The empirical context for this study is drawn from interviews with 15 women who have left a job in the public sector in order to start a new private venture in the same industry. The theoretical basis is a discussion about the ways that norms and conceptions of entrepreneurship affect individual entrepreneurs, considering that entrepreneurship is a male gendered concept. The findings are presented in five recurrent themes that describe how the entrepreneurs create context for their new ventures: polarization, loyalty, marginalization, role creation and leadership style. Marginalization is described as self appointed and ascribed invisibility. Role creation is described as imitating and resisting the managerial discourse at the same time.