Abstract
Through an explicit feminist lens, this paper examines the roles of gender and household size in both choosing to be an active early-stage entrepreneur in general and also in choosing to be an opportunity-driven entrepreneur versus a needs-based entrepreneur. Rather than highlighting the differences between women and men with regard to gender and household size, this study hypothesizes that those factors are insignificant to those decisions. The complete 2015 Adult Population Survey of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is the data source for this analysis. The results indicate that even though gender is statistically significant in both regression models, that variable does not provide any explanatory power in predicting either the choice to be an active early-stage entrepreneur nor in choosing to be an opportunity-driven entrepreneur. Household size is not a significant variable in either regression. Further discussion centers on the inadequacy of relying on statistical significance alone in regression models when interpreting results and on the importance of incorporating explicit feminist perspectives to better understand the phenomenon of women’s entrepreneurship. Recommendations for future research also include incorporating additional structural and contextual variables and mixed research methods into the study of women’s entrepreneurship to gain additional insight into both household dynamics and the macro and meso environments in which women’s entrepreneurship operate.