Exploring the experiences and challenges of Facebook-based women entrepreneurs through an intersectional lens in the online clothing business in Dhaka, Bangladesh

This study explores the experiences and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the online clothing business in Bangladesh through an intersectional perspective. The COVID19 outbreak increased Bangladesh's online clothes business as more people opt for safe and convenient online shopping. By utilizing social media platforms, specifically Facebook, women are initiating and managing their enterprises, promoting their products, and interacting directly with consumers. Women took this opportunity to establish a business in which they procured their products via the garment supply chain to conduct business. Although, this enterprise has afforded women an opportunity, the patriarchal system has presented them with an array of obstacles in their pursuit of conducting business in this sector. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial activities of women entrepreneurs are influenced by socioeconomic factors such as education, economic situations, ethnic identity, and religious perspectives. Considering these factors, the main inquiry of the research is to what extent gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic identity, and religious views influence the experiences of women entrepreneurs operating clothing enterprises on the Facebook platform in Bangladesh. To learn more about their experiences, this study considered a comprehensive qualitative research approach and conducted in-depth interviews with 20 participants from different backgrounds in multiple locations within Dhaka city. To select the participants, a combination of snowball and purposive sampling strategies was employed. Additionally, during the interviews, a questionnaire guideline was utilized. The intersectional approach was used to carry out the data analysis. The findings of this study demonstrate that women entrepreneurs are motivated to start an online clothing business by both pull factors and push factors. Women entrepreneurs, predominantly from the middle or lower socioeconomic classes, are motivated by push factors, whereas pull factors serve as incentives for upper-class women entrepreneurs to engage in this business. The studies found that patriarchal sociocultural norms challenge women in balancing productive and reproductive work, getting financial help, restricting mobility, needing approval from their fathers or husbands, having less control over earnings, being harassed during clothing product collection, and being susceptible to divorce. Women entrepreneurs in underprivileged socioeconomic conditions, have limited access to social networking sites, up-to-date knowledge, and technology and face discriminatory behavior from wholesale market sellers during their clothing product collection, all of which have a detrimental impact on their business. Restrictions by religious perspectives and ethnic background also make the unique experience of women entrepreneurs. Furthermore, in exporting and importing clothing products women entrepreneurs encounter a multitude of discrimination due to the influence of racial capitalism. This study showed the variety of challenges of women entrepreneurs which makes them distinctive.