Navigating belonging as a Muslim Moroccan female entrepreneur

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship and families are inextricably intertwined. However, there is limited research on how female ethnic minority entrepreneurs achieve belonging and how they navigate the values and norms of their family, the ethnic community, and, for instance, clients. This article theorizes the processes of entrepreneurial belonging through an empirically informed ethnography of Muslim Moroccan female entrepreneurs (MMFEs) in the Netherlands. The analysis unveils the perceptions and contradictions regarding achieving belonging through navigating gender, ethnicity, and religion, but also relationships with family, community, and other stakeholders. It demonstrates how MMFEs must pierce through societal and professional stereotypes to establish themselves as entrepreneurs.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic
• women
• qualitative

Introduction

Entrepreneurship in small businesses is more of a collective rather than an individual activity because small business entrepreneurs typically depend on the involvement and support of their family (Bruni et al., 2005; Dana et al., 2019; Pearson et al., 2008). Small businesses and families are inextricably intertwined. Norms, attitudes, and values within families affect entrepreneurial behavior, as financial, human, and social resources are often provided through “strong ties” with relatives (Aldrich & Cliff, 2003; Anderson et al., 2005; Gibb Dyer et al., 2014; Omar, 2015). As Dyer et al. state, family capital has some unique advantages: it is difficult to imitate, can be mobilized swiftly, tends to entail low transaction costs, and can be efficiently transferred across generations (Gibb Dyer et al., 2014, p. 266). Various authors have argued that, particularly in migrant communities, entrepreneurs profit from family capital (Barrett & Vershinina, 2017; Gibb Dyer et al., 2014), while the mainstream entrepreneurship discourse states that migrant entrepreneurs should use more “weak,” formal ties to minimize enforceable trust and reciprocity that come with family capital. However, limited research has been conducted on how female migrant entrepreneurs are influenced, positively or negatively, by their family and ethnic community while setting up and sustaining their business, and how gender plays a role in navigating belonging. Indeed, while research exists on legitimacy (Ashforth, 2019; Radu-Lefebvre et al., 2019) and its subset identity (Bell et al., 2018), another subset of legitimacy, belonging, remains underresearched.

This article scrutinizes the process of perceiving and achieving entrepreneurial belonging by female migrant entrepreneurs. Previous research by Essers et al. (2013) has demonstrated that families play a crucial role in the simultaneous construction of gender and ethnic identities of female entrepreneurs of Moroccan or Turkish descent in the Netherlands. Such research indicates how the contradictory normative demands placed on women of Turkish or Moroccan descent sometimes force such women to navigate and even manipulate the family norms and values to gain legitimacy, and effectively hold their position in the public domain. However, this, and other research, does not detail how the process of gaining belonging, which is necessary to acquire resources and “do” entrepreneurship on a day-to-day basis, works. Additionally, earlier research has not provided a detailed, layered analysis of the involvement of other stakeholders in this process of belonging.

Through using the case of Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs (MMFEs) in the Netherlands to provide a fine-grained analysis of the complexity of this process, this article fills this gap in the literature. In the public discourse, Moroccans are often negatively stereotyped as not being adjusted and not belonging to Dutch society with its Western, Christian norms and values (Güveli & Platt, 2011). Hence, a so-called us versus them dichotomy has emerged, which adds to an already closed Moroccan community. Together with the generally traditional gendered public-private divide within the Moroccan community (Essers et al., 2013), it is challenging for MMFEs to belong to both their families and their business communities. We define belonging as perceptions of acceptance, recognition, and inclusion (Fortier, 2000; May, 2011; Stead, 2017; Yuval-Davis, 2006) where actors perceive a sense of social acceptance and validation (instead of feeling isolated and excluded) (Bryer, 2019; Stead, 2017; Suchman, 1995). It is pertinent to note that belonging is neither monolithic nor binary (Ashforth, 2019); rather, it is a dynamic, fluid, and contextual process. We focus on MMFEs’ direct environment (i.e., relatives), as well as clients and other stakeholders from both the minority and the majority community in the Netherlands in these women’s accounts. This has been done because, as Al-Dajani and Marlow state, entrepreneuring is a contextualized activity, reflecting a diverse range of influences such as gender and ethnicity (Al-Dajani & Marlow, 2013, p. 503). We researched MMFEs in the Netherlands and how they navigate the gendered and ethnicized norms, values, and assumptions perceived in their direct entrepreneurial environment to achieve belonging. This study’s two specific research questions are:

1. How do MMFEs navigate the gendered and ethnicized norms, values, and expectations when encountering various stakeholders who may ascribe to different societal norms pertaining to them as entrepreneurs?

2. What practices do they adopt in their quest for belonging?

This article sets out to answer these questions by analyzing these entrepreneurs’ relationships with their family, community, and clients, with a focus on the dynamics of gender, ethnicity, and religion.

The novelty of this article lies in extending the concept of belonging through combining it with gender, ethnicity, and religion in an empirical study, and going beyond current conceptual work (cf. Fortier, 2000; May, 2011; Stead, 2017) to arrive at a more refined understanding of the tactics of belonging as an entrepreneur. Since this article contends that these findings can be extended to the experiences of female migrant entrepreneurs in other (national) contexts, such insights on belonging also contribute to the broader body of literature on entrepreneurial legitimacy, gender, and ethnicity (De Clercq & Voronov, 2009; Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001; O’Connor, 2004; Thoelen & Zanoni, 2017).

The following subsection elaborates on the theoretical background intertwining entrepreneurship and belonging with specific mention of religion and ethnicity. This study’s methodology and findings are then presented, followed by the discussion and conclusion.

Theoretical background

Previous research has focused on the challenges (mainly) white women face when trying to obtain legitimacy in traditionally male-dominated industries (Marlow & McAdam, 2015), or the way Western governmental discourses promote female entrepreneurial role models by furthering the supremacy of the “perfect” and “successful” female (heroine) entrepreneur. Byrne et al. (2019, pp. 155, 179) criticize how this privileges the voices of particular women entrepreneurs, and casts individualized entrepreneurial femininity as a neoliberal, meritocratic, “everybody is capable” view of entrepreneurship, thereby silencing the experiences and needs of entrepreneurs who are (dis)advantaged by ethnicity, class or age. This article discusses such a group of entrepreneurs, ethnic minority women, who may struggle to identify with hegemonic role models and who have to pierce through societal and professional stereotypes – and related norms and assumptions – of gender, ethnicity, and religion. To be a woman, an ethnic minority and a Muslim simultaneously may amount to “invisibility.” However, these women may be visible through the color of their skin, the way they dress, their accent, and lack of credibility because of allegedly poor education, particularly in the perception of the majority community. This often results in prejudices based on gender and ethnic stereotyping. In Davidson et al.’s (2010) study, over half of the female ethnic minority women had experienced discrimination because of their gender or ethnic background, or both. Many female ethnic minority entrepreneurs reported difficulties in accessing different types of formal business and financial support. Additionally, Smith-Hunter and Boyd’s study on female ethnic minority entrepreneurs suggests that for occupational choices and entrepreneurial resources, women were more disadvantaged than men and minority women more disadvantaged than white women, implying that minority women “had a high level of persistence in the face of their relative disadvantages” (Smith-Hunter & Boyd, 2004, p. 19).

Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs are Dutch citizens living in the Netherlands. They belong to one of the largest migrant communities in the Netherlands, with different cultural norms and values than those generally purported by most individuals in the Netherlands. This multiplicity of contexts also resonates with how Islam is differently and often individually interpreted in such migrant communities and the role it has in these community members’ daily lives (Essers & Benschop, 2009). The heterogeneity in Islam, for example, Sunnis, Shias, Wahabis, and Sufis, may not be recognized or known by organizations and stakeholders in the receiving country; rather, all Muslims may be viewed as a homogenous group. Thus, Islam is typically viewed as a monolithic religion, with scant attention to the diversity in sects, interpretations, countries of origin, religious-based violence among Muslims, gender norms, and cultural traditions (Pio & Syed, 2018; Syed & Pio, 2018). Furthermore, Islam and entrepreneurship are regularly seen as theoretical dichotomies (Essers & Benschop, 2009). There are, however, exceptions in the literature that discuss how Islam and entrepreneurship can coexist and bring new opportunities (for example, Baranik et al., 2017; McIntosh & Islam, 2010; Sloane, 1999). This research follows a similar vein in considering a wider context of stakeholders in which, in addition to gender, the impact of ethnicity and religion in these women’s entrepreneurial activities is investigated. In the particular context of MMFEs in the Netherlands, questions arise concerning the entrepreneurial belonging of these women and the influence of socioenvironmental factors such as gender, ethnicity, minority status, and religion on this process. Hence, a clear understanding is required of the lived experiences of these women’s perceptions of acceptance in the context of Dutch society as well as the dynamic, relational, situated process(es) (Fortier, 2000; May, 2011; Stead, 2017) through which these women’s sense of entrepreneurial belonging is achieved.

Entrepreneurs need to be accepted by their strategic peers and stakeholders (Aldrich & Fiol, 1994; De Clercq & Voronov, 2009; Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001) to gain and maintain help and resources (Gibb Dyer et al., 2014; O’Connor, 2004), as well as expressions of support and approval (Barrett & Vershinina, 2017), required in the contexts in which they operate. As Drori et al. (2009, p. 719) note, acceptance can be acquired through conforming to rules and regulations, by endorsing widely held beliefs in the field (for example, those of banks and suppliers), by subscribing to normative industrial practices (see also Keating et al., 2014), and by manipulating norms or creating new practices. According to De Clercq and Voronov (2009), a newcomer should attain “an acceptable level of conformity” (p. 801) and bring about change. As O’Connor (2004) stipulates, acceptance is a highly complex process involving multiple audiences and actors. Thus, the process of building and achieving belonging is dynamic and requires recognition and approval in specific settings where dominant norms may be challenged by new members who need to show competency to resource gatekeepers (Marlow & McAdam, 2015; Stead, 2017).

Radu-Lefebvre et al. (2019) discuss entrepreneurial legitimacy as an outcome that is collectively based on aspects such as legitimation discourses with representations and expectations on who is an entrepreneur with in-group and out-group aspects. Aspects of identity and belonging are an important part of this process, which can be dynamic and prone to change. Bell et al. (2018) discuss entrepreneurial identity as dynamic, based on social interactions and contextual influences and how individuals reflect on their identities and sense of self. While they touch on belonging, this explanation requires more detail. Indeed, in their quest to belong to the entrepreneurial community and their families, MMFEs have to navigate the ethnicized and gendered norms, values, and expectations of various groups in their direct entrepreneurial environment.

In describing the complex term belonging, Bell (1999) succinctly writes of “the beauty of the term,” which implies a yearning and a longing and, therefore, has an affective dimension. Belonging is linked to historical and cultural dimensions and codes that construct belonging to particular communities in specific contexts. It is through recalling, reinscribing, reenacting, and remembering that one reconnects the past to the present to achieve belonging with diasporic communities (Fortier, 2000). Therefore, there is a focus on history, gender, and culture in the terrain of belonging to fit in and deploy the family and kinship processes. Belonging is not simply dichotomous as in to belong or not belong. Instead, it is a continuum in how one performs everyday tasks at work, at home, and in the community (Gaither, 2018) or as “hierarchies of belonging, and not everyone is allowed to belong” (May, 2011, p. 369). Generally, belonging implies that individuals feel socially accepted and validated, and may experience a sharing of resources with groups they belong to, thus feeling included (Bryer, 2019). Bryer, in the context of fostering belonging in organizations, writes that “the work of belonging therefore encompasses those skills and sensibilities by which people actively orientate themselves toward and connect with the concerns of others, gaining a sense of social acceptance or validation, and building deep and lasting relations” (Bryer, 2019, p. 4).

In writing about behavior, belonging, and belief as a ritual practice, Marshall (2002) notes that belonging is made up of attraction, identification, and cohesion based on human social interdependence. Schnell et al. (2019) link the notion of belonging, which involves recognition and acknowledgment, as part of a group/team, to the experience of meaningful work through which people seek to achieve their potential. In other words, individuals’ “productive capacities are experienced as fulfilling and meaningful when exerted with a sense of belonging” (Schnell et al., 2019, p. 2).

Reynolds et al. (2018) view belonging within the discussion of normative ideas of good citizenship, and extend this to “proper motherhood,” which, as they claim, is often racialized. Dominant narratives emphasize and decide what it means to be “a good citizen,” and who is included or excluded from this categorization (Reynolds et al., 2018, p. 378). Yuval-Davis (2006) analyzes belonging as existing on three major interrelated analytical levels. The first is social locations, which have their own multiple power matrix based on gender, age, kinship group, class, and nation. The second is identifications and emotional attachments based on who an individual is or is not – this moves beyond only cognition to encompass emotion, and it is important to note that forced constructions of belonging to a particular group can be resisted as people resist certain positionings of themselves by others. Finally, the third level is the ethical and political aspects of how one is valued, judged, included, and excluded. Yuval-Davis extends her work on the politics of belonging by discussing belonging within the context of bordering, everyday citizenship, and immigration. She states that belonging “relates to emotional attachment [and] … feeling ‘at home’, which is a material and affective space, shaped by everyday practices, lived experiences, social relations, memories and emotions” (Yuval-Davis et al., 2018, p. 230). Importantly, it is “about being in a ‘safe’ space, and about whom has a right to share the home and who does not belong there” (Yuval-Davis et al., 2018, p. 230). People that “do not belong” are often recognized as those who have different looks, accents, cultures, and religions (Yuval-Davis et al., 2018, p. 240). These authors differentiate between belonging, which relates to emotional attachment, and feeling at home in terms of material spaces and affect, which is molded by lived experiences in daily life through interactions and memories with and through people. They also highlight the politics of belonging. This is where belonging is politicized as people feel unsafe and under threat and articulate the need to keep certain people out and differentiate between us (those who are in) and them (those who are out).

