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2004:8 Life Strategies of Businesswomen and Businessmen at the Turn of the Millennium

Alena Křížková

This qualitative sociological study examines people’s motivations for going into business and the strategies that the men and women who chose to do so during the 1990s use in order to balance work and family commitments. The study is theoretically based on the sociology of the family, the sociology of work, and the sociology of organisation and management, combining these fields from the perspective of the sociology of gender. The study also draws on the work of foreign studies on the sociological aspects of business, as in the Czech Republic no qualitative studies on business as a phenomenon reintroduced into Czech society at the start of the 1990s, addressed from a gender perspective, have yet been published. The business strategies that are analysed are drawn from the biographical narratives of businessmen and businesswomen and examined as the reasons behind the circumstances, factors and decisions that gave rise to them. The study focuses on the motivations for going into business, which proved to be significantly differentiated according to gender, with women citing the possibilities for combining work and family responsibilities as one of the main motivations for going into business. Conversely, businessmen make a clear separation between their professional and family lives, and for them business is almost exclusively a means for their own professional development. The study revealed that the structure of company management, from the perspective of gender and from the perspective of the particular line of business, has a fundamental influence on the distribution of work and responsibilities between partners and on the methods whereby this distribution is reasoned and arranged.

Keywords
Gender relations in business and in management of an organisation, balancing work and family, position of men and women in management posts, motivation for going into business

Summary
“The Life Strategies of Businessmen and Businesswomen at the Turn of the Millennium” is a qualitative sociological study of people’s motivations for going into business and the strategies for balancing work and family that are used by the women and men who embarked on independent businesses in the 1990s. The study is the outcome of the project “Life Strategies in the Czech Business Sphere in the 1990s”, which was conducted in 2002-2004 with the financial support of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (Reg. no. B7028201). The study is theoretically based on the sociology of the family, the sociology of work, and the sociology of organisation and management, combining these fields from the perspective of the sociology of gender. The project’s research background was made up of case studies on the life strategies of women in management positions in one organisation, which resulted in the publication “Life Strategies of Women Managers: Case Studies” [Křížková 2002]. Using this research the author developed a methodology for making a qualitative study of business people’s strategies from a gender perspective. The study also draws on the work of foreign studies on the sociological aspects of business, as in the Czech Republic no qualitative studies on business as a phenomenon reintroduced into Czech society at the start of the 1990s, addressed from a gender perspective, have yet been published. A qualitative analysis was made of 31 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted on a sample of businesswomen and businessmen and an outline was made of their basic business and family characteristics (age, marital status, number and ages of children, line of business, duration and location of business, business partner, life partner). These characteristics were used in the analysis and provided a framework for the interpretation of the acquired data.
The first part of the study focuses on the motivational factors for going into business, and distinguishes these factors according to gender. Gender proved to be one of the main factors differentiating the strategies used by businessmen and businesswomen to achieve a work-family balance in their lives. Compared with men, in their narratives businesswomen present a broader palette of different motivations for entering into the business sphere. Their strategies are also characterised by greater insecurity and greater dependence on circumstances and relations with other people. Women enter into lines of business in which they have no experience or qualifications and in these areas they become successful businesswomen. Their motivations for going into business are supported by the following factors: the need for self-fulfilment and independence, chance and opportunity, the possibility to better balance work and family. Frequently businesswomen follow their husband’s steps in going into business. Conversely, men’s motivations for going into business are aimed more at a pre-set goal and very often take advantage of the experiences and contacts in fields where they already have extensive experience. Another type of male strategy is to come up with something completely new that the market does not offer. Men’s motivation is generally characterised by more self-confidence and an emphasis on the expected financial gain.
For a large number of women business represents a strategy for combining work with a family and household responsibilities. The second part of the study looks at work and family balance in the lives of businesswomen and businessmen. Although running a business as opposed to being employed gives women greater freedom in organising the work-family balance in their lives, the tension between these two spheres is difficult to overcome. This has to do with the fact that in the households of businesswomen and businessmen work and roles are still considerably divided along traditional lines. With regard to reconciling business with family life, businessmen can be divided into two types. One group does not deal with this matter at all and feels no need to “interfere” in looking after the children and the household because these tasks are usually fully handled by their partners or because they do need feel that the children have a need for his care. The other group is made up of businessmen who are actively involved in the relationship with their family and children and are active fathers and equal partners. These are usually younger men (up to 40) who have small children. The partner’s employment and workload did not play a role in the elected fatherhood strategy.
Just as gender has a significant influence on the strategy for achieving a work-family balance in the lives of businessmen and businesswomen, so too does the structure of company management from the perspective of gender determine the distribution of responsibilities, work, and the powers of business partners. The final part of this study focuses on gender relations in business management and especially looks at companies that are mixed from the perspective of gender and companies in which couples run a business together. In these types of business relations, the line of business people were in and its classification in terms of the gendered segregation of trades and fields as feminine or masculine both proved to be significant factors. In the case a business run by men and women together, work and responsibilities tend often to be divided along the lines of gender stereotypes, and in family companies where married couples run a business together the division of roles strongly reflects the roles that exist in the household. This division has relatively traditional gender roots, influenced by the relatively clearly defined notions of men’s and women’s work and skills. For further research it would therefore be useful to focus in-depth analyses on the couple in its entirety within the context of family companies in order to discover the means whereby this arrangement is discussed, reasoned, and understood from the perspective of both participants. Unlike companies with mixed-gender management, where work and responsibilities are structured along gender lines, in companies where partners of the same sex are in charge, greater emphasis is placed on partners being able to substitute for one another and the tasks are divided on the basis of some other principle, such as education.
Qualitative research using in-depth interviews does not provide a representative and accurate view of the population of businesswomen and businessmen that could be generalised further, but it does make it possible to uncover deeper associations between life strategies and the reasoning behind them.