p e c i f i c to women include not being taken seriously i n the business world. This point i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n the following comment: \"I take the kids to functions so they can see me when I speak p u b l i c l y . . they get a perception of me i n public so they can get an impression of me as a business women and they can understand and respect my business more\" (female i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group with c h i l d aged 6-12) In the business world stereotypes portraying women as incompetent, f r a g i l e and incapable are widely known. Consequentially, some of the female respondents challenge these f a l s e images by blending t h e i r business and family a c t i v i t i e s , l i k e taking the family to trade shows so that they can have an image of them as professional woman and not always as mothers. This enables them to gain more support and respect for time spent i n the business and makes i t easier to gain family 132 assistance within the household. Another respondent who i s home-based said, \"there i s a lack of respect from my children and husband..my husband wanted me to get an o f f i c e outside the home..it was not taken seriously because i t was i n the home\" (female respondent from the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). These problems are more common for female entrepreneurs who are home-based. This i s because for one, women i n general are not taken seriously i n the business world and, secondly, home-based businesses are struggling to gain c r e d i b i l i t y i n the business world. Part of t h i s stems from e x i s t i n g stereotypes (which are slowly being challenged) portraying a t y p i c a l home-based business owner as a woman working at her kitchen table dressed i n a robe with a baby on her lap. These portrayals reveal a low professional image of home-based business work when in f a c t most operate very professional businesses with well equipped o f f i c e s (Foster and Orser, 1993), of which I can attest from my own v i s i t s . These stereotypes pose serious problems for woman home-based business owners and can be considered to be problems unique to them. This i s consistent with Belcourt, et a l . (1991) and Goffee and Scase, (1985) who found that being taken seriously i n the business world has emerged as a b a r r i e r for female business owners. However, not much research has dealt with the issue of family members taking female business owners seriously i n t h e i r work. \" I t i s important for children to be raised i n the business environment because i n t h e i r mind my business i s important\" (female i n balance group, one c h i l d aged 6-12) This response demonstrates that gaining respect from family 133 members v i s - a v i s the business i s important for these women and explains why they blend the two worlds. In general since i t i s more d i f f i c u l t to separate business and family when they are functioning i n one location, respondents from the three groups who were home-based preferred to blend the two. This however, does not mean they would favour combining the two, since some business owners, e s p e c i a l l y women, are forced to do so for f i n a n c i a l and family reasons. This i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n the following statements expressed primarily by the female entrepreneurs. \"being at home there i s low overhead....I am more available for my children...you can integrate family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s with work because of being at home.\"(female respondent i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). \"there are pros and cons as children grow older yours and t h e i r needs change..being home-based provides an opportunity to be on s i t e for the kids., i f they need me when they are si c k . But being home-based does not meet my_ needs..I should be downtown where the c l i e n t s come to me\" (female i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). The responses reveal the extent to which some of the s e l f -employed women are influenced by t h e i r family commitments and the l i f e - c y c l e of t h e i r children. What i s i n t e r e s t i n g i n the l a t t e r response i s the aspect of time and change. This respondent r e f l e c t s on how the change of her children's ( l i f e -cycle) influences her business-cycle and her own development. These responses give us insight into how t i g h t l y the two worlds are connected. I t also reminds us that business and family arrangements are i n constant flux and subject to change; i n a few years down the road, these arrangements might be very 134 d i f f e r e n t . Overall the findings here suggest that women entrepreneurs are influenced by the l i f e - c y c l e of t h e i r children more than the male business owners of t h i s sample. This stems from being primarily responsible f o r household duties along with running a business. Regardless of what group the female respondents f a l l into they are the only ones who t a l k about blending business and family i n order to gain family support and cooperation. This was one way these women dealt with feelings of g u i l t for spending long hours i n the business. For the male respondents blending meant taking children on d e l i v e r i e s or have them run errands. This strategy also became a resource on which they drew to obtain assistance from family members, which was also not uncommon for the women respondents. Summary of how business and family are organized To understand how and why entrepreneurs organize t h e i r businesses i n a p a r t i c u l a r way i t i s important to view t h e i r decisions as \"processes\" that l i n k back to the motivation for becoming self-employed. These motivations influence the str u c t u r a l framework entrepreneurs choose for the business l i k e the type of venture, being home-based or operating from outside the home. This type of structure seems to influence whether the business w i l l be organized around the family or whether the family w i l l revolve around the business. I t also has a bearing upon blending or separating business and family a c t i v i t i e s . These findings demonstrate that the age of the children impacts 135 both men and women i n the way they arrange t h e i r enterprise duties, regardless of what group they belong to. However, the l i f e - c y c l e of the children influenced women to a larger extent than men i n the decision to become self-employed. Hence strategies such as blending family and business was more common for women. The findings reveal that regardless of the age of the children, the main motive to become self-employed among men was to 11 be t h e i r own boss.\" Women on the other hand, became s e l f -employed for greater f l e x i b i l i t y to attend to family needs or for \"personal s a t i s f a c t i o n \" a f t e r childbearing years. These findings i l l u s t r a t e how gender ideologies, namely the rol e of women as primary care-giver, can a f f e c t the decision of women to become self-employed and why we f i n d gendered differences between male and female entrepreneurs within the groups from the outset. These gendered differences explain the varied strategies they employ i n organizing business and family. Bearing primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f or children explains how and why some of the women opted for organizing t h e i r business around family and blend the two environments more than t h e i r male counterparts. Women also organized t h e i r business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s around the family because they did not have a spouse working part-time or not at a l l to r e l y on. That women are expected to assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for housework, explains why they f i n d themselves i n a s i t u a t i o n of operating a home-based business where business i s secondary and therefore revolves around the family. Women blended t h e i r families for d i f f e r e n t reasons than t h e i r male 136 counterpart; to gain family support and to overcome problems of not being taken seriously. Certain strategies of blending the two spheres for women resembled those of men. Similar to t h e i r male counterparts they took t h e i r children with them on d e l i v e r i e s or had them run errands. The men i n t h i s sample tended to organize t h e i r family around business a c t i v i t i e s primarily because they could r e l y on t h e i r spouse to manage the household. This explains why some of the men were able to operate a business from outside the home and therefore separate the two spheres. Overall, gendered expectations of men's and women's roles within the household seems to influence the whole process that leads to the decision of organizing business and family l i f e i n varied ways. What are the E f f e c t s of t r y i n g to Balance Business and Family Responsibi1ities? One can already make inferences about the kind of problems the business owners i n the four groups would encounter. However, using open-ended questions on the same issue one can gain further insight into t h e i r predicaments. Obstacles expressed by respondents i n the balance group sounded more l i k e the ones one would expect respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group to be experiencing. Hearing t h e i r own voices on issues of managing business and family l i f e which were inconsistent with the L i k e r t questions demonstrates the complexity of t h e i r s i t u a t i o n and the inconsistent ways that they perceive i t . 137 Are there problems Encountered i n Balancing Business and Family R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? Respondents were d i r e c t l y asked whether they experienced problems juggling business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The entrepreneurs from a l l the groups, except for the balance group, expressed d i f f i c u l t y i n coordinating business and family which i s consistent with several studies (Scott, 1986; Stevenson, 1984; Stoner, et a l . , 1990; Brown, 1988; Goffee and Scase, 1985; Belcourt, et a l . , 1991; C o l l e r e t and Aubry, 1988). However, most of these studies examined female entrepreneurs only. Some of the r e p l i e s i n t h i s study yielded contradictory responses. For example, 80% of the respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group claimed to experience problems. This however means that 20% of the entrepreneurs did not. This occurred for one female respondent whose response i n the L i k e r t questions revealed c o n f l i c t . However, i n the open-ended questions she claimed to experience c o n f l i c t only \"sometimes.\" The same inconsistency was found among respondents i n the balance group. Although the majority (75%) claimed not to experience problems, 25% did. Responses from one male entrepreneur were contradictory when the two sets of questions were compared. The typology suggested that t h i s respondent does not experience c o n f l i c t , yet i n the open-ended questions he claims to experience c o n f l i c t i n coordinating h i s business and family l i f e . This inconsistency also occurred for one female respondent who answered \"sort of\" to the open-ended questions around the same issues of meeting business and family demands. 138 It i s important to stress that t h i s combination of measures show the complex and contradictory pressures on women's and men's l i v e s and the inconsistent ways that people sometimes perceive them. F i f t y - e i g h t percent of the business-centred group said they experienced problems. 67% (two out of the three respondents) i n the family-centred group experienced problems. One of the male respondents who was primarily responsible for the household asserted that he experienced no problems. This can be explained by the fa c t that he did not receive enough work contracts, hence, could f i t domestic duties into his schedule. The dilemmas experienced vary between male and female respondents within and between the groups. They can be explained by factors such as being home-based, the age of the children, and by gender and are discussed i n greater d e t a i l below. The Type of Problems Experienced i n Coordinating Business and Family R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s Not Spending enough Time with the Family Both male and female respondents i n the business-centred group face the dilemma of not spending enough time with t h e i r children. The reasons for these d i f f i c u l t i e s l i e s i n the long hours they spend i n t h e i r businesses which they operate away from the home. But female respondents from t h i s group perceived and experienced not spending time with t h e i r family d i f f e r e n t l y from the male entrepreneurs. One problem that emerged i n the responses and was unique to the female respondents, was the f e e l i n g of g u i l t . Several female respondents i n t h i s group 139 confessed: \"There i s an int e r n a l c o n f l i c t which involves g u i l t i n that I am not available for my family as I would l i k e to be. But I enjoy both working and being a parent. I am s t i l l dealing with t h i s problem\" (female, business-centred group with young k i d s ) . \"Its hard. ..sometimes my kids would say I need to see you..you work too hard you should stop and come and see my championship ...you are pulled and you have to balance even i f you don't f i n d the time you just take the time... sometimes I have to leave my family to meet c l i e n t s at eight o'clock at night so i t s a very fi n e l i n e . . i t s a judgement call..what i s more important i n a given si t u a t i o n . . I think everything can be worked o u t . . i t i s important that we can see the long term benefits of the business and keeping family needs i n place\" (female i n business-centred group with teenaged c h i l d r e n ) . \" I t has limi t e d me and increased my stress l e v e l because deep down when I am working I would rather be with them. Also I f e e l g u i l t y when I am away from home..my f i v e year old daughter complains and asks my husband where I am\" (She also says that the \"type of business I am aiming for would be different..probably aimed at large contract work since there i s more money i n i t \" (female respondent i n business-centred group). \" G u i l t i s the way my family obligations have affected me..I would l i k e to contribute to the family more\" (female respondent i n business-centred group). One might argue that most working mothers experience problems of g u i l t (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Timson, 1993). However, t h i s i s es p e c i a l l y pronounced for cer t a i n business owners who operate t h e i r enterprises away from home. This i s because self-employed individuals are known to work over 50 hours a week i n t h e i r businesses, which i s often more than working women i n general. Also, most women i n t h i s sample, though not uncommon among women business owners i n general, tend to form unincorporated businesses. This means they run the r i s k of having personal assets seized i f they have a loan. This 140 becomes an additional motivation and incentive to work harder and explains to some extent why so many women work long hours i n t h e i r businesses. Working women i n general are not faced with these s i t u a t i o n s . The fac t that most of the female respondents i n the business-centred group worked several hours i n t h e i r businesses, away from t h e i r f a m i l i e s , explains why they f e l t g u i l t y . These findings p a r a l l e l e d those of Neider's (1987) study where women claimed to be dealing with issues of g u i l t f or neglecting t h e i r children which was also one of the four problems experienced by dual-career marriages i n Stanfield's (1985) study. Normative s o c i e t a l expectations of women as \"primary care-giver\" can explain why feelings of g u i l t often crept into the picture for women and not the male respondents i n t h i s group. This finding i s explained by the c u l t u r a l mandate d i c t a t i n g that the family should be a woman's p r i o r i t y . Since these women were