Women's self-employment: An act of institutional (dis)integration? A multilevel, cross-country study

In this paper we investigate the extent to which gender equality disintegrates women's self-employment choice (compared to that for men) and whether this is contingent upon a country's development stage and industries. We rely on symbolic interactionism to argue that employment choices emerge from an interactive conversation between individual and social institutional processes. Using data from 61 countries, we find that overall gender equality is associated with the gender gap in men's and women's self-employment choices and that this association depends upon the country's development stage and industries. Contributions are made to women's entrepreneurship and institutional theory.

► Paradoxically, the greater gender equality on the national level, the greater the gender gap in self-employment.
► The increased gender gap caused by national level gender equality is stronger in developed countries.
► The increased gender gap caused by national level gender equality exists only in male-oriented industries.