The deal: Wives, entrepreneurial business and family life
Dina D Bowman
Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn VIC
PP: 167 - 176
Abstract
This article explores how wives of entrepreneurs make sense of the conflicts between their husbands' intense engagement with entrepreneurial business activity and their own belief in the idea of egalitarian intimate relationships. I argue that looking at family life in isolation from market work, or market work in isolation from non-market activities and relations, distorts our understandings of both.
My findings suggest that, despite apparent change, belief in a gender-based deal continues to serve as a reference point. Belief in this deal not only shapes the choices that individual men and women make, but also shapes the nature of market and non-market life. The deal seems natural and therefore seems inevitable. As a result, the rules that govern resource use and the accumulation of different forms of capital have not been negotiated and remain non-negotiable.[1]
[1] This article is based on a presentation: 'The deal: Gender, entrepreneurial business and family life' at the 10th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference 9-11 July 2008, which provided an overview of my research. The present paper focuses on the perspective of the wives of entrepreneurs. It draws on research completed as part of my PhD candidature.
Keywords
Bourdieu, entrepreneurs, family, forms of capital, gender, the deal, work and family, wives
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