unable to devote the \"expected\" time with t h e i r family, they f e l t bad for not complying with what i s actually expected of them. The male respondents i n the business-centred group experienced problems of a d i f f e r e n t kind. Their d i f f i c u l t i e s centred on not being able to take time o f f from the business to spend with t h e i r f a m i l i e s . The hinderance was the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of being the sole bread winner as well as the development stage of the enterprise. These findings were consistent with Stoner, et a l . (1990) who found that time c o n f l i c t s were among the four top-ranked problems. Here are some of t h e i r voices on t h i s 141 issue, \"Because we have been under such f i n a n c i a l pressure i t has necessitated more work on my part..I have less s t a f f so I have to do more work..this i s where the d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n comes out since I would l i k e to spend more time with my family\" (male i n business-centred group). \"My business i s very time constraining because my customers are very demanding, .they require immediate service, . i f the glass i n t h e i r car i s broken I have to f i x i t immediately..so i f someone c a l l me to do the job I have to give up what I am doing with the kids and work on i t immediately otherwise I loose a customer which I can't afford to do es p e c i a l l y since the business I am i n i s tough and very competitive\" (male i n the business-centred group). These male entrepreneurs operated businesses that did not have f l e x i b l e work hours. They were constrained by the fixe d work hours of t h e i r enterprise and could not accommodate family a c t i v i t i e s into t h e i r schedule. The physical separation of family and work r e s u l t i n g i n feelings of g u i l t among the women and the problem of integrating family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s into the business schedule were problems unique to men and women i n the business-centred group. The fac t that gender ideology prescribes women to be primarily responsible for the household duties explains why they were b a t t l i n g feelings of g u i l t . Because men had wives (working part-time or not at a l l ) to r e l y on looking a f t e r children explains why they operated businesses that were more demanding and why they could afford to spend so much time at work. The findings suggest that working long hours i n the enterprise and devoting less time to household a c t i v i t i e s are the factors that explain the dilemmas s p e c i f i c to the respondents i n the business-centred group. 142 Creating Boundaries Respondents i n the family-centred and c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n groups experienced problems d i f f e r e n t from those of the entrepreneurs i n the business-centred group. Their dilemma was creating boundaries between t h e i r business and family l i v e s . Creating boundaries i s an acute problem to home-based business owners because work impinges d i r e c t l y on home-life. A home-based business compresses two worlds into one adding an extra measure of s t r a i n to both. These problems emerged i n the form of psychological, temporal, and physical separation. This i s explained by factors such as being home-based, having a f l e x i b l e work schedule and young children i n the home. The following comments r e f l e c t the problems of creating boundaries on a psychological l e v e l . \"My greatest problem i s creating boundaries..when I am on a business c a l l . , then I have to cook supper..I have to be more clea r with time..when i t s time to be with the kids I should not answer the phone\" (female, i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). \" i t s r e a l l y d i f f i c u l t . . y o u always f e e l g u i l t y doing what your not doing, .when I work I f e e l g u i l t y that I am not spending time with my family and when I am with my family I f e e l g u i l t y that I should be working i n the business...you f e e l torn..I would be happier i f I could hi r e more people and work half the time to balance the two\" (female i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). \" g u i l t i t s l i k e a r o l l e r coaster: when I spend too much time with the family I get g u i l t f e e l i n g that I am not working i n my business and when I am working i n the business I get g u i l t feelings that I should be spending time with my family\" (male respondent i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). These comments reveal the d i f f i c u l t y i n creating boundaries and appear to stem from the struggle to commit to either family 143 or business under the same roof and dealing with a range of r o l l e r coaster emotions. Operating a business from within the home and having a f l e x i b l e work schedule makes drawing the l i n e much more d i f f i c u l t , e s p e c i a l l y for entrepreneurs with younger children (the majority had at least one c h i l d i n the 6-12 year age group) and not being able to r e l y on a spouse working f u l l -time. From the responses, i t appears that the women are espe c i a l l y affected because the role of mother i s reinforced by being at home and the struggle to know when to stop being a parent and business owner i s more pronounced. They do not have the same assistance with the household compared to t h e i r male counterparts because they have f u l l - t i m e working husbands, unlike t h e i r male counterparts who have part-time or housewives who a s s i s t them. This finding demonstrates how women conform to gender ideology prescribing that housework i s woman's work and how t h i s a f f e c t s women. Some of the problems experienced by these business owners are c r y s t a l l i z e d by P r i e s n i t z (1988) who claims that home-based business owners, es p e c i a l l y women, face dilemmas which are s p e c i f i c to home-based entrepreneurs. These d i f f i c u l t i e s range from becoming side tracked by household tasks, the need to juggle business and family, and fragmented time. This can d i s t r a c t from the business ( P r i e s n i t z , 1988). Another problem i n creating boundaries for home-based business owners i s around time management. The findings reveal that these respondents (mostly women) manipulate time and create temporal segregation of a c t i v i t y . This i s consistent with other 144 findings that women are pre-eminent time-managers i n families (Luxton, 1990). Hall's (1972) study on time management and c o n f l i c t demonstrates that \"simultaneous demands\" are more challenging because they involve p r i o r i t i z a t i o n of tasks to be accomplished within a constrained or lim i t e d amount of time. This s i t u a t i o n i s more common when family and business are operating simultaneously under one roof. Women es p e c i a l l y f i n d themselves i n t h i s s i t u a t i o n because they are primarily responsible for the household. \"Sequential demands\" are demands that can be organized within a larger temporal framework which respondents that are not operating a home-based business are more l i k e l y to be responsible for (H a l l , 1972). The diverse ways in which a c t i v i t i e s are segregated and organized temporally were discussed primarily by the female respondents. They would arrange t h e i r business a c t i v i t i e s around the children's schedules. A few entrepreneurs would perform the tasks that required much concentration when children were sleeping. One respondent said she stamped her l e t t e r s when her daughter was playing at her l i t t l e desk (she also hired her son to stamp and l i c k envelopes at t h i s time). However, not a l l children's a c t i v i t i e s can be organized around a fix e d schedule. For example, women with children under two cannot schedule i n feeding time and know exactly when the baby w i l l feed, sleep or cry. One woman in the business-centred group stated that she has to put her work aside for her teenaged son when he wants to discuss a problem. Dealing with teenagers and t h e i r problems are 145 unpredictable and make creating boundaries between business and family time extremely d i f f i c u l t . One respondent from the family-centred group talked about the d i f f i c u l t i e s of creating \"telephone time\" which she f e l t to be the hardest aspect to separate from family e s p e c i a l l y with a two year old daughter running around the house \" l i k e a monkey\". In her case, important c a l l s keep coming i n just when her daughter wants attention, and she prefers not to have to r e l y on her voice mail answering machine when she i s home. Problems of t r y i n g to create physical boundaries are e s p e c i a l l y acute for home-based business owners. P r i e z n i t z (1988) found lack of dedicated space for the business to be a common problem c i t e d by her respondents. One entrepreneur i n the family-centred group did not have her own separate o f f i c e and found i t d i f f i c u l t to create boundaries. Her o f f i c e was i n the kitchen which was separated by a small paper wall. \"my o f f i c e i s dispersed i n the kitchen and downstairs I store my s t u f f . . I had my o f f i c e i n the basement before but i t was too dark and i s o l a t i n g , .no windows so I moved upstairs. But where I work now can be an obstacle to e f f i c i e n c y because of the d i s t r a c t i o n s . . . . l i s t e n i n g to my son chew on his cereal i n the morning. .also having to think of space e f f i c i e n t l y within the home prevents me from thinking b i g . \" Another woman who had an o f f i c e on the main f l o o r of the house had her older son a s s i s t her i n creating a physical boundary between her o f f i c e and her younger son which i s manifest i n the following comment: \"my son helps me...he prevents my younger son from disturbing me..so he preoccupies him.\" One woman in the business-centred group who operates her business from the 146 basement creates a physical boundary between her home-based business and her children by t r a i n i n g them to respect her business space. Her children know that when the o f f i c e door i s closed \"mom\" i s not to be disturbed and no friends are allowed over to play. What we learn from these responses i s that balancing business and family i s a complex process that involves a l o t of s t r a t e g i c planning. The findings reveal the d i f f e r e n t ways of segregating a c t i v i t i e s : either s p a t i a l l y , p h y s i c a l l y , or temporarily. We also discover that these entrepreneurs, e s p e c i a l l y those operating businesses from the home and who are women, experience c o n f l i c t to a larger degree than t h e i r male counterparts. The f a c t that they have more to juggle because of family commitments explains why t h e i r s i t u a t i o n appears to be c o n f l i c t u a l . This makes coordinating t h e i r business and family a c t i v i t i e s more d i f f i c u l t and s t r e s s f u l than those of men. Coordinating Business and Family R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s Another problem that emerged among the female respondents i n the family-centred and c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n groups was coordinating business obligations so that they did not i n t e r f e r e with family commitments. This type of coordination became a complex juggling act, e s p e c i a l l y for women with young children. This i s obvious i n the following responses. \"to balance how much work you take from the c l i e n t so that i t compliments family needs..its a struggle i n my work because sometimes work can be very demanding and very challenging since I am creating things i n my business..so a l l t h i s has to be balanced with family needs., i t i s important for me to be balanced because from there 147 everything else gets balanced, the mother i s the coordinator\" (female respondent i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, 6-12 yr o l d ) . Another women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group says, \"Having to juggle a l o t of things a l l at one family and meeting c l i e n t s needs..when you have a home o f f i c e you focus on a l o t of things and you can loose your focus..you have to give up some of that focus because of a l l the things that surround you...you have so much to juggle that i t can become an interruption i t s e l f just thinking about i t \" These d i f f i c u l t i e s stem from being f u l l y responsible for the household which i n turn constrained the business a c t i v i t i e s of the female entrepreneurs. The business work of these women i s limit e d because they have to be se l e c t i v e with the type of contracts they accept so that the work would not in t e r f e r e with family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . This juggling act i s es p e c i a l l y cumbersome i f t h e i r goal i s to achieve an equilibrium between the demands of the business and the household. These business women have f u l l - t i m e working husbands and cannot r e l y on them to look a f t e r the children, unlike the male entrepreneurs who can re l y on t h e i r wives (even those who have f u l l - t i m e working wives). This s i t u a t i o n explains why more women than men experience problems of juggling business and family and why t h e i r voices and not those of the male respondents are heard on t h i s issue. No Time f o r Self A problem that i s unique to the female respondents i n the co n f l i c t - r i d d e n group was having too much work to do i n both business and household. These findings are consistent with 148 Stoner and Charle's, (1990); and Longstrech et a l ' s . , (1987), where female owners of small businesses experienced s i g n i f i c a n t c o n f l i c t between t h e i r work and home r o l e s . Although not reported as a major b a r r i e r , women respondents from Goffee and Scase's (1985) study claimed that they encountered more c o n f l i c t between meeting business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than t h e i r male counterparts. I t i s s i g n i f i c a n t to note that eight of the ten respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group were women. One female respondent from t h i s group described her c o n f l i c t as \"being everywhere for everyone at the same time except for me.\" \"absolutely..I cannot commit myself to anything and I don't get the support I need..if I had a wife to help with the family i t would be easier\" (female respondent i n c o n f l i c t -ridden group). The need for a wife was also expressed among female business owners i n Belcourt et a l . ' s (1991) study. The comment r e f l e c t s the stereotypical notions of a \"wife\" being associated with the home and shows how i t i s perpetuated, even by the women themselves. Another female respondent shared her story about the time she devotes to her parents and s i b l i n g . \"yes I helped my brother through his l a s t year as he was dying of cancer, my parents are e l d e r l y I spent hours away from my business t a l k i n g to doctors and taking them to the ho s p i t a l \" (female respondent i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). This response i s s i g n i f i c a n t because i t demonstrates that the i l l n e s s of a family member or the care of el d e r l y parents are r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s that often tend to f a l l on women (cf. Luxton et a l . , 1990). Caring for el d e r l y parents can make enormous time demands on individuals (Meissner, et a l . , 1975). 149 It i s i n t e r e s t i n g to note that t h i s business woman hired outside help to a s s i s t her with the household and therefore did not devote many hours to \"domestic chores.