Between Caregiving and Commerce: Single Mothers’ Entrepreneurship in Crisis-Era Myanmar

Win, Thazin; Kyriakou, Zina

Between Caregiving and Commerce: Single Mothers’ Entrepreneurship in Crisis-Era Myanmar

James Alexander Gordon on 11th December 2025

Author Information

Thazin Win, International Executive School, France
Zina Kyriakou, International Executive School, France

Abstract

Despite extensive research on women’s entrepreneurship in Western contexts, the entrepreneurial experiences of single mothers in crisis-affected Southeast Asian nations remain critically underexplored. This study examines how single mothers in Myanmar navigate entrepreneurship amid political upheaval, economic collapse, and pervasive social stigma following the 2021 military coup. Through semi-structured interviews with eight single mother entrepreneurs, analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), three interrelated themes emerged: (a) a transformation from necessity to agency, in which crisis-driven survival strategies evolved toward unexpected empowerment; (b) the paradoxical operation of stigma as both barrier and bond, simultaneously excluding women from mainstream networks while fostering solidarity and mutual support; and (c) the redefinition of entrepreneurial success through maternal frameworks, measured by caregiving capacity rather than profit. These findings challenge deficit-based narratives in Western-centric entrepreneurship discourse and reveal how marginalized women construct alternative economies grounded in maternal ethics and mutual aid. The study carries significant implications for policymakers and development practitioners, emphasizing the necessity of context-sensitive approaches that recognize women-centered solidarity economies.