Mompreneurship in India: A Perspective on Motherhood Penalty

Ujjal Bhuyan
Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, J.B.College (Autonomous), Jorhat, Assam, India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: ujjalbhuyan92@gmail.com

Banjit Deka
Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Narangi Anchalik Mahavidyalaya, Guwahati, Assam, India. E-mail: dekabanjit200@gmail.com

Economic prosperity of a nation is greatly influenced by the growth in its entrepreneurial domain. Industrial advancements and economic progression are propelled by entrepreneurs who play a significant role in a society's vigor and success. However, the concept of entrepreneurship has never been in the domain of gender-neutrality. Historical narrative of entrepreneurial activities and the resultant organizational structure have been uniquely patriarchal. These disparities in role expectations from men and women have their roots in gender stereotypes. Gender stereotyping basically refers to the socially accepted or believed tenets of male and female. This gender role spillover has negative influence on women's participation in the workforce. According to GEM report 2021-22, a significant entrepreneurial intention gap among males and females has not been witnessed at a global scale; however, in terms of Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), only two out of the five initial stage entrepreneurs were found to be women. The present study aims to shed light on the present status of mompreneurs and the challenges faced by them in India.

Introduction
The influx of new, innovative ideas has a pivotal role to play in boosting economic growth of any nation (Cook et al., 2022). The same has been proposed by the Endogenous Growth Theory (1980s), which states that it is internal factors such as investment in innovation, human capital, etc. that contribute to economic progression and not factors that arise from external sources to an economy (Romer, 1994). However, the concept of entrepreneurship is male dominated and historical narrative of entrepreneurial activities have always been patriarchal. "Entrepreneurship has been a 'man's domain'" (Bird and Brush, 2002, p. 41). They are often regarded as the 'Captain of the Industry', i.e., as captains they are well-equipped in coordinating, manufacturing and distribution-related tasks. The term 'Captain' does not necessarily infer 'Male', however, in the year 1934, it largely reflected the masculine aspect. Collins and Moore's (1962), book The Enterprising Men is an empirical investigation into executives and innovators, who were male. Furthermore, McClelland (1961), a renowned American psychological theorist, described an entrepreneur as "the man who organizes the firm (business unit) and/or increases its production capacity". This goes to show that the concept of entrepreneurship is more of a gender-biased phenomenon; more masculine in nature (Garcia and Welter, 2013). These disparities in role expectations from men and women have their roots in gender stereotypes. Gender stereotyping basically refers to the socially accepted attributes related to male and female (Linan et al., 2022).

Social or gender stereotyping stems from the social roles male and female occupy in the society. Social Role Theory (Eagly and Wood, 2012) states that as per the norms associated with the social positions they play, men and women behave differently. Boundaries in social roles are fixed in such a manner that it is less likely for men to engage in household chores than women and serve as their children's caretakers. In contrast, men were assumed to play a more masculine role and engage in waged jobs which demand physical strength, impulsivity and aptitude to lead (Wong et al., 2016). Matthaei (2001) referred to it as gender polarization, where sex-based division of labor was rigid and men were assigned 'Paid work' in an economy and their female counterparts were confined to 'Unpaid work' within the boundaries of their home.

In India, the burden of care jobs shared by women in comparison to men is nearly 8 times (Table 1). This has a detrimental effect on women participation in labor force. Taking up 'Care' or 'Pink Collar jobs' by women has become a matter of discretion, but these responsibilities are bestowed on them by the society and patriarchal norms (Matthaei, 2001). For decades, the role of women had been limited to 3ks: Kitchen, kids and knitting (Deepalakshmi, 2019). Becker's Work-Effort hypothesis (1985) states that since mothers have to devote considerable amount of time to taking care of their 'pink-collar' responsibilities, they "spend less effort on each hour of market work than married men" (Becker, 1985, p. S33).

