A Detour from My Dreams? How gender and possible selves intertwine with teenagers’ interest in entrepreneurship

Despite decades of policy efforts, the gender gap in entrepreneurship remains persistent across national contexts. Recent research suggests that these disparities begin early in life, many years before labour market entries. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 23 Danish adolescents aged 13–15, this paper explores how gendered self-concepts and possible selves contribute to the shaping of young people’s perceptions of entrepreneurship. Using a sociological framework that combines theories of doing gender, self-concept, and future orientation, the study finds that girls’ disinterest in entrepreneurship is not rooted in lack of ambition or ability, but in identity misalignment. While girls tend to articulate detailed and socially validated futures, often linked to professions related to care, entrepreneurship appears incompatible with these roles unless it is shown to reinforce who they already want to become. In contrast, boys are more likely to describe vague or flexible future selves, leaving room for entrepreneurship to emerge as a possible option. The findings challenge deficit-based understandings of early gender gaps in entrepreneurship and point to entrepreneurship as one among several possible selves. Ultimately, entrepreneurship becomes meaningful only where it coheres with young people’s evolving sense of who they are and might become.