Family influence on women entrepreneurs in Pakistan

Abstract: This qualitative study explores factors within families that influence women entrepreneurs of Pakistan. Pakistan is chosen as the key research area as where the corporate environment as well as the domestic sphere, they belong to, represent the intricate interaction of social, cultural, traditional, and religious components, especially considering the characteristics of the existing patriarchal system. For the purpose of examining the influence of family on women entrepreneurship, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted. They have different marital status (married, single and/or divorced), however, the commonality that is essential for the purpose of the current paper is that all of the participants are residing with their families.Through the analysis of found empirical material and previous literature on the topic it has been concluded that gender stereotypes, family rules, regulations, conventions, as well as cultural and/or societal values may influence how entrepreneurial decisions are made within the family. These influences have been structured to five groups of factors: gender assigned roles, financial and educational background of the family, children, spouse and his family, as well as the family of origin. The factors have various influences and while some families may modify their standard of life to fit cultural trends, other families may choose to adopt (within societal patterns) what best suits them. In other words, it can be said that family has, indeed, a strong influence on women entrepreneurship in Pakistan, both in positive and negative ways.