Recognizing the Role Men Play in the Entrepreneurial Success of Women : Enhancing the Economic Empowerment of Women

This study investigates whether the old adage that "behind every successful man is a woman" remains true when reversed. It sets out to understand the role that men have in women's entrepreneurial success in this thesis entitled "The Gender Dividend: Enhancing the Economic Empowerment of Women by Recognising the Role Men Play in the Entrepreneurial Success of Women". The study presents a pioneering Grounded Gender Inclusive Conceptual (GGIC) Model as a way to understand the role men play in women's entreprenurial success, as well as how other factors come into play. The researcher has used the GGIC model to successfully illustrate how understanding the other side of gender (men's role) in women's entrepreneurship development can enhance success. The study triangulated qualitative and qualitative research methods to reach valid conclusions that add a novel dimension to the academic debate on gender's simultaneity with race as a source of discrimination in the South African economy and makes a very worthy contribution to the discipline of entrepreneurship.