Belonging is central in the mutuality of how a person connects to society through “the everyday where the official and unofficial spheres interact” (May, 2011, p. 364). May (2011) emphasizes the interactions that people have with their material environment, cultural norms, traditions, and diverse symbolisms within society. This can lead to a sense of ease in society because belonging is relational and includes the implication of knowing unwritten rules of participation and being recognized by others. Moreover, belonging is dynamic and is not a once-and-for-all accomplishment; rather, it is an active process of relationships with people. Generally, not belonging spells unease, but this state may open various windows of possibility where the individual may be propelled toward multiple belongings. In seeking to belong, there may be incremental changes as people select what to resist and what to adopt in how they behave and think. Moreover, how somebody constructs belonging can shift as societies change based on demographic changes. Gatrell et al. (2014) explore how parenthood impacts on and is perceived by fathers and mothers in the UK. They note that both fathers who were placed in the instrumental economic category and mothers who were placed in the expressive child-oriented category perceived their belonging as different from the categories they were placed in by others (colleagues and managers) at work. This is because they wanted to belong to both groups, rather than only gendered classifications. Ryan (2018) describes how Polish migrants in London achieved belonging over time, and considered belonging as being embedded, attached to, and connected with important others in their (direct) environment through interpersonal social ties. With regard to the MMFEs, the study found belonging to be achieved through acquiring language proficiency and the MMFEs’ qualifications and credentials being recognized.

In line with Stead (2017), this article views entrepreneurial belonging as a gendered, relational, processual, situated, and performative concept. Stead proposes that belonging is an “explanatory and mediatory concept through which to gain in-depth understandings of the relationship between gender, women entrepreneurs and their efforts to belong” (Stead, 2017, p. 73). This implies that in the legitimation processes of female migrant entrepreneurs, it is important to acknowledge that there are always multiple and overlapping belongings. This includes navigating domestic and private life, but also broader social practices such as “the extent to which cultural, religious and socials beliefs might constrain or enable women’s acceptance and belonging as entrepreneurs” (Stead, 2017, p. 68). It is also important to note that belonging denotes “a political process that can exclude as well as include” (Stead, 2017, p. 63) (see also Verduyn & Essers, 2013). As Al-Dajani and Marlow (2013, p. 519) state, “Since entrepreneurial opportunity and legitimacy is embedded within existing institutional norms, entrepreneuring can only ever be a partial solution to problems of poverty and inequality.”

Stead (2017) discerns five tactics for performing belonging: by proxy, by concealment, by modeling the norm, by tempered disruption, and by identity switching. Belonging by proxy implies that many women access entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial networks through their networks, in particular their (male) partners. Belonging by concealment refers to how women conceal their femininity and entrepreneurial identity to belong. Belonging by modeling the norm refers to women replicating or reproducing prevailing norms of what is seen or agreed to constitute an entrepreneur. Tempered disruption is about women disturbing traditional/normative (gendered) expectations of what is seen as entrepreneurial and how they “temper” this disruption to belong. Identity switching refers to how women enact different identities in different contexts to meet the norms and values pertaining to those specific identities. When identity switching occurs, women have to navigate the various so-called identity regulations, norms, structures, and values that pertain to those identities (Essers et al., 2013; Hytti et al., 2017).

Thoelen and Zanoni (2017) added ethnicity to this debate by studying how ethnic minority entrepreneurs deploy their ethnic background in achieving belonging. They are generally embedded in fields constituted by predominantly ethnic majority individuals where discourses reflecting personality traits associated with “white men” as legitimate entrepreneurs often dominate. Ethnic minority entrepreneurs are not always able to comply with this, and it is, therefore, particularly hard for them to fit in (cf. Essers & Benschop, 2007; Ogbor, 2000). On the other hand, insofar as an ethnic minority background is discursively constructed as “otherness,” it might also provide specific opportunities to claim difference and authenticity (Pio & Essers, 2014). Indeed, entrepreneurs may operate in ethnic markets, offering products in ethnic niches, where their background serves as valuable cultural capital and a competitive advantage such that they more easily belong there.

The following section discusses the methods used by this study to understand the dynamic processes involved in how MMFEs acquire belonging through dialogue and navigation with various stakeholders in their family, community, and the wider Dutch society.

Methods

Focusing on MMFEs’ process of belonging contributes to a better, contextualized understanding of achieving entrepreneurial belonging and of how the practices involved in doing so are related to gender, ethnicity, and religion. This study answers two research questions:

1. How do MMFEs navigate the gendered and ethnicized norms, values, and expectations when encountering various stakeholders who may ascribe to different societal norms pertaining to them as entrepreneurs?

2. What practices do they adopt in their quest for belonging?

This study employs an ethnographic case study approach to understand the complex dynamics of entrepreneurial belonging within a particular cultural context (Bruni et al., 2005). Three MMFEs were selected, each having their own company for a minimum of three years. Each MMFE was interviewed multiple times, with their direct relatives participating in shorter interviews (see Table 1). Furthermore, their work practices in relation to other stakeholders were also observed.

Table 1. Overview of the cases

Role	Interviewees’ names (including relatives)	Age	Main service	Founded	Married	Number of children
Entrepreneur	Hafida	52	Hammam (bath/spa)	2009	Yes	3
Husband	Ahmed
Son	Salah
Sister	Badia
Sister	Fatima
Entrepreneur	Maryama	43	Hair salon	2002	Yes	2
Husband	Younes
Daughter	Sara
Son	Wassim
Entrepreneur	Lamyae	33	Daycare centers	2010	Yes	3
Husband	Oussama
Father	Moussa
Brother-in-law	Yassin
Husband’s cousin	Abdellah

The three cases are Hammam Hafida (Hafida), Maryama’s Hair salon (Maryama), and Nanny Daycare (Lamyae). Hafida founded a hammam (a traditional Moroccan bathhouse) in 2009 in the West of Amsterdam. She was divorced in Morocco, remarried (to an Egyptian), and has a son (Salah) aged 33, a daughter aged 30, and a son aged 20 who lives at home. Her two sisters work at the hammam as scrubbers, cleaners, and receptionist, and they sometimes replace her. Three other ladies also work there. Additionally, Hafida’s son helps out on the weekends, maintains the website, and does the bookkeeping. Her husband also assists during the men’s evenings.

Maryama has been operating her hairdresser’s salon in Amsterdam for 10 years. She has a daughter (Sara) aged 19 and a son (Wassim) aged 17, both of whom go to school. She is married to Younes (Moroccan), who she met in the Netherlands. Maryama’s husband helps her with technical problems and the administration. Lamyae is the owner of three daycare centers (two co-owned by her sister’s husband), all located in Amsterdam. Her husband tends to arrange business issues in the second and third centers, and he does the bookkeeping and administration for all three daycare centers. It is interesting to note that all three women had prior entrepreneurial experience. Hafida used to run local supermarkets and sold olives and homemade cookies with her former husband. Maryama started working in her father’s hairdressing salon at a young age and owned a salon in Morocco. Lamyae used to work with her husband in his business.

These three cases were carefully selected in light of our aim to further comprehend the complex dynamics involved in achieving belonging as MMFEs in the Netherlands. This article does not intend to compare the stories or find a more generalized pattern that applies to all MMFEs in the Netherlands or elsewhere. Rather, this article seeks to provide an in-depth understanding of achieving entrepreneurial belonging and of how the practices involved in doing so are related to gender, ethnicity, and religion. This does not mean that this study’s findings do not extend to female minority migrant entrepreneurs in other contexts, as expounded in this article’s Discussion section and conclusions.

