BARRIERS AND CONSTRAINTS AFFECTING WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP: CASES FROM PALESTINE

Women entrepreneurship is an important subject to be studied in all economies around the world, since it contributes to the economy’s growth and development. The subject has been neglected throughout many years, despite the fact that female entrepreneurship benefits the economy and provides employment to themselves and others in the society. Although the field of entrepreneurship was considered as a male field, women are playing an important role, and have several numbers of small and medium enterprises. Their important role is in both developed and developing economies. In different economies around the world, it is more difficult for women to start a business comparing to men. There are differences in opportunities for men and women due to many issues such as education, countries’ legislation and culture. In this thesis we will focus our study on Palestine, to check the situation of female entrepreneurs and their participation in the labor force. Mostly, women in Palestine are engaged in SMEs, so we will focus on this type in our study since it can represent women entrepreneurs in the area. Many reasons lead women in Palestine to start their own business, such as lack of employment, seeking source of income, at the same time they face many constrains in trying to accomplish their goals such as obtaining credit, the unstable political situation, high production cost, and the uncertain business environment.