\" However, she spent several hours a day on family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (helping her brother through h i s l a s t year of cancer and caring for e l d e r l y parents by taking them to the doctor) which li m i t e d her time for her business, her children and husband. These demands produced a s i t u a t i o n where time commitments to family and business were so great they interfered with both spheres. The problems s p e c i f i c to these women i n c o n f l i c t stem from demands of multiple roles which generate overload \"having too much or too many things to do\" (Belcourt et a l . , 1991). \"Overload\" refers to a number of s o c i a l roles an in d i v i d u a l i s simultaneously enacting (Falkenberg and Monachello, 1990) where involvement i n one role becomes more d i f f i c u l t because of time commitments i n another (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Because the respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group devoted more hours to housework than entrepreneurs i n the other three groups and worked f u l l - t i m e i n t h e i r businesses, they were constrained and experienced much c o n f l i c t . The above assumption i s supported by Burke and Bradshaw (1981) who found that the work-home ro l e c o n f l i c t was p o s i t i v e l y related to the number of hours worked per week among dual career women. One reason why t h i s group performed more housework than the other groups was because the majority of the respondents were women (8 out of 10). I t i s s i g n i f i c a n t to recognize that the group who performed the lea s t 150 amount of housework was the business-centred group with the majority of males belonging to i t . Since there are id e o l o g i c a l expectations that dictate that women should be primarily responsible for household and child-care, many women f i n d themselves conforming to these expectations. Family commitments can explain why women i n t h i s sample and i n si m i l a r studies experienced tension between t h e i r personal and business l i v e s (Neider, 1987; Belcourt, et a l . , 1991). This finding demonstrates that an inequitable d i v i s i o n of labour within the household between the self-employed men and women within t h i s sample s t i l l e x i s t s . Further, i t i l l u s t r a t e s that normative expectations of men and women are s t i l l very much gendered with respect to the domestic d i v i s i o n of labour, which Epstein (1977) also found i n her study. In addition to housework, respondents in the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group had two or more children. I t i s inte r e s t i n g to note that the two men i n t h i s sample with three or more children f e l l into the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group. Hence, having more children increases the domestic work load. These findings are consistent with Keith and Schafer (1980) who found that higher l e v e l s of work-family role c o n f l i c t were experienced for larger f a m i l i e s . Also 7 out of 10 respondents of t h i s sample had children i n the 6-12 age bracket which made juggling the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of both business and family more d i f f i c u l t . This i s consistent with Greenhaus and Kopelman (1981) who found that parents of younger children experienced more ro l e c o n f l i c t than parents of older children. For a l l these reasons one can 151 assume that t h i s group experiences c o n f l i c t to a larger degree than the other groups. Overall these findings suggest that the experiences of coordinating business and family obligations among female entrepreneurs i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group are not much d i f f e r e n t from those of other women i n dual-career marriages (Falkenberg and Monachello, 1990; Holahan and G i l b e r t 1976). Family obligations Respondents were d i r e c t l y asked whether family obligations affected t h e i r businesses i n any way. Findings reveal that generally respondents from a l l four groups admitted to family a c t i v i t i e s a f f e c t i n g them. This finding i s inconsistent with the responses from the L i k e r t questions. Surprisingly, four out of the f i v e male respondents from the balance group stated that family obligations affected them. Moreover, a l l three female respondents i n the balance group r e p l i e d \"sort of\" to the set of open-ended questions on the same issue. However, i n the L i k e r t questions they contradicted themselves. Inconsistencies also occurred i n the responses by the entrepreneurs i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group where some respondents claimed that family did not a f f e c t them. Among them one male respondent said family obligations did not i n t e r f e r e with his business, and one female responded \"sometimes.\" However, i n the L i k e r t questions, responses were opposite to the ones stated above. A l l the entrepreneurs i n the family-centred group admitted 152 to family a f f e c t i n g them which i s consistent with t h e i r responses from the L i k e r t questions. However, responses from open-ended questions revealed how and why family obligations effected these owners which the L i k e r t questions did not capture. Nine out of the nineteen respondents i n the business-centred group claimed not to be affected by family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . However, eight of them were, and one respondent r e p l i e d \"sort of.\" Among those affected were four out of the seven women and four out of the twelve men. I t i s surprising to f i n d that according to the material drawn from other questions i n the same data set, nearly half of the business-centred group was affected by family obligations. However, responses from the L i k e r t questions suggested that t h e i r businesses influenced family a c t i v i t i e s and not the reverse. These contradictory responses demonstrate that coordinating business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i s a l o t more d i f f i c u l t than people imagine or are w i l l i n g to admit to themselves or others. I t also stresses the need to ask questions i n d i f f e r e n t ways to adequately capture the outcomes of coordinating business and family among t h i s sample of entrepreneurs. Through the responses from open-ended questions we learn that the three most common ways i n which family obligations affected respondents i n a l l four groups are feelings of g u i l t , involvement with children's 153 a c t i v i t i e s and business expansion. Their dilemmas around these issues are examined below. Feelings of G u i l t Respondents i n the business-centred group said they were affected by family a c t i v i t i e s . One respondent disagreed on a l l three L i k e r t questions asking whether family affected her business and agreed on a l l three questions asking whether her business affected her family. Yet i n the open-ended questions, she talk s about how family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s a f f e c t her psychologically i n terms of g u i l t because she does not spend enough time with her children. This pattern of inconsistent responses also occurred with two other female entrepreneurs. One of the female respondents had teenaged children and the other had young children under f i v e . The l a t t e r respondent seems to be affected by g u i l t more than the former respondent. This business woman confessed that she could no longer bear hearing from her husband that her f i v e year old daughter keeps asking him \"when i s mummy coming home?\" and \"why i s mummy not home?\" She was deeply affected by t h i s psychologically to the extent that she i s reducing her workload and restructuring her business so she can operate i t from the home. I t i s not surprising to f i n d that women were affected i n t h i s way, which i s consistent with other research. However, i t i s important not to overshadow the response from one of the male respondents (with young children) who also claimed to be affected psychologically by family commitments i n the same way as the women above. 154 Involvement with Children's A c t i v i t i e s : Family-centred f C o n f l i c t - ridden and Balance Groups The small business owners from the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n , family-centred and balance groups a l l expressed concerns about involvement with children's a c t i v i t i e s . Even two of the entrepreneurs from the business-centred group were affected i n t h i s way. One respondent said the following: \" d e f i n i t e l y ..there are a l l the a c t i v i t i e s kids are involved in..there i s a big time commitment with them..school a c t i v i t i e s a l l e f f e c t s the way you do your business., the c l i e n t s you take based on the commitment of the job and the hours you work...the age the kids are i n now i s more demanding because they are involved i n a l o t of a c t i v i t i e s with school, e s p e c i a l l y since the cut back i n school so we have to get them involved outside of school i n extra a c t i v i t i e s . . .you have to time to spend with them so you know what they are up to\" (female respondent i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, children ages 6-12 y r ) . \" i n a sense ...determining my work schedule..yes i f I did not have kids I would probably be busier and take more holidays\" (male business owner i n the balance group with two ch i l d r e n ) . The responses reveal how involvement with children's a c t i v i t i e s impacts the time these entrepreneurs can spend i n t h e i r business; t h i s makes time management more d i f f i c u l t . However, answers from the L i k e r t questions did not capture the obstacles preoccupation with children's a c t i v i t i e s can place on the business l i v e s of these entrepreneurs. One male respondent from the business-centred group consistently disagreed on a l l the L i k e r t questions asking whether family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s affected h i s business. Yet i n the open-ended questions, he claims to have worked less hours i n 155 his venture because of his children's a c t i v i t i e s . The same pattern of inconsistent responses emerged from another male entrepreneur who closed his restaurant on Sundays to spend time with his family. These examples demonstrate how family a c t i v i t i e s can a f f e c t business hours and the inconsistent ways these entrepreneurs perceive these pressures. What the responses for the open-ended questions also reveal i s that time invested i n children's a c t i v i t i e s i s influenced by the age of the children. The business owners had to be se l e c t i v e with the type of c l i e n t s they chose, so that they could be f l e x i b l e enough with t h e i r work to also accommodate t h e i r children's schedules into t h e i r work l i v e s . There did not appear to be gender differences i n some of the ways children's a c t i v i t i e s affected the respondent's business. Similar to the women, the men seemed to take an active r o l e i n r a i s i n g t h e i r children, not a passive role with l i t t l e involvement which i s often associated with watching tv while children played on t h e i r own. Another way i n which children influenced the enterprises of these entrepreneurs was business expansion. This i s examined below. Business Expansion Postponing expansion of the business i n order to spend more time with t h e i r children was a common problem expressed among the business owners i n the conf1ict-ridden and family-centred groups and i s consistent with both sets of questions. However, an unexpected finding was that four out of the f i v e male 156 respondents i n the balance group claimed that family obligations influenced t h e i r decisions to expand t h e i r ventures. Although the entrepreneurs from t h i s group had businesses that were ripe for expansion, they did not expand because they had children under the age of twelve. This information was captured i n the responses from the open-ended questions. I t i s important to note how t h i s combination of measures shows that for some entrepreneurs i t i s very clear i n t h e i r minds how family or business i s affected by time a l l o c a t i o n i n one sphere or another. Yet for other business owners these pressures are not well defined. Yet another surprising finding was two of the four male respondents i n the business-centred group confessing that they would l i k e to expand t h e i r businesses. This however, was not possible because of family obligations. Here responses from other questions yielded inconsistent responses. One owner strongly disagreed on two statements, \"family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s took up time he would l i k e to spend i n the business\" and \"household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s took time away from his business.\" However, i n the responses from the open-ended questions we learn about t h i s business owner's i n a b i l i t y to expand his enterprise because of his seven month old baby. Another male entrepreneur from the same group confessed that he \"would be a l o t more aggressive take more r i s k s and make more money\" had i t not been for his family commitments. This i s an important comment since \" r i s k taking\" behaviour i s often associated with expansion. 157 One of the two male entrepreneurs i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group also responded d i f f e r e n t l y when the open-ended and L i k e r t questions were compared. He answered \"no\" on the open-ended question which asked whether or not family obligations affected him. Yet h i s answers from the L i k e r t questions were contrary to the open-ended ones. Further probing led to a discussion about him wanting to expand his business and h i s decision not to because of his commitment to coaching his son's hockey games. The responses reveal that generally entrepreneurs with young children (under 12) are unable to expand t h e i r businesses. We learn that since children of t h i s age group require more attention, these entrepreneurs chose to opt for the status quo i n t h e i r businesses. Some male entrepreneurs value increased involvement with children's a c t i v i t i e s more than expanding t h e i r businesses. This i s consistent with Pleck's finding (1985) on husbands increasing t h e i r time i n child-care. However, one must also recognize that the f i n a n c i a l p osition of these entrepreneurs influenced t h e i r decisions as well. Again, i t i s important to emphasize the need for further probing and asking several questions. Women i n the family-centred and c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n groups were also affected by t h e i r children i n terms of business expansion. They postponed business expansion u n t i l t h e i r children reached an age when business commitments would not challenge family arrangements. This expansion postponement i s made obvious i n the following statement. 