ENCOUNTERS WITH BUREAUCRACY: THE CASE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN ANKARA

Date

2026-2-18

Author

Sadi, Hande İrem

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This study examines women entrepreneurs’ encounters with bureaucracy in Ankara by conceptualizing bureaucracy not as a neutral chain of procedures but as a gendered structure reproduced through everyday routines. Building on feminist theory, it focuses on bureaucratic encounters across two stages of entrepreneurship, establishment and running, and analyzes how these encounters are shaped by masculine-coded norms embedded in bureaucratic practices. The study draws on 16 semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs in Ankara conducted in September and October 2025 and a thematic, intersectional analysis of these qualitative data. Findings show that gendered bureaucracy rarely takes the form of explicit exclusion. Instead, it operates through accumulative micro-practices and discretionary routines, including unclear guidance, unexplained referrals, unjustified slowdowns, moralizing or paternalistic communication, flirtation that undermines professionalism, and recurring assumptions that women are not primary decision makers. These dynamics weaken the promise of procedural rationality by making speed, clarity, and outcomes depend not only on written requirements but also on street-level interpretation, discretion, and the conditional recognition of women’s authority. Across both the establishment and running stages, a central mechanism is mediated legitimacy. Women are often positioned as needing male-coded authority to be taken seriously and are at times implicitly pushed toward male intermediaries. Women entrepreneurs respond through strategies to remain visible and credible, including performing authority, managing self-presentation, adopting a more masculinized demeanor in interaction, and using networks and intermediaries selectively. By foregrounding how rules, discretionary implementation, and everyday interaction intersect across stages, the study contributes to scholarship on women’s entrepreneurship and gendered bureaucracy.

Subject Keywords

Gendered Bureaucracy, Women Entrepreneurs, Street-Level Discretion, Encounters with Bureaucracy, Ankara

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118503

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis