The research project was carried out between 2009 and 2012 and was granted by Vinnova.

The research project (2009-2012) was granted by Vinnova and was a part of the government's research policy to increase knowledge about women entrepreneurs and their conditions. Helene Ahl, Research Fellow and Ass. professor of Business Administration, was responsible for this project.

Summary: This project aims at investigating how those who work to support women´s entrepreneurship in three different countries conceptualise gender, and women as entrepreneurs, assuming that such conceptualisations 1) are dependent on a country´s cultural, political and institutional orders and 2) influence the design of the support programs. The project builds on the observation that international (read AngloSaxon) and non contextualized research results and experiences on women´s entrepreneurship are often uncritically imported to Sweden.

Disregarding cultural, political and institutional differences may result in program design that is less than optimal for our country. Through increased understanding of such differences, the research results from this project will contribute to the design of more relevant and effective programs