158 \" I f I did not have a family I would concentrate more time i n the business, .but we chose that we want to invest time i n the family..we could expand i f we wanted to\" (male, balance group with children between the ages of 3-6). \"Yes..if I did not have a family I would probably s o c i a l i z e more..I never thought of that..I would be doing work with the business... hire more workers to do data entry I would be busier and would not be juggling family and business. ... I see more work i n the business when the kids get into school and s t u f f , that w i l l change and then I w i l l be able to work more l i k e i n an o f f i c e \" (female, family-centred group, children aged 3-6 and 0-3). We saw e a r l i e r that some of the male respondents chose not to expand t h e i r business and rather invest that time i n t h e i r children. But the decision by the female respondents not to develop the enterprise may, on the surface, appear to have been a voluntary choice. However, on closer look i t appeared that many of these female entrepreneurs were indeed constrained by family obligations more than t h e i r male counterparts. As a consequence, these female entrepreneurs constructed t h e i r businesses within the parameters of t h e i r f a m i l i e s . That was not r e a l l y a choice because as women i t was s o c i a l l y expected of them to take t h i s option. The f a c t that negative sanctions continue to be imposed on women for not placing t h e i r family commitments i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s could explain why these female owners chose not to r e j e c t c u l t u r a l expectations of women's roles within the household. This gendered ideology had important implications for the type of enterprises these female entrepreneurs chose, how they conducted t h e i r businesses, and how they made them revolve around t h e i r f a m i l i e s . Their children's l i f e - c y c l e also had a s i g n i f i c a n t impact on t h e i r 159 business a c t i v i t i e s . This r e s u l t i s consistent with that of Brown (1988) where family and personal r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s were ranked t h i r d out of 14 factors perceived as l i m i t i n g business a c t i v i t y . However, i n Brown's study there i s no reference to the age of the children, which the present study demonstrates i s very i n f l u e n t i a l . Balance Group; Experience the l e a s t amount of c o n f l i c t The responses from the L i k e r t scale suggest that entrepreneurs i n the balance group do not experience problems i n r e c o n c i l i n g business and family. But r e l y i n g on the open-ended questions and further probing around these issues we learn that they do i n f a c t experience d i f f i c u l t i e s . Therefore c l a s s i f y i n g them as a group i n balance i s inconsistent with t h e i r responses from the open-ended questions. However, r e l a t i v e to the problems experienced by the respondents i n the other three groups the tension they experience appears to be of a lesser degree. Upon examining the women i n the balance group, we f i n d from the other questions that two out of the three female entrepreneurs i n t h i s group claimed they experienced \"minor\" problems. One female respondent described these problems as follows, \"on occasion there are c e r t a i n events where c h i l d and business c o n f l i c t but my p r i o r i t i e s are clear-my c h i l d comes f i r s t \" (female i n balance group). \"I f there i s an i l l n e s s of the c h i l d I w i l l spend time with him.. I don't see i t as a problem, .the people I market to do not require immediate catering to ..I have structured my business to deal with these types of interruptions\" (female i n balance group) 160 \"I have an employee who i s ph y s i c a l l y present i n the home so that there i s someone home when my son comes home from school\" (female i n balance group). One reason why these business owners encounter only \"minor\" problems compared to the women i n the other groups i s the c l a r i t y of t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s . They structured t h e i r business work around potential family interruptions. One respondent conducted most of her business through the mail so she could be at home. The other hired a female employee so that someone was present i n the house when her son came home from school. By including family needs into t h e i r business plans we see how women i n the balance group managed to reduce tension between business and family commitments compared to women i n the other groups. When one compares t h e i r experiences with those of t h e i r male counterparts, there are gendered differences. Women s t i l l perform more housework than the male entrepreneurs with f u l l -time working wives and those men who e s t a b l i s h t h e i r businesses to accommodate family, have a nanny to a s s i s t them. These gendered differences occur between male and female respondents within a l l four groups. I t i s of i n t e r e s t to note that, among the f i v e male respondents i n t h i s group, two established t h e i r businesses to look a f t e r the children while t h e i r wives worked. Why then does balancing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s not pose a problem for them as i t did for many of the female business owners under s i m i l a r circumstances? For one, these two male entrepreneurs claimed that they divided household chores 161 \"equally\" with t h e i r spouses, hence, had t h e i r wives to a s s i s t them. However, since they were home-based and both had wives with professional jobs (lawyer and s o c i a l worker) earning more than they did one would expect them to perform more household duties, according to resource theory. This i s because these men have fewer resources to bargain with r e l a t i v e to t h e i r wives (income) and being home-based, they were more available to do the housework. Resource theory i n part explained why women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group performed most of the housework under s i m i l a r conditions. However, i n the case of these two male entrepreneurs the resource theory does not hold because the d i v i s i o n of household duties was equal for the men but not for the female entrepreneurs with f u l l - t i m e professional working husbands. Why then do the factors of being home-based and having a f u l l - t i m e working professional spouse earning a higher income not influence the d i v i s i o n of labour i n the household of these two male business owners the same way as i t did for the females i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group? In t h e i r case, gender prescriptions around family obligations explain why even the professional wives of these men s t i l l perform half of the housework as c u l t u r a l expectations of women require them to do so. Apart from having a \"wife\" to r e l y on doing the housework, one of the male respondents had hired a nanny to look a f t e r his son while he worked i n his home-based business. The other male entrepreneur was also considering h i r i n g outside help. The way these two self-employed men arranged t h e i r domestic l i v e s 162 c l e a r l y demonstrates that i t i s not working f u l l - t i m e or having a professional spouse earning more that influences the d i v i s i o n of labour within the household, but rather that housework i s s t i l l woman's work and that gender explains t h i s difference. This gender ideology becomes an advantage for men by minimizing housework and by taking more time for business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and l e i s u r e . Overall, there are several factors that can explain why entrepreneurs i n the balance group might experience c o n f l i c t to a lesser degree than the entrepreneurs from the other groups. For one, individuals from the balance group worked less hours i n t h e i r businesses compared to respondents from the business-centred and c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n groups. They also performed less housework compared to respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n and the family-centred groups. This can be explained i n part by having smaller families (one or two chi l d r e n ) . Also the majority of respondents i n t h i s group were male who had a spouse or a nanny to r e l y on with household chores. Hence they had fewer domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s compared to t h e i r female counterparts i n a l l the groups including the balance group. By combining the two measures one can conclude that women experience more problems i n coordinating business and family needs than t h e i r male counterparts, which stems from gender ideology that prescribes domestic roles for women. These expectations constrain the way these women can run t h e i r businesses. For men, these gendered ideologies can be used to t h e i r advantage because they are 163 excused from taking f u l l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y within the household, even when they est a b l i s h t h e i r businesses to assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for t h e i r children. Therefore, the self-employed men i n t h i s sample can devote more time and energy to the business or to l e i s u r e unlike t h e i r female counterparts. Overall the findings suggest that the respondents i n a l l four groups are affected by the family i n some way. However, the differences l i e i n the extent to which family a f f e c t s them, and i n t h i s study having a spouse to o f f - l o a d family a c t i v i t i e s and household chores determined the degree of c o n f l i c t experienced. This was the main factor distinguishing the male and female entrepreneurs. Last but not least, the findings c l e a r l y demonstrate that understanding the outcomes of coordinating business and family requires many d i f f e r e n t questions on the same issue. The typology did not capture i n depth the c o n f l i c t that business owners are faced with i n the process of meeting the competing demands of business and family. The problems are a l o t more complex and therefore required extensive probing and many questions to get a cl e a r sense of the business owners experiences. Satisfaction with Household Arrangements Another possible outcome of coordinating business and family arrangements for entrepreneurs with families i s t h e i r s a t i s f a c t i o n with household arrangements. I asked respondents d i r e c t l y how they f e l t about these issues. The findings revealed 164 that seventy-nine percent of the entrepreneurs i n the business-centred group were s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r household arrangements. A l l the respondents i n the balance group expressed s a t i s f a c t i o n with t h e i r part of domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Two out of the three respondents i n the family-centred group, were also s a t i s f i e d . However, seventy percent (7 out of 10) of the respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group were d i s s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r share of domestic chores (six of the eight women and one of the two males). Explanations f o r S a t i s f a c t i o n and D i s s a t i s f a c t i o n with Household arrangements: It was not surpr i s i n g to f i n d that most of the respondents i n the business-centred group were s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r domestic arrangements ( f i v e out of seven women and ten out of twelve males). This i s because they performed the lea s t amount of housework compared to the respondents from the other three groups. Women i n t h i s category were content with t h e i r s i t u a t i o n because they had very supportive spouses who helped them at home and 71% claimed to perform less housework since they were self-employed. Because these women arrived home af t e r t h e i r husbands, they were not responsible for cooking and picking up the children from school or daycare. The women with older children engaged them i n the household and looking aft e r younger s i b l i n g s . I t i s int e r e s t i n g to note that the two males who expressed d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n said they wanted to help out t h e i r wives more with household duties. One female respondent was not content for the same reason as the two men above, and the other 165 female entrepreneur was d i s s a t i s f i e d because she was overloaded with household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . A l l the respondents i n the balance group were content with t h e i r arrangements. This could be explained by having smaller families and a supportive spouse to a s s i s t them at home. Although we learned e a r l i e r that t h i s group also experiences c o n f l i c t , one can assume that there i s a greater degree of harmony i n t h e i r family and business arrangements compared to the other groups. Two out of the three entrepreneurs (one male and one female) i n the family-centred group were s a t i s f i e d with her household arrangements. One of the women had a cleaning lady and the male respondent had his wife to a s s i s t him. The one female respondent who was d i s s a t i s f i e d said she needed a \"cleaning lady\". The majority (seven out of 10) of the business owners from the c o n f l i c t group were d i s s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Among them, s i x out of eight of the females and one of the two males expressed d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n . The factor that distinguished t h i s group from the other three groups was that they devoted the most hours to housework. Also, eighty percent of the respondents i n t h i s group said they performed more or the same amount of housework since they were s e l f -employed. A large proportion of the individuals claimed that t h e i r household and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s were so demanding they had to be met at the expense of themselves. This s i t u a t i o n 166 further explains why they expressed discontent. One respondent lamented, \"Too many things being compromised..no s o l u t i o n . . i t could be changed i f people are w i l l i n g to change\" (female i n c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). One explanation as to why respondents i n the c o n f l i c t -ridden group were performing most of the housework i s that they have husbands who are i n professional occupations (lawyers, n u t r i t i o n i s t s , doctors, company managers). Several studies (Falkenberg and Monachello, 1990; Beutell and Greenhaus, 1982) conclude that often the husbands career i s considered more important. This l i m i t s the wife i n her business management because she i s expected to take on more domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s so that her husband can pursue h i s career. The husbands of the female entrepreneurs i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group seemed to consider t h e i r work to be more important than that of t h e i r wives. Another reason for performing more housework compared to the other groups was having larger families and young children. This i s i n accordance with Meissner et a l . (1975) who found that, among 340 married couples i n Vancouver, demands of housework were greater among those with young children. The findings demonstrate that respondents i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group experience c o n f l i c t to a larger degree than entrepreneurs i n the other three group. Overall, only 20% of the women from the entire sample claimed to perform more housework since they became s e l f -employed compared to 45% of the men. The increase i n household 167 duties among men can be attributed to more time spent on c h i l d -care. This has been considered to be one of the most s i g n i f i c a n t transformations of men's involvement i n domestic labour (Luxton, 1990). What distinguishes many of these self-employed fathers from those i n the general workforce i s working at home. Operating a business from the home can increase demand to perform more domestic work as one male respondent described i t , \"I run the household.. I do a l l the cooking, vacuuming because you are positioned i n the home..before I did not do anything..above a l l i t makes you more maternal\" (Male from the family-centred group) This finding i s consistent with Ross (1987) and Pleck's (1985) re s u l t s showing an increase i n household a c t i v i t i e s among men. Overall the findings reveal that more men (85%) than women (55%) are s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . An i n t e r e s t i n g question that merits attention i s why some of the male entrepreneurs who claimed to be performing more hours of housework, would be s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r household arrangements. One possible explanation, apart from devoting fewer hours to housework compared to t h e i r female counterparts, i s the type of tasks they perform. These men enjoyed c h i l d care. The women on the other hand were l e f t performing the more routine and less pleasant jobs l i k e house cleaning, cooking and laundry. This i s consistent with Staines and O'Connor's (1980) study which confirmed that men assumed most of the l e i s u r e l y type a c t i v i t i e s i n taking care of the children. Luxton (1990) also found i n her study that the women were l e f t with more unpleasant chores. Most of the female entrepreneurs and the wives of the male 168 business owners i n t h i s study were primarily responsible for indoor household tasks such as