A Critical Exploration of Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy and Access to Finance in Ireland: An Ecosystems Approach

Ogunjemilusi, Kehinde (2025) A Critical Exploration of Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy and Access to Finance in Ireland: An Ecosystems Approach. Doctoral thesis, Dundalk Institute of Technology.

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Abstract

Women's entrepreneurship has been recognised as critical for economic growth and job creation. Consequently, policy initiatives and programmes to increase the number of women entrepreneurs have been developed. Despite this, the literature has shown that women-owned businesses are still significantly underrepresented globally. Access to finance has been recognised as a particular challenge facing women-owned businesses, especially at the start-up stage. Studies exploring the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems note that access to finance and government policy play a critical role in entrepreneurial behaviour. These studies argue that most entrepreneurship policies are inherently gendered. While such studies are valuable, this remains a relatively unexplored theme, especially in Ireland. This thesis explores the potential embedded gender biases within the Irish entrepreneurship landscape, by focusing on women entrepreneurs at the intersection of policy and access to finance. Drawing on feminist theory and adopting an ecosystems approach, the study employs a three-stage interpretive qualitative research approach combining discourse analysis, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and a policy reading guide (GWEP). Qualitative interviews with 43 women entrepreneurs and 3 funders were conducted and thematically analysed. Finance-focused entrepreneurship policy and programme documents for women’s entrepreneurship in Ireland were analysed using the GWEP policy reading guide. Findings reveal that the Irish entrepreneurial ecosystem is inherently gendered. Current policies designed to support women entrepreneurs' access to finance do not appear to alter women's disadvantaged position in society; rather they perpetuate women’s ‘othering’ positioning. This was particularly evident in this study through the power and gender dynamics uncovered in the funding landscape. It appears that while women are encouraged to actively seek funding, they are at the same time reminded of their subordinate position. It seems that women entrepreneurs are reminded ‘to know their place’ in entrepreneurship through the various embedded gender biases and structural barriers imposed within the Irish funding ecosystem.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Entrepreneurship Women Access to finance Ecosystem
Subjects:	Business
Research Centres:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Colette Henry
Date Deposited:	08 May 2025 13:00
Last Modified:	08 May 2025 13:00
License:	Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0
URI:	https://eprints.dkit.ie/id/eprint/930

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