Trends and Prospects of Research into Rural Women's Entrepreneurship

This paper examines the directions that research into rural women's entrepreneurship is expected to take in the future by reviewing trends in the research of rural women's entrepreneurship in Japan. First of all, this paper looks at trends in the government's relevant policies since the 1990s, when rural women's entrepreneurship was set as a policy, and surveys the status of women living in rural areas and the present circumstances of rural women's entrepreneurship. This continues with a study into trends in the research of the following subjects: 1) social relationships and principles of the organization formation of rural women's entrepreneurship, 2) features and effectiveness of rural women's entrepreneurship, 3) the potential and roles of rural women's entrepreneurship as a social enterprise, and 4) problems related to the succession of rural women's entrepreneurship. Progress is expected in research into the expansion of private management, the relationship between local agriculture and entrepreneurship activities, the possibility of the fixation of the activities and roles by gender, participation in entrepreneurship and the setting up of new businesses by young women, and other subjects.