preparing meals, indoor cleaning and washing. This r e s u l t i s consistent with Belcourt, et a l . (1991) who found that female business owners were primarily responsible for managing the household. However, Belcourt et a l . (1991) did not dist i n g u i s h between f u l l - t i m e and part-time business owners. This finding concurs with Cozen and West's (1991) research who demonstrated that dual-career women s t i l l performed the stronger gender typed tasks. Cozen and West (1991) described women's household tasks as being less \"discretionary,\" which means that a meal for example, cannot be put o f f u n t i l tomorrow. This contrasts with mens' tasks which on the whole, are more \"discretionary\" with respect to scheduling (Cozen and West, 1991). Their finding i s consistent with the re s u l t s of t h i s study. Even the male entrepreneurs who established t h e i r businesses to look a f t e r the children, were not primarily responsible for performing the less \"discretionary\" tasks such as evening meal preparation. These findings serve to demonstrate that the d i v i s i o n of labour within the household for entrepreneurs i n t h i s sample was s t i l l gendered, and i t explains why men were more s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r domestic arrangements i n contrast to t h e i r female counterparts. It i s in t e r e s t i n g though not unsurprising to discover that although the male business owners claimed to perform more housework since they became self-employed, the female entrepreneurs i n a l l the groups were s t i l l devoting more hours 169 to domestic work compared to t h e i r male counter parts. Almost a l l the women (85% 17 out of 20) perform 20 or more hours per week on household duties compared to 45% of the men. Also no man claims he performed more than 39 hours per week whereas 25% of the women did so. Longstretch et a l . (1987) came to the same conclusion; they found that f u l l - t i m e s e l f - employed women spend more time on household work than t h e i r comparable male counterparts. Also Belcourt et a l ' s . (1991) r e s u l t s support the findings of t h i s study. Both show that f u l l - t i m e woman business owners were more burdened with domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s than the male entrepreneurs. Several research groups (Keith and Brubaker, 1979; Keith and Schafer, 1980; Lein, 1974), also agree that women took on the organization of the household i n addition to performing them. A l l of these findings suggest that the female business owners and women i n the labour force have si m i l a r experiences with respect to t h e i r household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Why are female entrepreneurs performing more hours of housework than male entrepreneurs? Explanations can be found i n resource theories (Blood and Wolf, 1960) where education and income act as bargaining tools i n the sharing of household labour. Since most of the s e l f -employed women i n t h i s study earned less than t h e i r husbands, (especially the women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group who had professional husbands) they had less bargaining power than t h e i r husbands concerning decisions around the d i v i s i o n of labour within the household. Having less bargaining power could explain 170 why the women i n t h i s sample, e s p e c i a l l y those i n the c o n f l i c t -ridden group, s t i l l performed more housework than t h e i r husbands. This explanation also holds true for some of the s e l f -employed men. They were earning more than t h e i r wives who were working part-time or not at a l l and therefore possessed more bargaining power concerning decisions taken i n who does what i n the household. However, t h i s approach f a l l s short i n explaining why an equal d i v i s i o n of household labour would occur for some of the self-employed men who were earning less than t h e i r wives. It also f a l l s short i n explaining why an unequal d i v i s i o n of the household would occur for the highly educated self-employed women of t h i s sample. If there are powerful norms making housework woman's work then accepting an equal share may be a big step. The woman's bargaining power i s s u f f i c i e n t to ensure t h i s change but not the more substantiated one where the man does most of the housework. The unequal d i v i s i o n of household chores for these business women can be better explained by feminist theory, which suggests that \"housework i s s t i l l woman's work.\" These s o c i a l norms for men and women dictate s o c i a l l y sanctioned rig h t s and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (Meissner, 1975). Also women incorporate the idea of housework as women's work into t h e i r self-image by proving that they are good wives by doing a l l the housework (Ferree, 1990). This attitude seems to play an important role i n explaining why women i n t h i s sample perform more housework than t h e i r male counterparts. Another explanation l i e s i n the fac t that many women est a b l i s h t h e i r own businesses 171 to attend to family needs and to f u l f i l t h e i r t r a d i t i o n a l role within society. This places them i n a lower income bracket than t h e i r husbands because family r e s p o n s i b i l i t y places r e s t r i c t i o n s on the type of business and degree of involvement they can have. In t h e i r case both material conditions and s o c i e t a l values play an important part i n constructing a gendered d i v i s i o n of labour within the home. The findings c l e a r l y demonstrate that housework had a s i g n i f i c a n t impact on the individuals involved, e s p e c i a l l y women, and determine the o v e r a l l experience of re c o n c i l i n g business and family duties. Since women are s t i l l performing more housework than t h e i r male counterparts, t h e i r s i t u a t i o n i s unique to them as women and they do not fare as well as t h e i r male counterparts i n t h e i r entrepreneurial endeavour. They are, with a few exceptions (as seen above) at a disadvantage with respect to coordinating business and family needs. Based on these findings, housework should be viewed as a serious deterrent for business a c t i v i t y i f i t involves f u l l - t i m e commitment to work. Housework i s also the main factor that distinguished the male and female entrepreneurs within and between a l l four groups. Attitude to present s i t u a t i o n Entrepreneurs often e s t a b l i s h t h e i r businesses with cl e a r goals and have motives that range from f i n a n c i a l , personal or to create a better balance with t h e i r family and business l i v e s . However, some entrepreneurs f i n d themselves i n situations 172 where t h e i r actual circumstance i s incongruent with t h e i r i n i t i a l expectations. How then do self-employed indiv i d u a l s deal with t h e i r present s i t u a t i o n of balancing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? Exploring how self-employed indiv i d u a l s cope with the demands imposed on them might add to an understanding of t h e i r management of business and family. To accomplish t h i s I adapted a typology from Belcourt et a l . ' s (1991) study, ( o r i g i n a l l y adapted from Hall's typology of coping responses) which proposed three types of coping strategies i n ways of managing family and business needs: 1) changing that which i s expected of you within the household or business, 2) redefining your p r i o r i t i e s , or 3) \"doing i t a l l \" by taking on f u l l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for both household and business a c t i v i t i e s . H a l l predicts that only the f i r s t two w i l l be e f f e c t i v e i n lowering the l e v e l of stress experienced (cf. Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Changing Expectations The findings of t h i s study suggest that the majority of women i n a l l the groups (except for the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group) dealt with t h e i r current business arid family commitments by changing t h e i r \"expectations\" i n terms of t h e i r roles within the household and acted on these expectations by r e d i s t r i b u t i n g household chores between t h e i r spouse and children. This r e d i s t r i b u t i o n of work enabled them to adequately f u l f i l t h e i r business commitments which have been increasingly recognized by t h e i r spouse as important sources of supplementary earnings. 173 This change i n attitude might also explain why these women were s a t i s f i e d with t h e i r household arrangements and why they performed less housework than the women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group. Attitudes women have towards t h e i r work r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s (both paid and unpaid) a f f e c t the way they are w i l l i n g to perceive a change i n the gendered d i v i s i o n of labour inside the household (Luxton, 1990). These women l i k e those i n Luxton's (1990) supported the idea of r e d i s t r i b u t i n g the domestic labour by increasing pressure on t h e i r husbands and children to a s s i s t them. Luxton (1990) interpreted these a t t i t u d i n a l changes as \"women challenging the ex i s t i n g ideology and practice of the gendered d i v i s i o n of labour\" (Luxton, 1990:44). The female business owners i n t h i s group had older children and were i n a cer t a i n phase i n t h e i r l i v e s where they could r i s k working outside the home. They seemed to have reached a phase i n t h e i r l i v e s where they were questioning t h e i r r o l e , and the equity of t h e i r r o l e within the household and i n the context of a f u l l - t i m e business owner. These findings reveal a dynamic element i n the ex i s t i n g r e l a t i o n s between entrepreneurs, t h e i r businesses and children. The re l a t i o n s between them are constantly changing and because they are so t i g h t l y connected we see how they influence each other, e s p e c i a l l y the l i f e - c y c l e of the children on the business. Doing i t a l l The s i t u a t i o n of t h i s group of woman business owners i s very d i f f e r e n t from the previous group. Five out of the eight 174 women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group tended to \"do i t a l l , \" which could explain why they devoted over t h i r t y hours or more to housework. One respondent described t h i s s i t u a t i o n i n terms of \"being everywhere for everyone except for me.\" Four of the female respondents from the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group lamented about su f f e r i n g \"themselves\" i n t h e i r struggle to coordinate business and family duties. \"I su f f e r because no matter at what cost, I am always meeting everyone's needs\" (female from c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). In order to meet the demands of both the household and business, these women had to s a c r i f i c e t h e i r own time which increased stress. This finding i s consistent with Stoner, Hartman and Arora's (1990) study which found that the i n a b i l i t y to pursue personal interests was one of the top four ranked c o n f l i c t dimensions among self-employed i n d i v i d u a l s . The women in t h i s group also stated that \"everything\" suffered. Having \"everything s u f f e r \" serves to i l l u s t r a t e the negative consequences that ensue from being pressured into meeting the demands of two f u l l workloads within the family and the business. Those women who attempted to complete t h e i r work were \"burnt out\" for doing i t a l l or stressed out for incompletion of the tasks they set out to do. This finding i s consistent with several studies on dual-earner women. For these women i n pa r t i c u l a r , although not unlike other f u l l - t i m e employed parents, paid employment does not automatically t r i g g e r any notable s h i f t i n the d i v i s i o n of labour at home and leads to a 175 double day, or as Hoschild and Machung (1989) describe i t , \"a wife's second s h i f t \" of unpaid work. Overload was minimized to some extent by the women i n the business-centred and balance groups by delegating household chores and heaping r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s on t h e i r family to meet deadlines unlike the women in the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group. This i s consistent with Hall's prediction that e f f o r t s to respond to a l l demands does not lower stress (cf. Belcourt et a l . , 1991). Part of the explanations for why these women are more i n c l i n e d to \"do i t a l l , \" apart from enacting t r a d i t i o n a l r o l e s , l i n k s back to the discussion e a r l i e r about having professional husbands and larger f a m i l i e s . I t i s however important to point out that the women i n the c o n f l i c t - ridden group (just l i k e those i n the other groups) may not be fixed i n t h e i r s i t u a t i o n . They could change t h e i r business and family arrangements to resemble those of the women i n the business- centred, family-centred or balance groups as t h e i r children grow older, or as they change t h e i r own expectations. Their l i f e s i t u a t i o n and attitudes are always subject to change and should be perceived as a process i n a pa r t i c u l a r point i n time. Redefining P r i o r i t i e s Most male business owners coped d i f f e r e n t l y than t h e i r female counterparts i n coordinating business and family obligations. They \"redefined t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s , \" to either j u s t i f y working long hours i n the business, time spent with t h e i r f a m i l i e s , or to r a t i o n a l i z e becoming self-employed i n 176 order to assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the children while t h e i r wives worked. The p r i o r i t i e s of these owners are also subject to change, for those who just established t h e i r businesses t h e i r p r i o r i t y i s the enterprise. Other entrepreneurs who have already worked i n t h e i r business for a number of years are at a d i f f e r e n t stage i n l i f e where family i s valued more. These changes are not only influenced by the l i f e - c y c l e of the children and t h e i r own development, but by the larger society, namely changes i n normative expectations of men's and women's roles within the household and i n c h i l d rearing. For some of the male business owners, working long hours at the expense of family time seems j u s t i f i e d or r a t i o n a l i z e d i n terms of needing to work to support t h e i r f a m i l i e s . This comes as no surprise since the majority of male respondents i n t h i s group had either a spouse working part-time or not at a l l who they had to support f i n a n c i a l l y . Those male entrepreneurs that took time o f f from t h e i r businesses to be with t h e i r families j u s t i f i e d doing t h i s by expressing the joy they experienced just being with them. Respondents c l e a r l y stated that they did not want to loose out on t h e i r children's childhood. Here are some of t h e i r voices that r e f l e c t these points, \"I t e l l my wife that I don't spend enough time with the business but when I am with the family I am s a t i s f i e d \" (male from c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group). \"I have backed o f f on the business more. I am t r y i n g not to work on Saturdays to be with the kids..they have hockey game..I would normally expand and spend more time i n the business but the kids are at an age where they needed time and I want to be there\" (male from business-centred group) . 