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) reveal that practitioners are sharply polarised on ‘the mumpreneur’. This article explores these views and progresses research agendas by asking whether such information and communication technology-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.