This study, focusing on female entrepreneurs, explores the complex relationship between gendered language and crowdfunding performance. Analyzing 671 reward-based crowdfunding campaigns in the technology sector, we investigate how communal (feminine) and agentic (masculine) language in campaign descriptions affects fundraising outcomes. Our findings indicate that communal language generally has a negative effect on crowdfunding performance. However, we highlight the pivotal role of female founders, as our results show that when female founders use communal language, the effect reverses, leading to increased success rates. This reversal, however, does not extend to financial contributions, which remain lower. When female founders use agentic language, they are penalized with lower success rates and funding amounts. Our study highlights the ongoing influence of gender stereotypes in crowdfunding and offers new insights into the role of gendered language in entrepreneurial finance.
