Navigating Gendered Norms: Women Entrepreneurs’ Journeys in Sweden’s Tech Ecosystem

Sammanfattning

This master’s thesis examines how gendered norms shape the entrepreneurial experiences ofwomen in Sweden’s technology sector. Drawing on ten semi-structured interviews with womenfounders across different tech sub-sectors, the study applies a three-level analytical frameworkencompassing macro dynamics (the Swedish gender contract), meso-level processes(masculinised norms of entrepreneurship and legitimacy), and micro-level experiences (doinggender and identity work), with intersectionality considered throughout.The findings reveal three main themes. First, women continue to face legitimacy challenges,including having their authority redirected toward male colleagues, needing to continuouslyprove credibility, and experiencing an “attention-to-legitimacy gap,” where increased visibilitydoes not necessarily translate into investment or recognition. Second, women navigate theseconditions through various strategies, such as strategic adaptation, selective participation inentrepreneurial spaces, and reframing gender as an entrepreneurial advantage, although thesestrategies are unevenly accessible across intersecting social positions. Third, the study extendsexisting scholarship on the Swedish paradox (Bourne, 2010; Tillmar et al., 2022) bydemonstrating that within Sweden's tech entrepreneurship ecosystem specifically, formalcommitments to gender equality coexist with persistent informal inequalities, and that theparadox does not operate uniformly but functions as a spectrum whose salience varies withintersectional position, a dynamic not previously examined in this sectoral context.Overall, the study demonstrates that gendered norms continue to shape entrepreneuriallegitimacy and opportunity within Sweden’s technology ecosystem through subtle institutionalpractices and taken-for-granted field logics rather than overt discrimination. The thesiscontributes to gender and entrepreneurship scholarship by introducing the concept of the“attention-to-legitimacy gap” and by providing context-specific insight into women founders’lived experiences in Sweden’s tech sector. While the study is limited by its qualitative designand small sample size, it highlights the need for future research on intersectional experiencesacross different entrepreneurial ecosystems and venture development stages.