The Sacrifice Paradox: Women Entrepreneurs in Small Business

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the determinants of success and failure for women-owned small businesses in Selangor, Malaysia. Through in-depth interviews with ten women entrepreneurs, the research explores the interconnected challenges and strategic navigations that define their entrepreneurial journeys. The findings reveal a complex ecosystem where venture outcomes are shaped by a dynamic negotiation between structural constraints and personal agency. Participants identified a Gendered Ecosystem of Constraint, characterized by the double burden of work-family conflict, precarious financial access, and market inequalities, as a primary contributor to venture failure. In response, they mobilize an Inner Fortitude and Drive, founded on psychological capital, passion, and resilience, as a critical counterforce. This internal resource is operationalized through Strategic Navigational Competence, involving calculated risk-taking, customer-centric innovation, and proactive networking. A central paradox emerges, however, in the Gendered Ethic of Sacrifice, where the same exhaustive personal investment lauded as essential for success is also a key driver of burnout. The study concludes that sustainable entrepreneurship for women requires systemic interventions that alleviate structural barriers, moving beyond a model that places the burden of overcoming inequality solely on individual superhuman effort.