The patriot-preneur – China’s strategic narrative of women entrepreneurs in Chinese media

Abstract

China declared women’s equality since the formation of the Communist Party of China in 1949. However a gender gap in entrepreneurship persists. Scholars have examined the modalities of women’s entrepreneurship, but the government’s framing of women’s entrepreneurship remains a mystery. Therefore, we analysed China’s strategic narrative of women entrepreneurs by asking, How does Chinese media portray women’s entrepreneurship? and Who is the ideal female entrepreneur? To answer these questions, we conducted an inductive qualitative analysis of Chinese media and selected speeches of Xi Jinping. Results revealed the patriot-preneur is the ideal female entrepreneur who engages in her Chinese Dream of entrepreneurship to promote her family, Chinese citizens, and the nation to economic greatness. This narrative is constructed from four discursive themes, fulfilment of destiny, persevere through hardship, gratitude to the Motherland, and collective feminist action. Using feminist theorizing, findings indicate filial piety and Marxism are essential to the patriot-preneur strategic narrative, whereby women must operate successful businesses while sustaining the ‘triple role’ of mother, daughter, and loyal citizen. By utilizing strategic narrative theory we introduced a novel process model to the field of entrepreneurship and public policy. The results underscore practical implications for Chinese policymakers and women entrepreneurs in general.