Title: Moving out of 'their places'? Immigrant women care entrepreneurs in Sweden

Authors: Katarina Pettersson; Charlotta Hedberg

Addresses: Nordregio, SE-111 86 Stockholm, Sweden ' Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: In this paper, we analyse immigrant women's entrepreneurship in the care sector in Sweden. Twenty in-depth interviews with care entrepreneurs in the Stockholm region are analysed regarding the motives and entrepreneurial processes, against the background of the gender and 'racially' divided labour market. We conclude that the interviewed women are motivated by complex reasons, like a wish to create better care and better conditions for their personnel. In an act of transformation they turn negative reactions into actions and become entrepreneurs in order to make space for better care, at the margin of a subordinated sector of the economy. We conclude that they cross gendered and racialised lines in their identification as entrepreneurs, even though they are not seen as entrepreneurs by others. We find no evidence for the women being motivated to become entrepreneurs in order to escape unemployment.

Keywords: immigrant women; gender; racialisation; entrepreneurship; care sector; Sweden; in-depth interviews; motives; identification; space; female entrepreneurs; women entrepreneurs; immigrants; motivation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2013.055307

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2013 Vol.19 No.3, pp.345 - 361

Published online: 30 Sep 2013 *

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