The data for the three cases in this study were collected by a female Muslim researcher of Moroccan descent, who is one of the authors of this article. The researcher’s ethnicity was considered advantageous for accessing these entrepreneurs and their relatives, as well as for analyzing and scrutinizing the narratives because she is fluent in Arabic and understands Moroccan Arab. Moreover, since the researcher is part of the Moroccan community, she was able to contextualize this study’s findings. The researcher was viewed as trustworthy based on having the same cultural and religious background as the women, and her familiarity with their cultural habits, detailed explanations of their behaviors were not needed. Furthermore, she was invited to Maryama’s home, which might not have happened if she did not belong to the same ethnic community. Because of this gendered, ethnic belonging, it was easier for the researcher to be an observer in the salon and hammam and to mingle with visitors without being viewed as an external observer. On the other hand, the participants could also have been reluctant to share personal information with the researcher because she belongs to the same ethnic community, where issues such as social control play an important role (Essers, 2009).

The women were interviewed in line with the basic principles of ethnography, and observed during their daily practices, especially during their interactions with relatives and other actors. This was done through “shadowing” (Czarniawska, 2007) during working hours, a technique in which the researcher is present on-site and closely observes how the participant conducts their daily business. This technique enables the researcher to “capture” spontaneous encounters and conversations while taking notes (see also Bruni et al., 2005).

In addition to the entrepreneurs, their relatives (some of them also being employees) were interviewed in formal and informal entrepreneurial situations. Most of the respondents were interviewed individually; however, Lamyae’s husband was interviewed with his wife, and Maryama´s daughter was interviewed with her mother. The researcher did not encounter any difficulties regarding the entrepreneurs or relatives participating in this study. The relatives were open to participating in the research and expressed pride in being part of it.

The interviews and observations, done in Arabic and Dutch, comprised around 100 hours over a three-month period. The interviews were recorded and transcribed by the female Muslim researcher and resulted in approximately 40 pages per case.

A team of four (female) authors wrote this article, two of whom are ethnic minority women. All the authors have extensive experience in life story and ethnographic research with ethnic minority women entrepreneurs. The interview and observation protocol was co-created by this article’s team of authors. After the interviews and observations were conducted, the entire research process was debriefed, and the findings (see below) were discussed among the authors. The transcripts were coded by three of this study’s four authors separately to consistently develop the most important themes. Examples of the codes used are “not taken seriously by certain relatives as a female Moroccan entrepreneur,” “having to be persistent to be(come) an entrepreneur,” and “feeling they have to prove to clients they can be trusted.” These themes were further discursively analyzed to illustrate how the respondents made sense of the various processes. The team’s analysis of transcripts included reflexivity on how, for instance, the researcher’s identity may have impacted the interpretation of material included in this article (see also Essers, 2009). In the next subsections, we present and discuss the findings of this study.

Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands

Family plays a central role in the lives of most Moroccans. This not only is based on cultural aspects, but also is emphasized in Islam. The family’s reputation and maintaining family ties are seen as important. These ties can have a supporting role in business by providing resources (Omar, 2015); however, they can also be restrictive. From a cultural perspective, women are supposed to fulfill their ascribed role as a mother, wife, or both, and to uphold the honor of their male relatives (Essers & Benschop, 2009; Goss et al., 2011, p. 219; Al-Dajani & Marlow, 2013). Therefore, it is suggested that women are often restricted from conducting economic activities because they might bring shame to the family (Al-Dajani & Marlow, 2013; Essers & Benschop, 2009). Regarding Muslim female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, Essers and Benschop’s (2009) study showed that, in some cases, Islam is used to either limit or legitimize entrepreneurial activities for women. On the one hand, the reasoning that women are restricted in how they enter the public sphere is interpreted as Muslims in general being against the economic activities of (Muslim) women, or the official Islamic prohibition of charging interest on bank loans (Al-Dajani & Marlow, 2013; McIntosh & Islam, 2010). On the other hand, some women pursuing entrepreneurial activities deploy Islam to legitimize their entrepreneurship, by using the example of the wife of the Prophet, Khadija, as being the first businesswoman in Islam (Baranik et al., 2017; Essers & Benschop, 2009, p. 415). Hence, the rules (allegedly) belonging to Islam are employed to create a structure in which behavior patterns become acceptable and are adopted. However, these initiatives are not always appreciated by families in Muslim communities. As Bruni et al. (2004, p. 406) assert, entrepreneurship involves a gender positioning that can become culturally produced and reproduced in social practices. With the increase of ethnic minority female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, it is important to consider how these women navigate their gender positioning and diverse organizing in a country-specific context. In fact, it is possible that they do not necessarily have to adhere to their family’s opinions, nor adjust their actions and decisions based on their expectations. As Aldrich and Cliff (2003) state, it is also possible to change family members’ norms, attitudes, and values. This underscores the importance of MMFEs’ agency in the Netherlands.

The complex process of Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs achieving belonging through their families

Three groups of (internal and external) stakeholders relating to achieving belonging by Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs will be discussed: the family, the ethnic community, and the majority population (such as clients). The three women selected as cases for this study each received support in some way from relatives while setting up their businesses. This varied from human capital to financial capital. This corresponds with the extant literature on families and entrepreneurs, which asserts that family and strong ties play an important role when entrepreneurs start their businesses (Gibb Dyer et al., 2014; Greve & Salaff, 2003; Omar, 2015). Hafida’s son Salah conducted the research for the business plan. Lamyae’s husband, as well as her sisters, supported her, while her brother-in-law Yassin lent her starting capital, and her husband’s cousin Abdellah set up the application system. Maryama’s older brothers, who already had a salon, supported her in the process and gave advice. As Maryama says:

When I need help, I can count on them. I was practically brought up in the world of hairdressers as my father owned a salon in Morocco. … I received [financial] help from my family since the bank did not want to give me anything. Everyone is very proud of me. I come from a totally different kind of family. I am raised in a Moroccan way, and I am a Moroccan woman, but I don’t have those problems [such as feeling unable to be a female entrepreneur].

Here, it is interesting that Maryama compares her situation and freedom with other families in her ethnic community. On the one hand, people are proud of her, while on the other she is aware that not everyone has this privilege (“I come from a totally different kind of family”) and that others in her community, who are raised as Moroccan women in the Dutch context, might judge her negatively. When Maryama married, she came to the Netherlands and started working in one of her brother’s hairdressing salons. However, after Maryama gave birth to her first child, she started working from home. For six years, Maryama received clients at home, until a client, who was also a Moroccan female entrepreneur, encouraged her to set up her own hairdressing salon. Maryama’s older brothers, who already had a salon, supported her in the process and gave advice. After a few years, Maryama was in charge of one of the five “family salons.” Hence, being safely embedded in and connected with a family environment containing many hairdressers made Maryama feel included and helped her acquire belonging (by proxy) as a female migrant entrepreneur.

