A Comparative Study Of Female Entrepreneurs In China And Australia:the Same Glass Ceiling To Shatter?

In the age of global initiatives citing the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation,countries that fail to embrace the potential of its female entrepreneurs are poised to lose out on the realisation of ideas,opportunities for trade and export and the creation of job opportunities.The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges experienced by female entrepreneurs in China and Australia,with a goal of discovering specific cultural based differences in their experiences.Women matter to the economic prosperity of a country,but underlying bias in the environments of different regions may play a role in constraining their progress.It is necessary to compare the experiences of female entrepreneurs in multiple environments to assess the extent that different socio-economic conditions have,and China and Australia with their dissimilar climates provide a relevant base for this comparison.A qualitative methodology conducted through interviews is used in this research to allow for a deeper understanding of human choices,emotions and experiences.These human factors are incremental in understanding the potential cultural sways that are inherent to answering the research questions of this study.The results show that female entrepreneurs in China and Australia face some unique challenges that are the results of certain cultural and traditional constraints.In general,results show that gender is not a factor in terms of access to resources and favourable institutional environments,however certain country-level measures could be introduced to help bolster entrepreneurship in general.This thesis seeks to contribute to existing literature on female entrepreneurship by giving an in-depth view of the personal experiences of a select group of female entrepreneurs.It also seeks to contribute towards the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps to foster the growth of female entrepreneurship through providing a suggestion as to the type of environment necessary to encourage more female entrepreneurs to start-up.