Women's Entrepreneurship In Rural Areas: An Assessment For Turkey

Managing the rural economic development is possible with the local actors taking place in economic life adequately. The inadequate penetration of women entrepreneurs in economic life is one of the main reasons for not getting the desired results in the rural development efforts in developing countries such as Turkey. In developing countries, observations on the increasingly negative factors against women such as low level of education, stereotypes in the society, strong gender inequality perception have brought up the role and function of women in rural development, and it has been suggested that overcoming this issue is only possible with women's entrepreneurship activity. Currently, one-quarter of the population is employed in agriculture and is living in rural areas in Turkey; hence it is very important to have women in entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. In this study, recommendations are made for the development of women's entrepreneurship in rural areas, with emphasis on the current state and issues of women's entrepreneurship in rural areas of Turkey.