This gender role spillover has negative influence on women's participation in workforce. Gender role spillover refers to how "gender-specific expectations are absorbed into work environments" (Greer et al., 2001). According to GEM report 2021-221, a significant entrepreneurial intention gap among males and females has not been witnessed at the global scale; however, in terms of Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), only two out of five initial stage entrepreneurs were found to be women. Moreover, as per a study by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), global parity in innovation and creativity among male and female is likely to be achieved in 2061, i.e., 38 years from now. Gendered differences or biasness have been well captured in the Global Social Norms Index 2023 by UNDP.2 The report, based on 170 nations, highlights that 46% believe that "Men should have more right to a job than women" and 43% of people support the assertion that "Men make better business executives than women do". Such attitudes impede gender equality. However, for economic resilience and independence, the role of women need not be confined to pink-collar jobs. They can play a pivotal role in boosting family economy as well (Dhamayanti et al., 2022). To quote Jawaharlal Nehru, "To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the household moves, the village moves, the country moves as a whole, and thus, we build the India of tomorrow" (Deepalakshmi, 2019, p. 51).

Mompreneurship
The term 'mompreneurship', a portmanteau of two words 'mother or mom' and entrepreneurship, is an important aspect in the field of female entrepreneurship. The term was first coined in 2002 in the book Mompreneurs: A Mother's Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success by Cobe and Parlapiano (2002). Ekinsmyth (2011, p. 105) defined mompreneur as "an individual who discovers and exploits new business opportunities within a social and geographical context that seeks to integrate the demands of motherhood and business-ownership". Jean and Forbes (2012) defined mompreneur as a woman who manages the role of being a mother, while being an entrepreneur. The concept of motherhood penalty has come to be related to working moms. Motherhood penalty basically relates to decline in human resource or manpower owing to women quitting jobs, splitting their energies between life and work, and resorting to adverse career choices in life on becoming a parent (Kelley et al., 2020).

Motherhood penalty is not only restricted to wage disparity between males and females as highlighted in most previous studies (KricheliKatz, 2012; England et al., 2016; and Sun, 2022), and women are often judged as being less 'competent, dependable and authoritative' (Correll et al., 2007). When responsibility to fulfill multiple roles arises, a split in attention can be witnessed and thereby none of the responsibilities or roles receive its due share of attention (Vercruyssen and Van de Putte, 2013; and Kelley et al., 2020). Mothers often fail to fit in the perspective of 'ideal worker'- one who is ready to dedicate overwhelming effort at workplace, even if it demands sacrifice in other concerns (Ridgeway and Correll, 2004).

Work-life interface3, intersection of work and private life, can produce positive (work-family enrichment) as well as negative outcomes (work-life interference). Despite these hurdles, many successful mompreneurs have emerged over the years in India. The following is the list of such successful mompreneurs (Table 2).

The drive to be a mompreneur can result from many push and pull factors (Nel et al., 2010). The steady growth of mompreneurs around the world can be attributed to the need for financial independence, availability of lucrative market opportunities, flexi-work hours, desire to take up challenges, having necessary skills to be an entrepreneur, being one's own boss, etc. (Jean and Forbes, 2012; and Deepalakshmi, 2019).

Significance of the Study
Scholars and academicians have begun to recognize the concept of entrepreneurship from both economic and social viewpoints. Previous literature has pointed out that sustainable economic prosperity at domestic and global level is achievable when entrepreneurship domain is opened to all citizens, regardless of their gender (Nel et al., 2010). In such a scenario, thrust on 'mompreneurship' is of paramount importance (Steyaert and Katz, 2004). Mompreneurship or mumpreneurship has received its due share of attention over the last few years (Figure 1) and is often hailed as new-age feminism (Dhaliwal, 2022). There has been paramount interest in the field of entrepreneurship in explaining the reasons behind entrepreneurial exits. Reasons behind entrepreneurial exits can be categorized into two: intentional exits (underperformance, favoring paid employment, etc.) and personal reasons (negative outcomes from work-family interface). 'Mother penalty' has been one of the personal reasons for working moms or enterprises run by mothers to resort to 'stay-at-home' motherhood. Moreover, research in this subset of female entrepreneurship has been limited (Table 2). In addition to this, there is a dearth of data with respect to mompreneurs in the country as well as regional areas. The present study throws light on the motivation behind mompreneurship and various challenges and enrichment experienced by a mompreneur.

Objective
The present study has the following objectives:

• To determine the motivating factors behind mompreneurship.
• To determine the outcome (enrichment or interference) of work-life interface among mompreneurs.

Research Questions

• What are the motivating factors behind mompreneurship?
• Do mompreneurs experience work-life enrichment from their work-life interface?
• Do mompreneurs experience work-life interference from their work-life interface?

Data and Methodology
The present study is exploratory in nature. The research has attempted to delve deeper into the subject matter as there are only limited studies on the same. Moreover, there has been a dearth of data from secondary sources to substantiate the understanding of the concept in the region taken up for the study. In the study, the researcher adopted a qualitative approach to data collection, using a semi-structured interview (see Appendix). The rationale behind such approach is: firstly, the present study is basically exploratory research, with an attempt to draw insights on the subject matter, which is relatively new in this research domain. Secondly, such approach allows researchers to have face-to-face dialogue and receive spontaneous response from the respondents (Bokkens, 2021). The interview protocol developed for the present study has been adopted from Bokkens (2021). Fifty mompreneurs were approached in the city of Guwahati, (Assam, India) for indepth interviews. Contact details of the potential respondents were obtained based on snowballing technique. However, only 20 of them agreed to participate in the study (response rate 40%). The questions for the interview were adopted from Jean and Forbes (2012, p. 119) for motivation behind mompreneurs, and from Fisher et al. (2009, p. 451) for enrichment and interference in work-life interface on a 2-point Likert scale. The study was conducted in 2023.

The following section highlights the findings of the study. The demographic profile of the respondents for the survey is given in Table 3.

Results and Discussion
The findings of the inductive interviews are shown in Figure 2. Desire to gain economic strength (financially sound) has been the primary motive for the respondents to step into the domain of entrepreneurship. Out of the total respondents, 18 have voted for the same. Followed by other motivations: willingness to gain financial independence and control (17*4), to employ their inherent skills in business (16*), to contribute something towards family (15*), not to leave home (14*), be one's own boss (12*), to do something for oneself (11*), to have flexibility in work hours (8*), desire to help others (5*), have identified an untapped opportunity (7*), one's willingness to take up challenges (2*), inability to work outdoors owing to health problems (1*) and have more time than regular job (1*).

The work-life interface has also resulted in various experiences of enrichment among the respondents. 19 out of the 20 respondents have voted for 'feeling of relaxation', 'gaining energy' and 'experiencing good mood' due to their work engagements. Nine out of the total respondents agreed that work-life has actually assisted in handling domestic matters. Moreover, 14 out of 20 respondents stated to have leveraged energy harnessed in one's workplace to cater to other important matters in their life) (Figure 4).

Conclusion
The study throws light on what motivates mompreneurs in starting a business and also determines the various work-life interface interferences and enrichment experienced by them. An in-depth semi-structured interview approach was employed for gaining insights in this regard. The study found that longing to gain financial strength has been the key motive for mompreneurs to step into the domain of entrepreneurship, followed by readiness to gain financial autonomy and control, to employ their inherent skills in business, to contribute something towards family, not to leave home, be one's own boss, do something for one's own life, to have flexibility in work hours, desire to help others, have identified an untapped opportunity, one's willingness to take up challenge, and inability to work outdoors owing to health problems. The study also highlighted various work-life interferences: Missing out on personal life owing to the number of hours devoted to work, maintaining personal relations in life, ignoring or overlooking of personal needs and suffering in private life due to work and feeling of tiredness and exhaustion due to work hours. The work-life interface has also given rise to enrichment among the respondents in their work-life interface: 'feeling of relaxation', 'gaining energy' and 'experiencing good mood' due to their work engagements, assistance in handling domestic matters at home and leveraging energy harnessed in one's workplace to cater to other important matters in their life.

Limitations and Future Scope: Owing to the smaller sample size and geographical restriction of the survey, the study findings may not be generalized. As for future scope, the survey can be extended to other areas of the state and country, and aspects such as locus of control, self-efficacy, etc. can be examined to enhance the depth of the study.

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End Notes

1. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (2022), https://gemconsortium.org/report/gem-202122-womens-entrepreneurship-report-from-crisis-to-opportunity
2. 2023 Gender Social Norms Index, in https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdp-document/gsni202302pdf
3. Work-Life Interface (n.d.), "Psychology Wiki", https://psychology.fandom.com/wiki/Work-life_interface
4. * No. of respondents out of 20.