Abstract:

Amid persistent gender disparities in equity finance, equity crowdfunding is often heralded as a means of democratising women founders’ access to capital. Yet extant studies largely equate democracy with funding outcomes. This study shifts the lens from outcomes to the institutional conditions that produce them, using Feminist Institutionalism to examine how democracy is defined, perceived, and experienced in the process of raising investment through equity crowdfunding. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 19 women founders in an exploratory phase of an ongoing project, the analysis reveals: (1) the gendered paradox of access; (2) male-coded informal logics of campaign success; (3) the reconfiguration—rather than removal—of bias in the digital medium; and (4) women founders’ contestation of narrow, outcome-centric definitions of democracy. Ultimately, it is argued that exclusionary gendered dynamics long identified within equity finance more broadly are reproduced within equity crowdfunding, constituting a case of institutional layering, while the rhetoric of democracy remains substantially decoupled from women founders’ lived experiences. Accordingly, more must be done to close the gender gap in equity investment—not only in outcomes, but also in experience.

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Gender in Management

Keywords: Gender discrimination and industry specific features;Gender and entrepreneurship

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Ms. Olivia King