The role of lifelong human capital in the entrepreneurial success of Mexican immigrant women

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 13. Labor Market Incorporation

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the formation of lifelong human capital among a group of Mexican immigrant women entrepreneurs and the role it plays in their entrepreneurial trajectories in the United States. The concept of lifelong human capital addresses not only the formal acquisition channels of skills and knowledge but also looks at the “learning and skill development as lifelong processes that begin at early ages in households and home communities, and may include formal schooling and training but also informal learning experiences” (Hagan et al., 2014:10). Thus, drawing on this lifelong human capital concept, this paper examines the biographies of a group of Mexican immigrant women in order to shed light on their pathways to the acquisition of their pre-migratory skills and how these abilities and knowledge serve to pave their entrepreneurial path in the US. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnographic study, the findings of this study highlight the gendered process in the formation of lifelong human capital in the case of these immigrant women. More importantly, the findings shed light on how this lifelong human capital becomes crucial not only at the time of launching their enterprises but also for equipping them with the skills needed to overcome the hurdles of being female, in general, and a Mexican immigrant woman in the US, in particular.

Author

• Veronica Montes, Bryn Mawr College