"Åreandan"
Som Gnosjöandan, bland kvinnor?
The female labour is still a rather unexploited resource in many parts of the world. Unleashing women?s potential, giving them the possibility to start their own enterprises would increase the economic growth. Not only does women's entrepreneurship foster greater equality in the world but it also creates a more versatile economy. Sweden is considered to be one of the most equal countries in the world; still, entrepreneurship is an area with sharp gender differences, especially in some industries. The manufacturing industry is highly male-dominated in most parts of Sweden. Yet there is one municipality, the municipality of Åre, in which the female entrepreneurs comprise nearly 50 percent of the manufacturing industry entrepreneurs. The aim of this thesis is to analyze what drives women in the municipality of Åre to become entrepreneurs and to identify the underlying causes for why they choose the manufacturing industry. After having interviewed five women in Åre who owned manufacturing businesses and after collecting general data about Åre, our study indicated that the most important factors for their business start-ups were the entrepreneurial traditions, the social networks and the presence of role-models and mentors. The same factors are said to be the essence of the famous Spirit of Gnosjö, but the Spirit of Gnosjö has shown not to favour women entrepreneurs whilst women entrepreneurs in Åre has shown to benefit from these factors. Furthermore, in Åre the women were driven to become entrepreneurs mainly as a quest for self-realization and independency.