Catherine Langman has three children and runs the cloth nappy company Cushie Tushies from her home. She is not a fan of the mumpreneur tag.

“I know a lot of people who are OK about calling themselves a mumpreneur but for me it identifies me as a mother first and an entrepreneur second,” she says. “I do see some value in it but you never hear the term 'dadpreneur' and what irks me is that it's not really viewing what we do as being equal to what men do.”

Langman says she is a member of several mumpreneur groups and does like them for the practical points you can talk about with other mothers.

“But when I'm presenting to potential clients I'm not visiting them as a mother,” she says. “I want people to buy my products because I'm a professional business person. When you talk about mumpreneurs there is the danger of being viewed as someone who is running a business from a kitchen table.”

What do you think? Is mumpreneur an insult?

Business coach Kathryn Hocking is the founder of Reverie Coaching, which specialises in helping mumpreneurs grow their businesses. She finds people have strong opinions about the use of the word “mumpreneur” but says she's learnt to let it go.

“I have effectively built my business around the term,” she says. “I've found it's a really good way to identify the people I want to market to. I do work with mums and it might not always be the term that is used but it is the one that identifies this group now.”

She says the mothers she works with like that sense of belonging to a group. “For me, it defines a niche,” she says. “I see it as a label; labels aren't always ideal but you don't take emotion into them.”

Hocking says the term has assisted mums who feel overwhelmed and isolated to find virtual support networks and communities to discuss the challenges of being a mum and an entrepreneur.

“What is wrong with that?” she asks. “From a practical point of view, I use the term because it is widely accepted and people will search for businesses like mine using the term. In order to enhance my search engine optimisation, labels and keywords like this are required, whether they are ideal or not.”

Hocking views the strong reaction to the term as puzzling. “The fact that so many women make negative comments about the term speaks to me of an insidious problem of women not supporting each other,” she says. “What's it to them that women are happy to use this term? Why do they feel a need to drag them down?”

Hocking says the term "dadpreneur" is around, but admits it is not in general use.

“I've been told by dads that I'm excluding them from my business by targeting mumpreneurs but my response is to go out and create your own network,” she says. “I encourage fathers in business to start their own networks but I'm a mum and mums are my focus.”

She finds women who don't like the term generally don't want to work with her. “The term does polarise people,” she says. “But at the end of the day it's just a word; it's in the dictionary.”

Antonette Golikidis, founder of the organic baby skincare range Little Innoscents agrees the term mumpreneur is just a label. “And just like everything in this world you can use it as a positive or a negative,” she says. “The positive is that in my business, as a creator of skincare for babies, I am targeting mums so as a mumpreneur I can relate and empathise with my clientele.”

But Golikidis also sees the negative side of the word. “If your business is not one where selling to mums is important then I can see how the term comes across as patronising,” she says. “If I was an accountant working from home I can't see how there would be any benefit in being called a mumpreneur.”

While Golikidis can see the positives and the negatives of the term, she says a title doesn't define anyone.

“I feel I am a woman who is in business and is working from home,” she says. “We are no different to any other woman who leaves the house each day to commute to an office. Mumpreneur is just a label so you should take it on as you like.”