Despite the growing global portrayal of women entrepreneurs as drivers of economic growth, the intersection between women’s entrepreneurship and migration remains comparatively understudied. This project addresses this gap by drawing on a qualitative dataset of 60 in-depth interviews conducted during my Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to examine how racialization, gendered inequalities, language, class, and institutional barriers shape migrant women’s entrepreneurial trajectories in Québec.
Using an intersectional framework, the study analyzes how migrant women negotiate “good” citizenship through entrepreneurial practices within civic integration regimes, while shedding light on the meso-social contexts—such as community organizations, training programs, immigration pathways, and labor market challenges—that structure their experiences.
The research contributes to feminist, sociological, and migration scholarship by grounding intersectional theory in rich empirical material and by revealing how discourses of self-responsibility function as technologies of citizenship for racialized migrant women.
The findings will inform two peer-reviewed articles and offer broader benefits for policymakers, NGOs, and community organizations seeking to design more equitable and context-sensitive approaches to the socio-economic integration of migrant women, advancing efforts toward social justice and inclusive citizenship amid global mobility, precarity, and racialized labor governance.