Abstract
Ethnic minority entrepreneurship is predominantly male. However, more and more examples of female ethnic
minority entrepreneurs are documented, particularly in the UK, who have been successful in establishing a business
in a still highly patriarchal world of migrant entrepreneurs (Westwood & Bhachu, 1987). In the Netherlands, 25 %
of all ethnic minority entrepreneurs are female (Poutsma & van den Tillaart, 1998). Yet, little is known about how
they perceive their socio-economic environment and the way they construct their identities. The objective of our
study is therefore to contribute to theory development revolving the identity construction of Female Entrepreneurs
of Moroccan and Turkish Origin’s (hereafter called femtos). Consequently, our research explores how femtos
construct a more or less coherent self-identity out of their various shifting multiple social identifications. By doing
so, we will focus on the ambiguities of femtos’ multiple identity construction and the dilemma’s that emerge from
these. We will additionally study how femtos reconcile these identity-related dilemma’s.
The purpose of this paper is to develop a tentative conceptual framework concerning the ongoing and changing
multiple identity construction of femtos. The concepts of the dialogical self and multiple identity are being used in
order to gather ‘situated knowledge’ (Haraway, 1991) on these entrepreneurs. Therefore, eight femtos were
interviewed and asked to describe their lives through ‘life-chapters’ (McAdams, 1993; Buitelaar, 2002). All of
these interviews were thoroughly analyzed, and four of them are used for this paper. Confronting and comparing
theoretical notions with this empirical material has lead to a description of five themes or social practices which
were brought forward in these narratives. This pilot-study has resulted in a first conceptualization of the
representation of femtos’ multiple identities. This conceptualization will serve as a guideline for further research.