Simultaneously, as Hafida’s case indicates, the families also express signs of resistance to entrepreneurial activity. After losing her job and starting her own business, some Moroccan people would tell Hafida:

“Come on, have you gone crazy? Every person could start a hammam!” You know, if a man sees that you have a good idea, he says that women have small brains. So that is how they think.

According to Hafida, a lot of the resistance against (Moroccan) women in business has to do with the “thoughts” of men. But by putting her hands on her ears during the interview when referring to some men’s degrading belief that women have small brains when they have a good idea, Hafida underscores that this did not prevent her from pursuing her goal. Hafida remained undeterred, even when her second husband Ahmed (an Egyptian) – who also works in the hammam – and her son Salah said they did not like the idea.

If a hammam was a good idea, enough people with enough money would have already built one.

It is interesting to note that Hafida’s own family, as well as the Moroccan community, reacted in the same patronizing manner regarding a woman starting a hammam. This indicates that they do not take Moroccan women seriously as entrepreneurs by excluding them from this category. However, despite their hesitations and objections, both her husband and son helped her out when she decided to go ahead anyway – getting their acceptance in her quest to belong as a female entrepreneur required persistence. This is underlined by Hafida putting her hands on her ears, which implies that she did not want to listen to exclusionary gendered norms. Hafida displays tempered disruptions in making a strong statement about women who, in the eyes of their male relatives, are said to have “small brains” and, hence, have less entrepreneurial qualifications (Ryan, 2018).

Lamyae, who is married to Oussama, an entrepreneur of Moroccan origin who completely supports her, had to deal with her mother:

According to my mother, it is a big risk. She says my husband is doing financially well. I have three children, so why would I take the risk? Alḥamdulillāh [be thankful to God].

Lamyae’s father, Moussa, on the other hand, supported her completely. From a young age, he used to motivate his children to “reach further”:

My parents are very pro-women, women’s rights; women can do anything. Especially my father, Moussa, he is like, “you have to do it, don’t let them drive you crazy, you can do it so go for it.” He did this with all his daughters. He always said to others that they were not only decent but also clever.

Lamyae, who studied informatics, experienced more difficulties in achieving belonging via her mother than her father and husband. Her mother wanted her to abide by a traditional role of being a married Moroccan woman whose husband already earned sufficiently for his family, for which she had to be grateful. However, Lamyae’s father supported her entrepreneurial activities, emphasizing that she should not listen to people that “drive you crazy,” and that she had to start her own company. Moreover, her husband, who does her administration, was supportive. The fact that Muslim women entrepreneurs often strongly rely on their male relatives for most of the business functions of the firm is supported by literature on similar groups, but in different Muslim contexts (see, for instance, Omar, 2015). Reflecting on the authors’ expectation that Lamyae’s father would be more orthodox than her mother highlights the stereotyping and prejudices regarding gender dynamics in the Moroccan community. Additionally, the interviewer-researcher, being Moroccan, recognized that her father was very supportive, wanting his daughters to show what they are capable of. This might be a generational issue that is linked with pride and wanting to show the Dutch that Moroccans (both sexes) can be successful despite their disadvantaged position in the labor market and often negative image (particularly of Moroccan male youth in the media). Younger fathers are generally more aware of this issue. Hence, in this case, and the two other cases, it is often the male relatives who create an inclusive platform enabling (Bryer, 2019) the belonging of MMFEs.

On the other hand, MMFEs also experience some reservations from their male relatives when starting a business. For instance, Maryama’s uncle repeatedly noted that, as a woman, she must consider gendered norms and the public-private divide. Maryama’s uncle stated:

Where I am from, a working woman is considered to have a bad role at home [in the household].

Maryama not only heard this from her uncle, but also from other people who thought she did not spend enough time with her children. This reflects the ascription of the traditional gender and caring roles to Muslim women and a working role to men. This prescribes normative ideas of motherhood to Muslim women (Reynolds et al., 2018), which prevents them from belonging to the category of entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, Maryama’s daughter did not experience this; in fact, her father plays an important role in the household. Maryama’s daughter Sara noted:

And we were old enough, so she could start her own salon. … I am very proud of her, not only because she is my mother, but she is also an honest person. She goes for quality and not for quantity. … Then my mother calls him, and says it’s [the hairdressing salon] busy, so then he cooks.

Maryama’s husband Younes added:

I do some small jobs in the salon, and then go to the wholesalers, do groceries, make sure everything is clean here, and that the kids have dinner.

Interestingly, and this is what Maryama and her family members emphasized throughout their story, the family does their enterprising together and makes sure that everyone complements each other. This household cooperation, wherein feeling emotionally attached and materially supported through their everyday practices and relations, enhances Maryama’s sense of belonging as an entrepreneur. Being aware that this is not very common in most Moroccan families, they have developed this practice and are satisfied with it. Nevertheless, Sara emphasizes that they, the children, were old enough when Maryama started her salon, which implies that there is a gendered norm at stake in that women with young children should stay at home as caregivers instead of being away from home and enterprising. It is, however, important to note that, to some extent, (Dutch) majority women also still need to meet such expectations of being a “good mother.” This is underlined by the gendered subtext of the term “mompreneurs” (Reynolds et al., 2018).

It is notable that Hafida’s husband, unlike the other husbands, was mostly against the idea of her setting up the hammam, but he is currently the husband who is most involved. For example, he works at the hammam during the opening hours for men. He changed his mind when Hafida took her business plan to a bank, and the bank was enthusiastic about her plans. This catalyzed a turnaround in her husband and son, who both then became enthusiastically involved. According to Hafida, her husband’s hesitations had to do with the fact that he felt it was more his role, as a man, to start his own business:

It had more to do with the idea that “I’m a man, I should be starting a venture, not the woman.” “What are you doing, with what are you preoccupied?” he asked at the beginning when I had already started with my business plan, but I didn’t want to tell [him] because then you only hear “no,” negative, negative. A man named David helped me with the business plan, that was a lot of work, appointments here and there. … No, at first, I “astaghfirullah” [may God forgive me] didn’t say anything, until I got a call from the bank. Only then [did] I [tell] him and I called everyone that we had an appointment, because I wanted him and my son to join me at this bank’s appointment.

Hence, Hafida decided to pursue her business without telling her husband Ahmed, to avoid negative reactions, as he felt that he ought to belong to the category of entrepreneurs, not her. She worked on the business plan along with another man David, seemingly rather secretly, and therefore partly felt guilty, which is emphasized by “astaghfirullah.” This is very interesting in Hafida’s story; she adjusts in public (identity switching) to adhere to conventional gender roles (and, hence, applies the tactic of modeling the norm). However, she goes her own private way autonomously and “secretly” (concealment) to prepare things. As Hafida repeatedly says, if you want to reach something, you must keep pursuing it. Conversely, to get her husband’s and son’s approval, Hafida involves them in the bank’s appointment to confirm their masculinity (performing belonging by proxy). This also connects with the Arab phenomenon of “qiwama,” which “stipulates patriarchal responsibility towards women along with their support and protection,” and “wasta” “requiring men to assist women by permitting entrée to their networks” (McIntosh & Islam, 2015, pp. 102–103). Gaining legitimacy from her husband is furthermore abetted with the following comment:

Alḥamdulillāh [thank God] he is not Moroccan; he is Egyptian, so he does not know Morocco; he would not know what he should do there.

