By: Claire Moore Dickerson
A comparative analysis of elite and under-class West African
women entrepreneurs can help the North better understand its own
public corporations. First, both classes of West African
entrepreneurs raise capital through networks, and both work a
second shift. The similarity of their experiences challenges the
traditional northern analysis that treats women executives
differently from women employees by applying governance concepts to
the first class and labor/employment law to the second group.
Second, the cross-border nature of the West African women's
networks is similar to the porous borders of the multiple
communities that make up northern, public corporations, thereby
challenging the nexus-of-contracts paradigm. Finally, the
developing-country understanding of "governance" as political
rather than corporate emphasizes the socio-political nature of the
recent corporate scandals in the North. Any proposed remedies
thus must consider all socio-political realities, including notions
of diversity.