Gender, space and entrepreneurship: a case study of Felda women entrepreneurs in Johor, Malaysiaud

摘要

Since the establishment of FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) in 1956, audseries of entrepreneurship programs and incentive have been introduced through its EntrepreneurudDevelopment Department with the objective to improve and strengthen the knowledge and skills ofudentrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in FELDA. It is estimated that there are 1.97 million womenudin FELDA throughout Malaysia and 4,725 of them are women’s entrepreneurs, involving in variousudbusiness sectors. Several studies have been done on women entrepreneurship in FELDA, however,udknowledge about the places from which women entrepreneurs operate and its relations to gender rolesudis still under research. The ability of entrepreneurs to establish a productive business is very muchuddetermined by factors such as who they are, where they are located, and how they interact withinudspace. By using gender analyses, this paper will be examining women entrepreneurs’ livedudexperiences, how entrepreneurship space is created and how women’s use of space as a survivaludstrategy through entrepreneurship. Using in-depth interviews and observation, 16 womenudentrepreneurs were selected in FELDA Ulu Tebrau to share their entrepreneurship activities andudexperiences. The preliminary finding shows that most women entrepreneurs locate their businessesudclose to home either inside the house, in the house compound or just beside the roadside in front ofudtheir houses as they are not being relieved from the household work. Gender roles are likely inhibitingudwomen entrepreneurs’ spatial range and therefore their business location. The existing governmentudpolicies may not capture all of the impediments to women’s business growth. Therefore, moreudattention is needed to understand and address the gendered role of place and space to ensure thatudwomen entrepreneurs have equal opportunity to expand their business’s growth.