Mothers’ business, work/life and the politics of ‘mumpreneurship’

Heralded by some as ‘the new feminism’, the new, internationally widespread phenomenon of ‘the mumpreneur’ represents a hotly contested and contestable subject identity. This article explores the debate, arguing that its themes drive to the heart of current issues regarding changing working practices, locations and gender-identities in affluent societies. The analyses of women entrepreneurs’ views presented here (n=330), reveals that practitioners are sharply polarized on ‘the mumpreneur’. This article explores these views and progresses research agendas by asking whether such ICT-enabled transformations in working practices (embodied in the figure of the ‘mumpreneur’) have the potential to deliver greater choice for mothers’ labour, or whether, conversely, they re-enable iniquitous gender role expectations and arrangements within families.