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Women Entrepreneurship in Egypt: Is It Just as Challenging for All Women?

Author

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  • ZAHARIA Rodica Milena
  • HASSAN Hend

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the challenges facing highly educated Egyptian women, who abandon a high paid job in the private sector to start their own business. This study, based on a qualitative research, focuses on demonstrating that educated women, with a good paid job in the formal private sector, encounter the same challenges as the rest of women in starting, running, and maintaining their business. The study employs in-depth interviews with 10 women from Cairo, Egypt, highly educated, formerly employed in highly paid jobs in the private sector, that converted to entrepreneurship. Data have been analyzed using QDA Miner software. The results reveal the same difficulties women face in starting, running, and maintaining their business, regardless of their level of education, revealing that among major obstacles in women entrepreneurship, in Egypt, are the socio-cultural constrains that define the role of women in the society.

Suggested Citation

  • ZAHARIA Rodica Milena & HASSAN Hend, 2021. "Women Entrepreneurship in Egypt: Is It Just as Challenging for All Women?," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 01, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:jis:ejistu:y:2021:i:01:id:465
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohamed Fawzy Omran, 2020. "Gender inequality among young entrepreneurs in Egypt: an empirical study," International Journal of Critical Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(5), pages 439-448.
    2. World Bank, 2018. "Women Economic Empowerment Study," World Bank Publications - Reports 31351, The World Bank Group.
    3. Touheda Yasmin Chowdhury & Aysa Yeasmin & Zobayer Ahmed, 2018. "Perception of women entrepreneurs to accessing bank credit," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    women entrepreneurship; private sector; challenges to entrepreneurship; Egypt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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