Hence, having a non-Moroccan Muslim Egyptian husband seemingly supports Hafida’s identification as a female Moroccan entrepreneur. Hafida is positive about Egypt and would like to emigrate, at some point, to Egypt and start a hammam there as this would be a novelty, entrepreneurially attractive to her, and augment her sense of being an entrepreneur.

Furthermore, Hafida’s sisters have an active role in her business, which enhances a sense of belonging, an emotional attachment, and material and affective space (Yuval-Davis et al., 2018). During the development of the business idea, Hafida discussed her idea with one of her older sisters Badia. Badia was already working in a hammam, so she knew the specific details. She supported Hafida from the beginning and, together with another sister Fatima, they now work in Hafida’s hammam providing massages and scrub treatments. The oldest sister Badia is proud of Hafida, saying:

She is motivated; she takes care of the house, her children, her husband … she can handle it all. … They have to support each other to grow further … as long as a woman fulfills her tasks in the household.

Hence, according to her sister, Hafida can do anything that strengthens her entrepreneurial identity from a family point of view. However, from a religious perspective, she confides to the interviewer-researcher in Moroccan that she considers it important for a husband and wife to be understanding toward each other and respect each other’s traditional duties. This implies that Hafida’s sense of belonging as a Moroccan female entrepreneur is confirmed as long as she continues with traditional gendered household duties. Thus, Hafida does not seem to encounter too many problems concerning the issue of being a woman because she does not throw off the “mantle” of tradition (thus, “modelling the norm”). This also resembles Al-Dajani and Marlow’s (2013, p. 505) findings on Palestinian women in Jordan who, constrained by patriarchal norms, were able to seek empowerment through their home-based craft-based businesses that did not ostensibly threaten the gendered status quo, but enabled them to exercise acceptable degrees of agency. Hafida admits that, if her children were younger, it would not have been possible to run the hammam as they would have needed more of her attention. Moreover, Hafida explains that family is very important and that she tries to have a family gathering at least once a week. Thus, she seems to be eager to continue to actively involve her family in her business. Remarkably, her older son Salah is now also positive about her and Moroccan women starting their own businesses as he is very involved in the business. Salah even states:

I sometimes pick up the administration from here and do the work from home, including the website and finance. They [Moroccan women] think they only can enterprise with their own grassroots. That they cannot offer their products to others. I find that the Turkish, particularly women, work much harder than the Moroccan ones. They do their best, take over businesses. … I think women should be decoupled of each other; they watch each other a lot. … You should not start something which already exists. … Women from the Sahara travel around the whole world, they are known as traders.

Hence, although Hafida’s son Salah was originally skeptical, he is now involved in her business, with emancipatory views regarding Moroccan women being entrepreneurs. He compares them with Turkish female entrepreneurs who are seemingly more entrepreneurial and claims that Moroccan women should stand out more, as he mentions Moroccan female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands copy each other too much. Thus, Salah suggests that Moroccan female entrepreneurs should not “model the norm” so much in favor of more disruption (but not of an overly tempered nature).

The complex process of Moroccan Muslim female entrepreneurs achieving belonging through their ethnic and majority community

From the ethnic community and dominant community perspectives, navigating socially embedded (gendered and ethnicized) norms, and thus acquiring belonging as an entrepreneur, appears more challenging. Here, the participants perceive that they must do more to belong to the entrepreneurial community. Apart from their family, culture and religion play significant roles in the formation of their entrepreneurial identities (see also Essers & Benschop, 2009), and in feeling included and accepted as female Muslim entrepreneurs. Hafida, Maryama, and Lamyae each have a specific cultural and religious background. Each of them lives in and grew up within the Moroccan ethnic community, where gendered prescriptions are important and women generally abide by gendered norms and expectations. These intersect with Islam’s religious prescriptions, such as wearing a headscarf, women not touching nonrelated males, and women eating and praying separately from men. At first, it seemed quite difficult for Maryama to get the credibility from her community, as she shares:

In Morocco, female hairdressers had a negative image at that time, they were seen as whores.

Hence, beliefs inherited from the home country regarding the combination of being a woman and a hairdresser seem to make it challenging for Maryama to be accepted as a female Moroccan entrepreneur. However, this example shows how such perceptions of belonging are contextual and situational since being a woman, a hairdresser, and Moroccan simultaneously in Maryama’s perception is particularly difficult in Morocco (see also Essers et al., 2013) but, in this case, not within the Moroccan community in Amsterdam. Still, Maryama’s father obliged her to follow an official hairdressing course before she could help in the salon. Thus, having an official certificate would, in some way, soften the image of being “unprofessional” as a woman and enable her to belong to the community of professional hairdressers.

Moreover, in her salon, for example, there is a special space for covered Muslim women. Hence, Maryama also accommodates Muslim female clients, which seems to strengthen her belonging as a female Muslim entrepreneur in her specific ethnic community. Maryama has found a niche as a hairdresser to particularly attract female, veiled women, who wish to have their beauty treatment in a private setting, rather than a public space. Navigating this balance is a particular case of modeling the norm, and can also be seen with “majority clients”:

I have this posh customer. … When she comes in the salon, she does not want to hang up her coat because she is afraid it gets stolen. And she wonders about the products, whether the brushes are clean. … I don’t like clutter. I’m already a foreigner, so I try to have a perfectly clean salon. … So I say to the woman … my daughter has that very same coat. And then she said, “Oh, but this is an old one.” So, in the beginning it is an expensive coat, and if I say that my daughter has the same coat, it is suddenly “just” an old one.

The “posh” customer apparently has preconceived ideas about a foreigner’s salon not being safe or clean, something Maryama is aware of. These female Muslim entrepreneurs are often still being “othered” (see Pio & Essers, 2014) by Dutch clients, and are not seen as equal nor able to achieve the same kind of belonging as the majority population (as is accentuated by the ability to buy an expensive coat). However, not liking clutter by nature, Maryama is meticulous in having a clean salon as a perceived foreigner, and this practice of cleanliness seems to minimize Maryama’s otherness and expand her belonging to majority clients. Maryama challenges the preconceived ideas by suggesting that her daughter has the same coat the posh customer finds too precious to hang.

Reacting to this in a down-to-earth, pragmatic manner, and by catering to a variety of clients (men, women, young and old, Dutch, Surinam, Moroccan, Indian, and Polish), Maryama can sustain her business and herself. This multicultural setting is something Maryama enjoys:

The fact that all nationalities are together gives me energy.

Maryama is clearly eager to attract diverse clients as this gives her energy, and having many nationalities together adds to a sense of inclusiveness. However, this multiculturalism is not always appreciated by the majority clients, as Maryama notes that they often leave when noticing the entrepreneur is Moroccan:

Sometimes people watch through the window, or they even come in, but when they see the owner is Moroccan, they go away.

