Purpose
This paper aims to explore the extent to which women’s entrepreneurship in conflict zones is an influential catalyst for liberalising traditionally conservative gender norms. This purpose is achieved by focussing on women entrepreneurs in Gaza and how they actively renegotiate their multiple gender roles and navigate the social order through entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts the interpretivist approach where individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 Palestinian women entrepreneurs operating in Gaza.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that the context of conflict itself and its impact on gender norms is a prime motivator for women to engage in entrepreneurial ventures. Some gender roles were constraining and other enabling women to initiate and sustain their ventures to contribute to their families’ well-being. In spite of the fact that the conflict context and entrepreneurship have contributed to enhancing the agency of women and their ability to navigate the conflict and its consequences, the gendered practices and assumptions are still used as guidance for legitimising women’s entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the gender and entrepreneurship literature by giving greater visibility to women entrepreneurs operating in conflict zones, which remain under researched. This paper also demonstrates how prolonged conflict instigates social and economic changes that can empower women entrepreneurs while simultaneously reinforcing gendered norms.
Whilst the role and impact of culture upon women's entrepreneurship have been acknowledged within the entrepreneurship literature, the interplay and nuances of Islamic religiosity and gender egalitarianism as cultural indicators of Muslim women's entrepreneurship in conflict-ridden countries remain understudied. Within this study, we contribute to this special issue and bridge this gap by analysing the interplay between Islamic culture and Muslim women's entrepreneurial behaviours and strategies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, as all three contexts continue to experience decades of intense and protracted political and violent conflict.Our qualitative data collected from 16 Muslim women entrepreneurs operating their businesses in these contexts shows how their Islamic religiosity plays a powerful role in guiding entrepreneurial behaviours and strategies in multiple ways within precarious structural conditions and failed states. Indeed, the women's Islamic religiosity influenced the launch, operations and growth of their enterprises, and anchored them within the chaotic and dangerous void within their failed states. In addition, this study shows that Islamic gender egalitarianism embedded within Islamic principles is promoted by the women entrepreneurs as they utilise their entrepreneurship as an expression of Islamic feminist activism challenging the prevailing stereotypes of Muslim women under patriarchal cultural contexts, and creating awareness about women's rights to engage in entrepreneurship under Islamic law.
Abstract:The research paper aimed to identify the impact of micro-grants in the poverty alleviation of Palestinian families in Gaza Strip who suffer from extreme poverty through the transfer of assets to start economic activities to improve their livelihood strategies and provide them with skills and experience to contact Microfinance Institutions taking Deprived Families Economic Empowerment Program (DEEP) as a case study. Results showed positive impact of the program in reducing poverty and unemployment rate, projects are the main source of income for many benefited families, they achieved a rise in their income after getting the grant and improved their expenditure on basic necessities. Poor families also feel that they are more independent after the project, and they can support themselves from their current income. Although these projects have not yet sufficiently developed to be able to dispense relief aid, the political and economic circumstances of the Gaza Strip had a negative effect on the performance of the projects.
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