The impact of COVID-19 crisis on mother entrepreneurs

 
 

Introduction

We are conducting a study exploring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on mother entrepreneurs – women who are self-employed or run their own business, with children living at home. Whilst all entrepreneurs have suffered from the crisis, evidence from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that mothers have been disproportionately affected (compared with fathers) by the pandemic, as they have taken on the majority of childcare and home-schooling duties. We therefore want to understand more about how you have been affected by, and are coping with, balancing childcare with the demands of your business. For this research project, the first stage of a wider study, we would like you to provide photographs which document your experiences – physical as well as emotional – of working during lockdown, while balancing caring responsibilities. We also ask you to accompany the photos with a written description of what each photo represents and means to you. We believe that such images are a powerful way of capturing the particular complexities of juggling your many roles.
 

If you agree to participate (by clicking the arrow below), you will be asked to upload images which represent your current working environment and experiences of a typical working week during lockdown, with an associated short commentary describing what the images represent. You can upload up to 10 images, but there is no minimum - just upload those photos which best represent your experiences. We will also ask a few short questions for background information on, mostly, your business (sector, size and age), and your family composition (number/age of children, childcare responsibilities). Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you will can withdraw from the study at any time. We hope that you will enjoy documenting your experiences in a novel way, and we would be happy to share our findings with you.
 

All data collected will be password protected, and only accessible to the research team (Dr Anna Watson [Edinburgh Napier University], Dr Nika Balomenou [University of Hertfordshire], Professor Deborah Roberts and Dr Madeline Powell [University of York], Dr Simona Spedale and Dr Hanna Noke [University of Nottingham], and Professor Brian Garrod [Swansea University]), and will be destroyed after ten years. 
 

Whilst ownership of the images will transfer to the Edinburgh Napier University, no photo containing identifiable information (for example faces) will be published without your express consent. If requested, images can be altered to disguise faces/or remove any sensitive client information. 
 

We do hope you will help us with our study, which we believe can help highlight the particular challenges mother entrepreneurs face.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Anna Watson (a.watson@napier.ac.uk).

 

Our sincere thanks in advance!

This research has been approved by the Research Integrity Committee, Edinburgh Napier University (reference ENBS-2020-21-011)

 

Please click the arrow below to participate in the study. When you click on the arrow this will take you to a page where you can upload your images.