Hence, for Maryama, it seems quite difficult to gain acceptance from various majority clients. Likewise, Hafida navigates multiple norms and expectations by having separate hours for women and men in her hammam, and forbidding entrance to her hamman if naked. These actions have to do with the wishes of clients based on Islamic rules. Very strategically, to acquire Muslim clients and the credibility of such clients, Hafida models the norm and focuses her services on her specific community’s needs. This is also shown by Lamyae’s approach in her daycare:

Culture and religion play an important role in the way we take care of the children. If a child is brought after fruit-time, some daycares would not give fruit anymore. Well, we do. … Also, we ask parents’ meal preferences. All food is “halal” – ritually slaughtered – in this way, both Muslim or Hindu children can eat at the daycare.

Lamyae conforms to the religious preferences of her clientele by, for example, offering services (for example, halal food) that abide by certain religious norms of the minority Moroccan Muslim community. Interestingly, despite thinking of broadening her clientele, Lamyae would not want to give food that is not halal because of her religious background (Muslims should not only eat halal, but also only feed people halal food). Accordingly, Lamyae reinforces her belonging as an entrepreneur within her ethnic community by being sensitive to her clients’ religious needs.

However, at the same time, the MMFEs have to deal with the Dutch context and the position and image of the Moroccan community as ethnic minorities. In this sense, Maryama has experienced that the positioning of the business is important to succeed. Therefore, even though she has a special space for veiled women to be treated in her salon, she insists her employees communicate in Dutch among themselves – as three of them are Moroccan – and with the clients. Hence, she seems to acquire belonging by modeling the norm of the majority population, including concrete Dutch entrepreneurial practices such as the obligation to speak in Dutch.

Thus, these women adjust their entrepreneurial practices to some Dutch norms while doing business, but also customize their services and products to the norms of their minority communities. This alludes to how this study’s participants are strategic and tempered in their attempts to achieve belonging and how they are able to switch identities in moving between different “contexts.” This illustrates a nuanced and developed awareness of what is needed to enable belonging. While entrepreneuring, they balance between Dutch and Moroccan business and cultural principles, which helps them to belong to the entrepreneurial community.

Maryama underscores this by stating that she probably had more difficulties in the early times of her business than a white male, white female, or male ethnic minority entrepreneur would have experienced because she is a female ethnic minority entrepreneur:

In the beginning, I had more difficulties. I always had the feeling [that] I had to do my best more than others. I do not have this feeling anymore because I built up a good business reputation. In the beginning, it was because of the bank that did not want to lend me money and Dutch clients who did not dare to come in. … Look, if I have to be honest, I have two obstacles that play a role, namely mastering the Dutch language and my cultural background itself. I do now master the Dutch language fairly well, but my origin remains. I think that these are both greater obstacles than the fact that I am a woman. … Yes, in the beginning, I also had problems with the landlord. They made it very hard for me. … They should take a look at me now. I have proven them quite the contrary!

This quote illustrates that, in the beginning, it was very hard for Maryama to gain the credibility of bank loan officers (as well as clients), who hesitated to regard her as belonging to the entrepreneurial community. Maryama thinks that this probably had less to do with her gender, but more with her ethnic background as well as her poor Dutch proficiency that did not help her to belong (Ryan, 2018). Now that Maryama has built up a good reputation and even won the award for “best entrepreneur in the West of Amsterdam,” she has proof of belonging, and this helps her own belief that she now belongs to the wider community of entrepreneurs in Amsterdam. Maryama feels well accepted as a female ethnic minority entrepreneur and no longer has to deal with gender-based or ethnic-related prejudices. This has been a long journey, and her statement that “they should take a look at her now” illustrates Maryama highlighting her sense of victory. Reflecting on this practice yields interesting information about the women interviewed. This is backed up by earlier research on this group (Essers & Benschop, 2009) that highlights the official Islamic belief that (bank) loans (i.e., interest) are Haram (not okay), though this is pragmatically dealt with and adjusted to individual norms of what is proper entrepreneurial behavior in being a Muslim.

Discussion

Many female ethnic minority women report difficulties in accessing different types of formal social support such as formal business and financial support (Davidson et al., 2010). Financiers, such as banks, often do not take female Muslim entrepreneurs seriously; these women have to contend with stereotypes and, therefore, struggle to gain belonging as entrepreneurs. Additionally, attracting Dutch clients also seems to be challenging for these entrepreneurs. Brah (1996, 2003) writes about marginality, minority, and difference. These exist within specific discursive patterns linked and performed through interdependent aspects of gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, social relations, and political currents.

This article has demonstrated how MMFEs in the Netherlands navigate belonging in relation to various stakeholders who often have contradictory requirements. Some literature on MMFEs discusses family as one of the barriers women encounter in entrepreneuring and the way these women legitimize their business (see, for instance, Essers & Benschop, 2009). Nevertheless, in each of the three cases discussed in this article, relatives, including husbands, play a positive role in the MMFEs’ day-to-day business activities, and all three husbands are involved in the businesses. The support of male relatives – and particularly husbands – within the context of female migrant Muslim entrepreneurship is novel, and only scarcely mentioned in literature on women Muslim entrepreneurs (Baranik et al., 2017; McIntosh & Islam, 2010; Omar, 2015). It also contrasts with earlier studies in the Dutch context such as that of Essers et al. (2013). With Hafida’s case, this is most evident; in total, nine relatives (including three grandchildren) help at the hammam. The women in this study preserve the relationship with their family and community, and this is conducive to how they perceive gaining belonging. This study does, however, testify to how there are at the same time challenges in MMFEs’ efforts to belong, in relation to their families. Hence, while belonging has its own beauty (Bell, 1999), it is linked to historical, societal, and religious codes in specific contexts.

Indeed, this article has shown that MMFEs need to “talk up” to specific mainstream understandings of “the good entrepreneur” when, for instance, applying for a loan. This is because they apparently do not seem to belong to the accepted category of “entrepreneur” and need to balance these considerations with understandings of “the good mother/daughter” within their specific Moroccan community context. The three cases analyzed in this article demonstrate perceived tensions when these MMFEs seek to legitimize their entrepreneurial initiatives. Generally, a traditional caring role is ascribed to these women, particularly by their male relatives, but also by their children. Having observed and analyzed their daily practices, it is evident that they eventually receive acceptance only by safeguarding (gendered) household activities and actively involving their (male) direct relatives. This was the case with all three of this study’s participants, but especially with Hafida, who literally accesses entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship networks through her male partner and son. This demonstrates a belonging by proxy tactic (Stead, 2017). Likewise, Hafida adopted belonging by concealment (Hytti et al., 2017; Stead, 2017) when she concealed her entrepreneurial intentions, pretending she was not working on a (business) plan, and putting her hands over her ears, indicating that she did not want to listen.

