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Mums with cameras: Technological change, entrepreneurship and motherhood
Author(s) -
Mayes Robyn,
Williams Penelope,
McDonald Paula
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12526
Subject(s) - framing (construction) , entrepreneurship , gender studies , sociology , feminization (sociology) , extant taxon , politics , political science , law , biology , structural engineering , evolutionary biology , engineering
This article examines the discursive framing of motherhood and entrepreneurship in the context of the Australian photography industry. Drawing on interviews with both male and female professional photographers, we analyse framings of ‘the mumtographer’ and ‘mums with cameras’. Moving beyond the emphasis in the extant literature on mother business owners in general, our analysis delineates an industry‐specific articulation of the mumpreneur and expands debates around the gender politics of the juxtaposition of entrepreneurship and motherhood. In doing so, we offer insights into the hitherto neglected dimensions of technological change and feminization informing constructions of mumpreneurship. We elucidate masculine constructions of mumpreneurship, adopted in part by female interviewees, and highlight women's understandings of their experiences in the industry as occurring in response to this masculine framing. In concluding we argue that this industry framing not only situates mumpreneurship as feminized practice but demonstrates a broader politicization of motherhood and entrepreneurship in which the entrepreneurial work of mothers is negated if not vilified.