177 These responses echo the voices of several male respondents who s p e c i f i c a l l y closed t h e i r businesses on weekends to take part i n t h e i r children's a c t i v i t i e s . By redefining t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s the male entrepreneurs were able to j u s t i f y s a c r i f i c i n g t h e i r businesses to spend time with t h e i r f a m i l i e s . This i s consistent with Pleck's (1978) research who found that husbands were more involved with t h e i r family r o l e s . Redefining p r i o r i t i e s as a means of j u s t i f y i n g a current choice, i s applicable to the three men who established t h e i r businesses to look aft e r the children (two from the balance and one from the family-centred group). There were only three out of the twenty male respondents who established t h e i r businesses for the above reasons, but t h e i r voices should be heard. These men were home-based, primarily responsible for t h e i r children, and had professional working wives who were the main income earners. Although i t was not the intent of the study to focus on what leads these male entrepreneurs into the decision of establishing t h e i r businesses to assume primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the children, i t i s a question worth asking. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g to note that a l l three of these men had careers i n very s p e c i a l i z e d f i e l d s ( r e l a t i v e to the other entrepreneurs i n t h i s sample) which made finding a job d i f f i c u l t for them. For two of them, i t could have been a means of r a t i o n a l i z i n g the blocked mobility they experienced i n the occupational structure. Another important factor that could help to explain the process that led to t h i s decision i s t h e i r l e v e l of education. A l l three of these 178 men were highly educated with a PHD, an MBA and a degree i n Graphic Art. Since these men had a high l e v e l of education and were economically secure, they were probably more secure i n t h e i r \"maleness\" and therefore did not mind r i s k i n g deviation from the norm and assuming f u l l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for c h i l d - care duties. They were more l i k e l y to f i n d themselves i n a supportive position among t h e i r peers, since performing housework, which i s generally associated with \"woman's\" work, i s conceived as \"progressive\" i n t h e i r c i r c l e of friends when performed by a male. In t h e i r case there seems to be a p o s i t i v e connotation associated with men performing housework. Thus i t makes choosing to es t a b l i s h a home-based business for f a m i l i a l reasons a l l the more rewarding. These conditions can explain very well the o v e r a l l s a t i s f a c t i o n they experienced i n t h e i r new r o l e s . This finding i s contrary to Keith and Schafer (1980) who found that men engaging i n more feminine chores were prone to loss of s e l f -esteem or had i d e n t i t y problems. I t can be argued that t h i s d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n occurs for working class men who may not be f i n a n c i a l l y secure and therefore not as secure i n t h e i r maleness, es p e c i a l l y i f t h e i r \"maleness\" i s based on the stereotypical notion of being the primary breadwinner. This was found i n Luxton's (1990) study, where some working class men were a f r a i d that i f the public knew they were involved i n domestic labour they would be teased and r i d i c u l e d . One man did the vacuuming on his knees so that no one would see him, other men only did tasks inside the house (refused to hang out the 179 laundry) (Luxton, 1990). In t h e i r case a negative stigma would be attached to t h e i r choice of performing \"women's\" work. These circumstances are i n contrast with the male entrepreneurs i n t h i s study who were content with t h e i r role as a self-employed parent assuming most of the c h i l d care r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . This i s consistent with the findings of Staines, Fudge and Pottick (1986) that show that dual-career husbands are increasing t h e i r p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the family, are adapting to t h i s new r o l e , and are enjoying increased involvement i n i t . Although t h i s group of self-employed men can be viewed as an anomaly, t h e i r s i t u a t i o n can give us insight into a pattern that might r e f l e c t a future trend within the labour market. With the increase of educated people, e s p e c i a l l y among the s e l f -employed, and the r e d e f i n i t i o n of family values for both men and women, one could assume that the process of change may move i n the d i r e c t i o n where more self-employed men are choosing to operate home-based businesses to accommodate family responsi-b i l i t i e s . I t i s important to recognize that several male entrepreneurs who would l i k e to take on more of the f a m i l i a l r o l e s t i l l experience s o c i a l pressure because normative expectations about these roles are s t i l l very gendered. This i s manifest i n the following comments: \"my wife has problems dealing with me. She i s b a s i c a l l y envious..its a reversal..I don't know i f that's a problem. I have never been i n a s i t u a t i o n where I have worked and my wife hasn't..my mother always worked at home..I mean that the t r a d i t i o n a l model right-a man works and a women stays at home and l i k e my parents that was never a problem for them...my mother was never expected to work..now my wife would l i k e to be me the one working at home and that i s how 180 she views it..she i s d i s s a t i s f i e d fed-up with what she i s doing so that creates problems for us..we do t a l k about i t i t s something that comes up\" (male i n the balance group assuming primary r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the c h i l d r e n ) . \"Balancing family and business needs has had a t o l l on our r e l a t i o n s h i p . . i t w i l l improve a f t e r my decision to get to work only one day a week..that w i l l help our relati o n s h i p , .he wants to do that too., to be at home with our daughter and work once a week ..but I won..mothers should do i t \" (Female i n business-centred group, one year old daughter). This self-employed woman just had a baby and owns and operates a partnership business with her husband outside the home. They both want to work one day a week i n the business so that they can accommodate family needs. But she got her way simply because she was a female. This serves to i l l u s t r a t e that there are self-employed men who would l i k e to be at home and look a f t e r the children, but are not given the chance. Their voices should be heard i n the realm of the domestic sphere, just as women's voices should be increasingly heard within the business sphere. The findings of t h i s study suggest that the self-employed women from t h i s sample either changed t h e i r expectation or \"do i t a l l \" i n the business and household, whereas men redefine t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s . Perhaps these women did not have to redefine t h e i r family p r i o r i t i e s because they were already s o c i a l i z e d into placing family duties i n the forefront of t h e i r l i v e s . The male respondents seemed to be faced with the dilemma of wanting to set up t h e i r business for long term s t a b i l i t y versus nurturing t h e i r children. Overall, i t appears that some of these male entrepreneurs are faced with s i m i l a r predicaments of 181 creating a better balance between t h e i r family and business l i v e s . However, the nature of t h e i r problems and the way they are for women experiencing them s t i l l remain very d i f f e r e n t and gendered. From t h i s micro analysis of self-employed individuals we learn that the arrangements small business owners make are always changing. We heard the business owners own voices about how interconnected family and business l i f e - c y c l e s r e a l l y are, cycles that are also influenced by s o c i a l time, or changes occurring i n the wider society (cf. Hagedorn, 1980). Business, family and the entrepreneurs themselves are a l l functioning i n a society that i s undergoing major normative and economic changes, changes on the macro l e v e l which penetrate and influence t h e i r o v e r a l l experience on a micro l e v e l . With t h i s i n mind, the experiences of these entrepreneurs should be understood as a p a r t i c u l a r position and experience i n time. Nearly everything i n l i f e i s i n a state of constant f l u x - as well as how you deal with these changes. Women i n the c o n f l i c t -ridden group may have s i m i l a r outlooks as those i n the other groups i n time as t h e i r family and businesses change. Likewise, entrepreneurs i n the balance group might s h i f t p r i o r i t i e s of family to business as t h e i r children grow older. The normative timing of l i f e events and changing s o c i a l roles that are i n tr a n s i t i o n , are subject to change for these entrepreneurs and may be d i s s i m i l a r f or future entrepreneurs-leading to very d i f f e r e n t family and business arrangements. 182 Conclusion How business and family l i f e are organized i s linked to the motivation for becoming self-employed, a decision made within the context of these entrepreneurs l i v e s as parents. The perception of family obligations and how these self-employed men and women act on them were gendered, helping to explain why men and women established businesses for d i f f e r e n t reasons. The male entrepreneurs i n t h i s study were motivated primarily f or \" f i n a n c i a l reasons\" and \"to be t h e i r own boss.\" But there were also a few self-employed men who established t h e i r enterprises for f a m i l i a l reasons. The female entrepreneurs i n t h i s study sought self-employment for \"greater f l e x i b i l i t y \" i n order to balance family and business needs. The women with older children established t h e i r enterprises to create a better equilibrium within t h e i r own l i v e s ( s e l f - s a t i s f a c t i o n ) . The motivation for becoming self-employed for entrepreneurs i n t h i s study was influenced by what they perceived as t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i n the work and private spheres of t h e i r l i v e s . This appeared to be gendered from the outset of establishing t h e i r businesses. Their commitment to family had consequences for the type of business they chose, how they ran t h e i r enterprises, the way they organized business and family, and the implications of t h i s on t h e i r l i v e s (Appendix D). The subtle p a t r i a r c h i c a l expectations which emphasize that housework and child-care are generally associated with women, and the i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n of t r a d i t i o n a l norms around family, 183 helped to explain why differences between self-employed men and women emerged i n the way business and family were organized. Gender ideology also explains why men and women were d i s t r i b u t e d d i f f e r e n t l y between the four groups around issues of organizing business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . Out of the four groups, the majority of the male respondents f e l l under the business-centred and balance groups, whereas the majority of women f e l l into the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n and business-centred groups. This means that more women than men experience a greater degree of c o n f l i c t i n coordinating t h e i r business and family commitments. Women performed the most hours of housework and did not have a spouse to r e l y on i n a s s i s t i n g much with household work. Respondents i n the business-centred group tended to organize t h e i r family around t h e i r business and separated the two environments. Those individuals i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n , family- centred, and balance groups on the other hand, tended to adapt t h e i r businesses around t h e i r families and t r i e d to harmonize the two environments. However, regardless of what group the women f e l l into, they tended to blend t h e i r business and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . They also experienced g u i l t f or not being available to t h e i r f a m i l i e s . The women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group experienced problems of s a c r i f i c i n g themselves i n the process of blending business and family; thus \"everything suffered.\" In coping with t h e i r present s i t u a t i o n some of the women (in the business-centred and balance groups) redefined the expectations for t h e i r 184 ro l e as mother or wife, and i n turn r e d i s t r i b u t e d the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of t h i s r o l e to t h e i r children and spouse. These women were more committed to equal sharing and restructuring gender r e l a t i o n s within the household. However, the group of women i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group, tended to do a l l the housework themselves at t h e i r and t h e i r businesses expense. The self-employed men encountered problems of scheduling i n family time. Also some of the male business owners choose not to expand t h e i r ventures, and reduced t h e i r working hours because they preferred to be involved i n t h e i r children's a c t i v i t i e s . They were torn between the normative expectations of being the primary bread winner and t h e i r desire to be more family oriented. How the men dealt with t h e i r s i t u a t i o n was not influenced by what group they f e l l into, but by gender. Redefining t h e i r p r i o r i t i e s was one way i n which they coped with t h e i r present s i t u a t i o n of a l l o c a t i n g family and business time. The analysis revolved around four groups which were formed and based on responses from s i x L i k e r t questions. A series of open-ended questions were also incorporated into the analysis. Upon comparing the two sets of questions on the same issue inconsistencies emerged. The business-centred group experienced problems of spending less time with family. However, they down played the psychological e f f e c t s family had on t h e i r businesses in the L i k e r t questions. Responses from the open-ended questions revealed that they were affected by family obligations i n terms 185 of g u i l t which i s d i f f e r e n t from the other respondents. Responses from the family-centred group were consistent when the two sets of questions were compared. However, problems did emerge i n the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n and balance groups. The responses for entrepreneurs i n the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group suggested that commitments to business and family were so great that they produced c o n f l i c t . However, i n the open-ended questions some respondents denied experiencing any c o n f l i c t . Since c o n f l i c t stems from performing too much housework and commitment to the family, a better and a more accurate c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the c o n f l i c t - r i d d e n group would be a \"family-centred group\", but experiencing a larger degree of c o n f l i c t r e l a t i v e to the other family-centred group. Responses from the L i k e r t questions among entrepreneurs i n the balance group suggest that they experienced no c o n f l i c t i n meeting business and family commitments. However, the open-ended questions yielded responses suggesting tension. Four out of f i v e men claimed that family obligations influenced t h e i r businesses. They too are affected by t h e i r family, however the degree of c o n f l i c t appears to less compared to the other groups. C l a s s i f y i n g t h i s group as one i n balance does not r e f l e c t t h e i r r e a l s i t u a t i o n . Instead they too could be c l a s s i f i e d as a family-centred group, but one that experiences less c o n f l i c t compared to the other groups. Overall, the combination of measures show the complex and contradictory pressures on the l i v e s of these entrepreneurs i n 186 combining business and family and the inconsistent ways that they sometimes perceive them. 187 Chapter V Purpose of the Research This study was the f i r s t i n B.C. to compare how male and female self-employed indivi d u a l s organize t h e i r family and business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and to show the ef f e c t s that t h i s s i t u a t i o n can have on t h e i r l i v e s . I t also examined whether or not the indi v i d u a l situations d i f f e r e d according to gender. In order to conduct t h i s research a t o t a l of fort y self-employed men and women were interviewed i n B r i t i s h Columbia. Although time consuming, the interview was the only method which would have yielded revelations i n t e g r a l to the research. The r e s u l t s of t h i s study suggest that self-employed men and women organize t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s d i f f e r e n t l y and experience outcomes that are unique to each gender. The analysis of the study indicates that gender d i r e c t l y enters into the process of coordinating business and family duties. Resource theories helped to explain why the d i v i s i o n of labour was unequal for some of the female entrepreneurs. However t h i s approach f e l l short of explaining why some self-employed males experienced an equal d i v i s i o n of labour within the household. I t was also weak i n explaining why education as a resource did not a s s i s t women i n t h e i r bargaining power over household labour. The perspective of gender theory, which claims that housework i s s t i l l associated as \"woman's work,\" helped to demonstrate these shortcomings and explain why so many women, and not men, f a l l into the c o n f l i c t - ridden group. 