When it comes to other stakeholders, this study has highlighted how these women perceive obtaining belonging by including and acknowledging their ethnic minority customers’ ethnic and religious needs. The MMFEs not only state that they recognize such ethnic and religious wishes, but also display behaviors such as offering halal food (Lamyae), creating special spaces for covered women (Maryama), and installing separate hammam hours (Hafida). The study’s findings particularly point to how MMFEs meet these clients’ specific demands and, hence, actively develop smart practices to acquire belonging. Moreover, in line with Baranik et al.’s (2017, p. 210) findings, this study’s findings also suggest that, within the Dutch context, being married might add to these women’s legitimacy in the eyes of, for instance, customers. This is because, as a result of their marital status and spousal relations, they are seen to be more “trusted” entrepreneurial actors. Simultaneously, MMFEs appear to strategically focus on other practices such as the obligation to speak Dutch to get the acceptance of the majority population. The three MMFEs provide good examples of a profound awareness of modeling the norm and showing the artful navigating (De Clercq & Voronov, 2009) these women engage in. They seem to intuitively pick the tactics needed with the ethnic minority clients and with the majority population, deploying an “antenna” to pick the Dutch business practices and attitudes they need to copy by ensuring that they do not stand out too much, but also do not conform too much (tempered disruption) (see also Verduyn & Essers, 2013). This is, for example, illustrated by Hafida taking her husband and son with her to the bank, which equates as belonging by proxy. Overall, to varying extents, each of this study’s three MMFEs is engaged in identity switching. This relates to the “precept of ‘wasta’, which alludes to the predominance of male networks in Muslim societies, and requires men to assist women in gaining entrée to those networks” (McIntosh & Islam, 2010, p. 102) since the Koran does not endorse contact with males who are not related by either blood or marriage (p. 102). Here, it is important to note that belonging occurs through everyday activities at work, society, and home and is more complex than simple dichotomous categories of to belong or not to belong (Gaither, 2018; May, 2011).

Belonging is particularly difficult for these MMFEs because they must navigate different norms and expectations in relation to their families, communities, and the majority population. These women perceive that they acquire belonging as long as they do not create too many ruptures in the traditional ethnic and gendered roles. All three MMFEs skillfully replicate and reproduce prevailing norms of what constitutes an entrepreneur and a woman/mother and do so differently in relation to different “audiences” such as their families, and the (“white”) and ethnic clientele.

Conclusions

The three cases presented in this article strongly underscore how family and business are closely intertwined. The MMFEs in this study do not intend to unsettle the relationship with their family or community in setting up their businesses, and this is conducive to how they gain belonging. This is, on the one hand, quite logical as they need their relatives’ (financial) support to start and sustain their businesses because family ties are generally very strong in these ethnic communities. However, there is an interesting tension: belonging as an MMFE within their community does not necessarily mean belonging within the mainstream community. In that sense, these cases may reinforce the stereotypes that ethnic minority women tend to have businesses in ethnic niches. However, this study also shows how these MMFEs struggle between the gendered and ethnicized norms and expectations of their family and of the majority population, and that they need the recognition and acceptance of both these groups to be able to belong as an entrepreneur and sustain their businesses. There are various patterns in the intricate ways in which these women seek acceptance with their stakeholders, and how this is played out in their everyday lives. Whereas other contributions merely touch on belonging in a general sense (for example, Bell et al., 2018; May, 2011; Radu-Lefebvre et al., 2019), among migrants (Ryan, 2018) or belonging within organizations (Hytti et al., 2017; Schnell et al., 2019), this study offers the required detailed knowledge and adds nuanced insights in the processes of entrepreneurial belonging. This is a novel development. This article adopted Stead’s (2017) concept of entrepreneurial belonging as a relational, dynamic, gendered, and continuous accomplishment. The MMFEs in this study feel both included and excluded, marginalized and accepted, and all of this differently in relation to different audiences. These women are involved in multiple, simultaneous processes of entrepreneurial belonging as a gendered (Marlow & McAdam, 2015) and ethnicized (Thoelen & Zanoni, 2017) accomplishment. This article has also contributed to the literature by offering in-depth, empirically based insights, with the addition – very relevant to belonging – of ethnicity and religion to gender.

This article has further contributed to the understanding of (migrant) entrepreneurship in various ways. Through an ethnographic investigation of three cases, this article has provided an in-depth exploration of the dynamics involving MMFEs’ attempts to establish their businesses in relation to different stakeholders (families, ethnic community, and majority population) and gaining entrepreneurial acceptance by navigating, fitting in, and standing out (De Clercq & Voronov, 2009). Detailing a nuanced picture of these MMFEs in Dutch society – based on ethnographic research conducted by a Moroccan female researcher with MMFEs and their relatives, as well as observations of their entrepreneurs’ practices – has yielded new knowledge, including a more sophisticated, multidimensional image of the processes of inclusion and exclusion in how Muslim Moroccan Dutch citizens achieve belonging. As such, this study underscores the importance of contextualized, fine-grained knowledge of entrepreneurial belonging. These findings can be extended to the experiences of female migrant Muslim entrepreneurs in other (Western-European) contexts where similar cultural and religious dynamics play a role in such women’s entrepreneurship. This may, for instance, apply to female Turkish migrants in Germany, Belgium, or the UK, or Pakistani female migrants in the British context. Hence, this article’s insights contribute to the broader body of literature on female migrant entrepreneurship and the tropes of marginality and navigating belonging.

Through showing how MMFEs often accomplish entrepreneurial belonging by applying the tactic of identity switching to belong to various communities (being an entrepreneur, of Moroccan descent, Muslim, and a woman simultaneously), this article contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial legitimacy and the issue of fitting in while standing out. To be able to stand out, MMFEs need to achieve inclusion, while staying aligned. Strikingly, for these women, alignment with norms, values, and assumptions is different in relation to their families, the wider communities, and the majority population. Belonging (Stead, 2017) is articulated differently within specifically different contexts and “is a dynamic process, not a reified fixity” (Yuval-Davis, 2006, p. 199). Fearing that they do not fit in with the mainstream entrepreneurship image and, hence, would lose or not get enough clients, MMFEs in this study seem to partly adjust their practices to the mainstream entrepreneurship practices, which equates with the mechanism of fitting in. But by providing specific services and products in ethnic niches, while using their background as cultural capital, they aim to – and seem to be successful in – standing out.

Whereas previous research on Muslim businesswomen and the role of family members highlighted particular barriers, this article has shown that relatives have many positive influences. Moreover, whereas former research primarily interpreted these women’s own experiences, this article and research have also included some experiences and opinions of their families, while incorporating the interview accounts of various relatives as well as observations of the involvement of relatives in the entrepreneurial practices. Hence, the embeddedness and dialectic of agency and structure were clearly visible in the daily practices of these Moroccan female entrepreneurs. By showing and investigating the dynamics in these entrepreneurs’ daily practices, this article has moved beyond the discussions on gender and entrepreneurship or the expected limitations for MMFEs in the Netherlands through a detailed analysis of how they perform entrepreneurial activities in their endeavors to belong.

This article also has practical contributions. The in-depth, nuanced knowledge that this study offers may be used by (local) governments to assist minority entrepreneurs in their attempts at navigating belonging by, for instance, organizing group-based trainings where such female minority entrepreneurs can interact with each other, and where they can network to improve their social capital and entrepreneurial skills, and develop social awareness (see also Baranik et al. 2017, p. 216). This article has shown how entrepreneuring might be used by societally marginalized women as a source of empowerment, thus contributing to social change. However, this does not release (local) governments from their responsibility to recognize and solve social inequalities, and it is important to underline that entrepreneuring cannot be seen as an idealized solution to inequality in the labor market.