THE ROLE OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (SYRIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A LIFESTYLE)

Abstract

This study examines the effect of female business projects and their impact on women's economic and social empowerment through increasing women's contribution to income, their role in family decision-making, improving their standard of living, self-esteem, and self-confidence, eliminating poverty and unemployment that rural women suffer from. The gender gap in entrepreneurship persists despite the increasing number of public policies and institutional resources intended to promote women-led enterprises. A qualitative method was used to review the literature related to Women Entrepreneurship in Syria. The economic contribution of women in Syria is characterized by its diversity between agriculture, trade, and government jobs. However, the Syrian crisis has heavily affected the level of entrepreneurship. Data shows that the business performance index decreased to 41.6% in 2018, making Syria rank 174 out of 190 countries surveyed. Even though Syria has witnessed a great improvement in the level of women's development in parallel with the development of the level of women's education and their entry into the labour market within the public and private sectors alike, still the most recent Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) shows the relative gender gap in entrepreneurship index rate is currently at 0.2. The percentage of entrepreneurship was limited to 1% of working women, compared to 4.9% of men, meaning there are approximately five male entrepreneurs for every female entrepreneur which clearly highlight the need for support.

Keywords

• social entrepreneurship
• female entrepreneurship
• sustainable development goals