188 Overall the typology i s not a complete indicator alone of the situations entrepreneurs encounter i n meeting business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . No entrepreneur i s i n complete balance, and a l l respondents undergo some form of c o n f l i c t . By comparing responses from the L i k e r t and open-ended questions, a greater understanding of the degree of c o n f l i c t and harmony encountered by the business owners was achieved. Gendered differences between males and females i n the four groups did emerge. Based on the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the four groups women tend to experience c o n f l i c t to a larger degree than t h e i r male counterparts. This i s explained by two factors that d i s t i n g u i s h t h e i r s i t u a t i o n from those of men within and between a l l groups: being primarily responsible for the household and not having a part-time or non working spouse to r e l y on for assistance. Significance of the study The findings reported i n t h i s thesis are informative from a t h e o r e t i c a l and methodological perspective and o f f e r several contributions to the study of self-employment among workers i n B r i t i s h Columbia. This thesis shows us some in t e r e s t i n g processes of change with women entering a part of the occupational structure i n which they have t r a d i t i o n a l l y been under represented. Today, t h i s change i s marked by t h e i r burgeoning numbers. Some of the women who have assumed the parental r o l e are t r y i n g to assume an i d e n t i t y as \"business woman.\" However, just as women take on entrepreneurial r o l e s , t h i s study gives insight into how men are reorienting themselves 189 in t h e i r roles as parents. Men have t r a d i t i o n a l l y been known to s a c r i f i c e family time because of work. However, i n t h i s study some of the self-employed men opted for spending more time with the family and assume more of a f a m i l i a l r o l e . These men are also seeking a better balance between t h e i r work and family l i v e s l i k e t h e i r female counterpart. What these findings suggest i s that these entrepreneurs are experiencing a reorientation within the business world and the roles expected of them within t h e i r family l i v e s . The type of businesses these entrepreneurs operate f i t into the gendered structure of work. Women were clustered i n t r a d i t i o n a l sectors, creating and s e l l i n g baskets, children's clothing or jewellery. Many established these types of businesses because they required less c a p i t a l , lacked the experience i n other areas or l i f e s t y l e decisions involving family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The male owned businesses were also t r a d i t i o n a l l y gendered, they operated sports equipment shops and electronics and car repair businesses. In addition to operating t r a d i t i o n a l l y gender typed enterprises, women and men d i f f e r i n t h e i r experience of s t a r t i n g , c a p i t a l i z i n g and running them. Women c i t e the opportunity for s e l f - f u l f i l m e n t and being on s i t e for t h e i r children as reasons for choosing self-employment. These motives already influence the type of business they operate and constrains t h e i r workload. Men on the other hand established t h e i r businesses for f i n a n c i a l reasons and since they had wives working part-time or not at a l l to a s s i s t them, 190 they were not constrained i n t h e i r businesses. This c l e a r l y demonstrates how gender already plays an important r o l e at the outset of establishing t h e i r business which sets the stage for how the two environments are coordinated. Women tend to organize t h e i r business a c t i v i t i e s around t h e i r family and blend the two environments to gain respect and cooperation from t h e i r family i n t h e i r business endeavours. Men on the other hand separate the two environments and organize t h e i r business around the family. The outcome of rec o n c i l i n g the two spheres for women i s that they experience a greater degree of c o n f l i c t than t h e i r male counterparts. This stems from women having to assume the role of primary care giver, hence they struggle to reconcile t h e i r business and family l i v e s . Other obstacles unique to women are: creating boundaries between business and family environments, g u i l t for not spending enough time with the family and stress from doing i t a l l . Men on the other hand experience problems of scheduling i n time for family. In the public sphere the conditions for the female entrepreneurs i n t h i s sample as well as for other women have improved i n terms of education, employment, and status where \"entrepreneurship i s enjoying high status i n the ranking of vocational choices\" (Belcourt, 1991:53). However, the changes i n t h e i r domestic l i v e s have been much more d i f f i c u l t for women than for men. Inequality i n the private sphere of women's l i v e s s t i l l e x i s t s . This study demonstrates that these female entrepreneurs continue to perform more housework, more boring 191 tasks, and assume r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for a c t i v i t i e s which are often not voluntary, as they are for men i n t h i s sample. Even with recent changes i n the expectations held for fathers, men's breadwinner role t y p i c a l l y remains dominant. Men's freedom from domestic work r e l a t i v e to women's resulted i n t h e i r a b i l i t y to invest more time i n t h e i r businesses or on themselves, when compared to women's (Shelton, 1992). The outcome of performing more housework i s less time spent i n the business which explains why the enterprises of many women tended to be small and stayed small. This leaves these women i n a pos i t i o n where they have less f i n a n c i a l bargaining power (despite t h e i r high l e v e l of education); i t also demonstrates that they s t i l l follow t r a d i t i o n a l normative expectations of t h e i r roles within the family. These findings are consistent with Blumberg and Coleman (1989) who affirm that gender ideology disadvantages women within the power structure of the household. Although the men i n t h i s sample claim to increase t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t y within the household since they became self-employed, they devoted most of t h e i r time to child-care. This i s consistent with e x i s t i n g research and current trends. In t h i s study, gender ideology i s an obstacle for self-employed women i n t h e i r businesses and within the home which i s consistent with other research (Ferree, 1991). Overall what t h i s study suggests i s that the work l i v e s of these women business owners are quite s i m i l a r to the work patterns of working women i n general. They are both struggling 192 with having to reconcile household duties and paid work. Just as gender ideology affected women i n general (in the type of employment and work hours they can work) the business women i n t h i s sample were constrained i n s i m i l a r ways because they had to esta b l i s h smaller businesses and operate them from the home to be on s i t e for the children. Hence, the findings of t h i s study suggest that self-employment does not provide an escape for women i n r e l i e v i n g them of household duties and lower earnings. The issues raised i n t h i s thesis f i l l an important gap i n the e x i s t i n g l i t e r a t u r e and provide a foundation from which future research can b u i l d . Before proceeding to future research, i t i s important to c l a r i f y the li m i t a t i o n s of t h i s research inquiry. Limitations Limitations occur because findings cannot be generalized to larger randomly selected populations. Although the data cannot be representative of the general population, i t does shed l i g h t on situations experienced by some self-employed workers i n Vancouver, which might be a shared experience among others outside the scope of the study. There were also constraints i n q u a l i t a t i v e analysis. For example, considerable time during the interviews was appropriated to a discussion of the entrepreneurs actual housework r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and no d i r e c t question on the attitude with regard to the performance of household tasks. More information i s required i n t h i s area. 193 I t was also conceptually d i f f i c u l t to categorize household a c t i v i t i e s . The entrepreneurs perception of performing c e r t a i n household tasks needed to be more c l e a r l y c l a s s i f i e d . Gardening, repair, building, sewing and baking could be perceived as work or l e i s u r e a c t i v i t i e s for some entrepreneurs. Problems which may impose l i m i t a t i o n s on t h i s research also include inadequate means of ensuring c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y . Subjects might have been reluctant to reveal c e r t a i n truths about t h e i r actual earnings. This i s because small business owners i n general f e e l vulnerable and threatened i n discussing t h e i r income because of taxes. Hence, the earnings they claim to make should be accepted with caution. From a methodological perspective, i t was unfortunate that the researcher had to resort to telephone interviews on occasions where respondents would only agree to a phone interview. Therefore data obtained from t h i s study was a mixture of face to face and phone interviews, hence not a l l interviews could be tape recorded. Recommendations f o r Future Research The f a c t that common issues are raised i n the l i t e r a t u r e on entrepreneurship does not mean they have a l l been addressed. Several recommendations can be formulated at t h i s point. The findings suggest that there i s a need for new theories of entrepreneurship which include the experiences of both men and women, and as Stevenson (1993) suggested, that challenge e x i s t i n g stereotypes. Fischer et a l . (1993) have claimed that 194 there exists a lack of integrative framework for understanding issues related to gender. This needs to be further developed. Research on how women are coordinating business and family i s necessary to determine how to address the ba r r i e r s experienced by women. These should focus on coping mechanisms. This should also a s s i s t women to improve t h e i r business experience, and overcome t r a d i t i o n a l norms of f u l f i l l i n g t r a d i t i o n a l roles within the family that stand i n the way of business endeavours. A fourth recommendation i s the issue of employing the \"conventional\" d e f i n i t i o n of success i n research. In t h i s study, I did not impose a d e f i n i t i o n of success. These findings demonstrate that for several women and a few men, success i s having a better balance within t h e i r work and family l i v e s . Therefore, success cannot and should not be universalized f or entrepreneurs who f i n d themselves i n a s i t u a t i o n unable to meet the conventional d e f i n i t i o n that i s t r a d i t i o n a l l y measured on \" f i n a n c i a l \" terms. More voices by entrepreneurs on t h e i r d e f i n i t i o n s of success should be heard. Also the notion of entrepreneurship should be redefined to include d i f f e r e n t types of men and women. This i s because r i s k taking behaviour and business expansion are often c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s used to describe entrepreneurs. However, some women cannot be r i s k takers or expand t h e i r businesses to the same extent as t h e i r male counterparts because they are constrained by t h e i r family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . This study 195 demonstrated that these d e f i n i t i o n s of entrepreneurship did not even apply to some male entrepreneurs who opted for spending time with t h e i r family over business expansion. Perhaps increasing numbers of small business owners w i l l act i n ways that are not e n t i r e l y consistent with the image of the entrepreneur as \" r i s k taker.\" In f a c t , t h i s finding i s not new since shopkeepers i n Bechhofer and E l l i o t t ' s (1981) study did not want to expand and take more r i s k s , however, for d i f f e r e n t reasons than entrepreneurs i n t h i s study. This study showed that differences i n organizing business and family a c t i v i t i e s e x i s t between self-employed men and women. Explanations for t h i s revolve around t h e i r d i f f e r e n t value systems and t h e i r perception of t h e i r obligation with the family. More research i s needed i n t h i s area to uncover to what extent these perceptions influence t h e i r entrepreneurial experience. This research suggests that the l i f e - c y c l e of the children has a major e f f e c t on business. What we need are studies l i n k i n g entrepreneurial a c t i v i t y and the l i f e course so that we focus on stages i n family l i f e . Research focusing on the extent to which the age of children influences the business expansion should be further developed. Although t h i s study did not focus extensively on how the \"type\" of venture can influence business and family organization, findings did suggest that the \"type\" of business can impact on coordination. Therefore, generating more knowledge on factors influencing business and family would be useful. 