Female Entrepreneurship in Afghanistan

Abstract

This paper analyzes the motivations of eight female Afghan entrepreneurs to start up their own business and the problems they encountered during start-up and operations. Income generation was the most important push factor but pull factors including desire for independence and autonomy were also important. However, in contrast to studies in other countries, the desire for achievement was not emphasized. An unexpected finding was the emphasis on the desire to help non-family members by running a business. The main problems included financial problems during start-up and operations, lack of contacts and security during operations. Gender-specific problems included limited market, mobility constraints and negative attitudes and lack of social acceptance for female entrepreneurs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings.

Gender and entrepreneurship research: A review of methodological approaches

“…Lebanon (Jamali, 2009); Iran (Javadian & Singh, 2012); Jordan (Al Dajani & Marlow, 2010) and Afghanistan (Holmen et al, 2011).…”

Female Entrepreneurs

“…Some authors argue that women more often tend to be motivated by the push factors than pull factors . The economic necessity, such as lack of jobs and need for extra income is the most prominent of the push factors (Eversole, 2004;and Holmén, Min and Saarelainen, 2011). Also, gender inequality in wage and salary earnings may positively influence some women's decision to leave wage employment for self-employment (Boden, 1996).…”

The influence of perceived management skills and perceived gender discrimination in launch decisions by women entrepreneurs

“…Entrepreneurship tends to be recognized as a stereotypically masculine activity (Jennings and Brush 2013). Women entrepreneurs commonly report that they suffer from negative social attitudes and experience a lack of respect or are not being taken seriously in their business ventures (Baughn et al 2006;Bliss et al 2003;Hahn and Nayir 2013;Holmén et al 2011;Iakovleva et al 2013;Itani et al 2011;Woldie and Adersua 2004). They are more likely to experience barriers in obtaining funds for start-up than men (Kwong et al 2012;Roper and Scott 2009;Verheul et al 2012).…”