196 This study i s a step i n the implementation of a scale that could measure the degree of harmony or c o n f l i c t entrepreneurs experience i n coordinating business and family a c t i v i t i e s . Although two sets of questions together provided information on these issues, a more accurate scale to measure the d i f f e r e n t degrees of c o n f l i c t and harmony would be useful. Current Trends Overall we learn from t h i s thesis that the entrepreneurs from t h i s study are responding to the massive economic restructuring that i s currently under way i n Canada. With the downsizing of large corporations, weakening of labour unions, the lack of job security the advent of new technologies and more f l e x i b l e labour forces, these entrepreneurs are securing t h e i r economic future by establishing t h e i r own businesses. This allows them to exploit market niches because of t h e i r f l e x i b l e capacities to meet quick changing market demands. Many of the women are a c t i v e l y involved i n r a i s i n g a family hence choose to es t a b l i s h t h e i r own business. Yet others painted an i d y l l i c picture of escaping t h e i r subordination within the workplace through self-employment. However, t h i s study suggests that r e c o n c i l i n g family and business l i f e i s not as easy as some entrepreneurs had i n i t i a l l y dreamt i t would be and many are s t i l l adapting and enduring the hardships. But the s e l f -f u l f i l m e n t and freedom entrepreneurship o f f e r s these entrepreneurs i n t h e i r own unique way compensates for a l l the anticipated obstacles they encounter. Their decision to opt for 197 self-employment i s part of the s o c i a l trend i n Canada where f l e x i b i l i t y and control over one's own l i f e i s becoming highly prized. Concluding Remarks The findings demonstrate that self-employed men and women d i f f e r i n s t a r t i n g , c a p i t a l i z i n g and running a business. They also vary i n t h e i r e f f o r t s to accommodate family and business commitments due to gender and subsequent d i f f e r e n t experiences within the labour market. These findings are consistent with the assumption stated at the outset of the th e s i s . The re s u l t s lend further support to the claim that the experiences of s e l f -employed men and women cannot be viewed without incorporating the t r a d i t i o n a l gendered roles of men and women within the family into the analysis. In order to understand how business owners who choose to have families organize t h e i r business and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s within a changing society, the occupational structure and the family, i t i s imperative to continue to examine t h e i r \"dual r o l e s . \" This means that the voices of both men and women should be heard on these issues. This should help to i d e n t i f y factors which support or suppress men's and women's entrepreneurial i n i t i a t i v e s and to create ameliorating strategies to better cope with and enhance the entrepreneurial experience that i s becoming the norm within the workplace. This information should help men and women shape t h e i r own future (Campbell, 1994) when both are firmly committed to equal sharing 198 of the household and restructuring of gender r e l a t i o n s within the labour market and the home. The study of entrepreneurship has added information to the f i e l d and demonstrates that the impact of domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s should not be underestimated i n t h e i r e f f e c t s on p o t e n t i a l l y viable businesses and on entrepreneurs themselves. This finding i s not only i n t e r e s t i n g , but c r u c i a l for the well being of the future workforce, which i s not becoming, but i s the era of entrepreneurship. For these reasons t h i s study was not only informative, but necessary and timely because of i t s contribution and insight into the work and family experiences of indiv i d u a l s i n the labour force. 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Soci o l o g i c a l Perspectives, 30 (4):422-445. 210 Interview # APPENDIX A Date: Time: Male/Female Phone/personal Interview Questions Work History and P r o f i l e : 1. Were you previously employed? Where and for how long? 2. Did you undergo any management t r a i n i n g i n your previous job? 3. Did you have any p r i o r business experience when you started your business? under 3 years 3-5 years 5-10 years over 10 years other 4. What i s your highest l e v e l of education? 5) What is/was your fathers primary occupation? What is/was your mother's primary occupation? Have they ever owned or operated t h e i r own business? yes n o — 6. What age category do you f a l l under? (25-30, 31-35, 36-40, 41-50, over 50). 7. How old were you when you assumed ownership of your business? 8. Are you married? yes no And presently l i v i n g with your spouse yes no 9. Is your spouse employed? yes no F u l l time or part-time? In what kind of employment? Description of Business: 10. How did you assume ownership of your business? created a new business? inherited a business? bought an ex i s t i n g business? started with a franchise? 11. When did you assume ownership of your business? 12. Is t h i s the f i r s t business you own? yes no 13. What kind of a business do you own? 14. What i s the major product or service offered by your business? 15. Why did you choose the type of business you are in? 16. How many persons are employed i n your business? Are family members employed? yes no F u l l or part-time? 17. Does your spouse help you i n the business? yes no What does she/he do and do they get paid? How many hours? 18. In what kind of set t i n g i s your business located? -space purchased for the business - i n your home - i n a separate leased f a c i l i t y -other Was t h i s out of choice or necessity? Why? 212 19. What type of legal structure have you chosen for your business: sole proprietorship, partnership, incorporated, l i m i t e d other 20. Approximately what percentage of the business do you own? 21. Where i s your o f f i c e located? • 22. Is i t a good working environment for you to work i n yes no-Is i t quiet, noisy)? 23. Where do you meet business c l i e n t s ? 24. What does your business networking consist of? 25. Are you a member of any business club? yes no (If yes) Which ones? What led you to jo i n t h i s club? (time factor) What do you get out of these clubs? How have they helped the f i n a n c i a l condition of your business? yes no 26. Your business might require development or improvement i n certai n key areas. What needs do you perceive as necessary for your business? ( f i n a n c i a l arrangements, better banking re l a t i o n s h i p , supplier r e l a t i o n s h i p , accounting, management st r a t e g i e s ) . 27. How many hours a week do you work on average? more than 60 hrs 50-59-213 40-49— 30-39— 20-29— 10-19— 19 or less What time do you s t a r t work and f i n i s h ? Do you work i n the evenings? On weekends? I n t r i n s i c Factors: 28. Why did you become self-employed? 29. On a scale from one to f i v e : Rate the chief reason for becoming\"self-employed, ( f i v e being highest). 1- no influence 2- l i t t l e influence 3- some influence 4- considerable influence 5- extreme influence a - be your own boss b - f i n a n c i a l c - to devote more time to family d - greater f l e x i b i l i t y e - Challenge f - s e l f - f u l f i l m e n t g - loss of my job h - d i f f i c u l t y to f i n d a job 1 2 3 4 5 30. From the above l i s t , l i s t i n order of importance the three most important reasons for establishing your own business: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 1) 2) 3) 31. How would you define success for yourself as a s e l f employed person? 32. Would you consider yourself successful? ( i f yes) i n what way? 214 (If no) why? 33. Would you consider your business a success? 34. What kind of goals have you set for your business? 35. What have you gained i n being self-employed? 36. What have you s a c r i f i c e d ? Income: 37. How did you come by the c a p i t a l to get started i n the business: bank mortgage, personal saving, inheritance, assistance from family. 38. Was t h i s out of choice or necessity? 39. Did you ever apply for a loan? (If yes) Did you get one? (If yes) Did you experience any d i f f i c u l t y when you applied for a loan? (If yes) what kind of d i f f i c u l t i e s did you encounter? What factors do you think influenced the bank to accept your loan? 40. (If no) What factors do you think influenced the bank to re j e c t your loan (lack of c o l l a t e r a l , n o previous c r e d i t history, reluctance to lend to small business owners etc..) How might t h i s have effected your business? (size, type, 215 expansion) 41. Can I ask i f you can give me a rough estimate of the gross annual earnings of your business from these figures? Under what category does your average gross annual income f a l l : a) — l e s s than $10,000 —10,001 and 25,000 —25,001 to 50,000 —50,001 to 100,000 —100,001 to 200,001 —200,001 to 300, 000 —300,001 to 500,000 — o v e r 500,000 42. Do you pay yourself a wage, or a salary or what? And i f so what i s your gross annual salary? 43. Do you have any other f i n a n c i a l resources (wife/husband's salary, other?) 44. What i s the gross annual income of your spouse? —none —under 10,000 —10,001-25,000 —25,001-35,000 —35,001-60,000 —60,001-80,000 —80,001-100,000 —100,001-150,000 — o v e r 150,001 45. Has the f i n a n c i a l p osition of your business: improved, stayed the same, or deteriorated since you established i t during the l a s t year(s). Family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : 46. How many children do you have and which age category do they f a l l under? Age Number of Children less than 3 years o ld 03 through-6 years 06-12 years 12-18 years 216 47. Who looks a f t e r the children when you work? 49. Do you organize your family arrangements around your business? Or/ Do you organize your business around your family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? 50. How much on average per day do you spend on housework? (includes spending time with the kids) On weekends? 51. What help do you r e l y on with your household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? (children and household chores)? 52. Are children old enough to help? How much time do they a s s i s t you per day? 53. How many hours per day does your spouse a s s i s t you? and on weekends? 54. Do you have outside help? Is t h i s out of choice? 55. What are your primary domestic r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? (check o f f l i s t ) 57. Have family obligations effected your business i n any way? 58. What would you do with your time i f you did not have any family and household obligations? -spend more time on the business -recreation -personal care -other 59. Are you s a t i s f i e d with your household and family arrangements? yes No 217 60. Would you say that you engage i n more or less domestic work since you are s e l f employed compared to working outside the home? Yes No 61. Do you face problems i n balancing family and work? Yes No— What are the main ones? Do you attempt to separate family and your business? or/ Blend the two? 62. What suffers when you balance household and business? -reduce standards of the household -l e s s time with children - l e s s time for business -other 63. How do you cope? 1) change expectations and habits: ask for more assistance-2) change your standards-new r e d e f i n i t i o n s of p r i o r i t i e s 3) you do i t a l l 64a My family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s often c o n f l i c t s with my business schedule: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 64b My business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s often c o n f l i c t s with time spent on family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ? strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 65a In my family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s I have so much to do that i t takes time away from my business: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 65b I have so much to do i n my business that i t takes time away 218 from my household and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 66a My household and family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s take up time I would l i k e to spend on my business: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 66b My business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s take up time I would l i k e to spend on my family and household r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 67a Due to family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i t i s d i f f i c u l t to be the kind of business owner I would l i k e to be: strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 67b Due to business r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i t i s d i f f i c u l t to be the kind of parent I would l i k e to be: strongly agree agree disagree strongly d i s a g r e e - — 68. Does being a parent have an impact on your entrepreneurial role? yes no 69. Has self-employment benefited you i n having f l e x i b l e work hours? Yes No In what ways? Is t h i s important to you? yes No 70. Does your spouse have a f l e x i b l e work schedule? 71. How does your family view your business? 72. Has your family supported you i n your business interests? Yes No 219 73. Has s e l f employment allowed you to spend more time with your family? yes no 74. What support do you think i s necessary for small business i n B.C.? 75. What p a r t i c u l a r b a r r i e r s i n achieving a f i n a n c i a l l y successful business have you experienced? Are there any ba r r i e r s you f e e l were unique to you as a male/female? 76. What do you l i k e best about being s e l f employed? 77. What are the advantages of operating a business from (the home/outside the home)? Are there any disadvantages? 78. What advice would you give other entrepreneurs with families i n balancing t h e i r work and family roles? What do you d i s l i k e the most? Time Budget: Daily A c t i v i t i e s : Time spent per day commute to work Daily cooking House cleaning Kitchen wash-up c h i l d care recreation personal care sleep other Time spent per week including weekend Vacuum/sweeping Bathroom cleaning Regular shopping Laundry Ironing Irregular housework repair/maint. building lawn weekend: time spent with family recreation: c h i l d care business 224 APPENDIX C Rights of the Interviewee: Your p a r t i c i p a t i o n i s e n t i r e l y voluntary and you may refuse to take part i n t h i s study. You have the r i g h t to refuse any question or terminate the interview at any point. Consent I agree to be interviewed for the project Experiences of Male and Female Self Employed Workers i n Vancouver. Yes No I give my permission to have the interview tape recorded. Yes No I acknowledge that I have received a copy of t h i s consent form for my own records. Signature of interviewee THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION AND COOPERATION Appendix D Model demonstrating how family obligations affect the process of balancing business and family Family and Hous-hold obligations Motivation for S/E Effects that S/E individuals experience Type of business type of organization 227 1 9 3 vi !_. a O c. Xi S-'S- o -o m o — \"1 -t s o \" < n C o I/I TJ ™* 3 * o 3 Is- 5' o cr ro 3 • 3 <»' 3 a o Wl ectronic m ational fac s; network cr c O < to ectronic m ational fac s; network t/i 5\" rt> wt wt 3=5; rt> O IO 2. 7T I/I Z3 to to VI rt -. in Wl io 2 ft) 3 US on in m 3 3 Q . 3 Cu VI 2 to 2 O . \" n c 3 2-— — • \"D < ro - • o c n -i O a> 3 ^ *\"* o> ft* l/l O. rt rt> wt < g n CD rt) 3 C cr vi n 3-- o TJ C Dl vi 3 » Ii i ? CU c 3 3 CL CL CU c CL 0 si! 1 > < X CQ CQ > WJ n 2 v» > *» 2 s. n • a. P o _ < cr CL « VI cu u n o 5' 8 . ! 2\" -Vi 3 to a ^ ro < TJ 0 S> 5 i CL -to O S o. «•? o D> CL Cu pa 0 c_ Wt Wl ? o be Cu VI 7? 0 0 to n CL har U n r— O to c VI 3 01 3 ro — n Dl T5 VI Dl 3 CL T T J •< \"n Lu Di O O A 2. C -i ui £ <\" Ul • TJ -» — * D i • O \" \"> 5- f n — 3 vi LO « 3 Ol » •o -ri v» ro mPo N J - I ° D g\" E c i> CL . -n 0 0 cr-r^' VI VI I * 3 • O o 3 S ? i -3 VI VI 9_ L I go 5' o o 02,5 5\" \"> n m - Wl 9:= - 5 w S C vi 3 3 3 3- 01 n 0 0 ^ 01 n 3 3 H 5?S w c • \" ' < ' 0> I \"> i t I «3r - • Name • will you serve on a VHBBA committee? See over. Business Name. Address city. PR PC Telephone _ FAX How shall we send your newsletter? • DAF-BBS • CIS/WfH • E-mail • FAX HI Mall Computer • IBM/compatible • Mac • Other D-A-F Id: E-mail: CompuServe: Please attach a 250-character profile that describes your present business or future plans. Also: additional inform-ation you'd like for us to know about-voicemail, pager or call-times. Attach your cheque or money order. Member-to-member offer (Accepted practice: SK discount) Do you want VHBBA to actively promote your business thru publicity and referrals? • yes • no-all info confidential Dale of birth (lor insurance purposes) Signature _ Referred by: Indira Prahst "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; vivo:dateIssued "1996-05"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0087128"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "Anthropology"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "Balancing business and family : a comparative study of the experiences of male and female entrepreneurs in British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4394"@en .