Women Entrepreneurship

Women Entrepreneurship
Women Entrepreneurship in Basic Policy Documents

In 2002, women's labor force participation rate increased from 27.9% to 35.8% in 2023, the female employment rate increased from 25.3% to 31.3%, and the rate of women working informally decreased from 72.5% to 32.2% over the same period.

Empowering women in the labor market and increasing women's participation in the labor force are among the main priorities of Turkey.

It is known that entrepreneurship is one of the most effective areas where women can reflect their knowledge, skills and experience.

It is important to make women productive and support them to become entrepreneurs.

Source: TURKSTAT

Women Entrepreneurship with Data in Türkiye

Table 1: Employers and Own account worker (Sex, Number, %)

TURKSTAT, 2023, Laborforce Statistics, 15+ age, Thousand People	MALE		FEMALE
	Number	(%)	Number	(%)
Employer	1.293	88,0	177	12,0
Own account worker	4.147	81,0	970	19,0
Entrepreneur (Employer and Own account worker)	5.440	82,6	1.147	17,4

Source: TURKSTAT

Through entrepreneurship, women create jobs for themselves and those they employ, and their position in society is strengthened. According to TURKSTAT data, the rate of female entrepreneurs was 13.1% in 2002, while it was 17.4% in 2023.

Problems Faced by Women Entrepreneurs

Difficulties in finding financial resources
Lack of capital
The complexity of the bureaucratic processes that must be followed to obtain a loan
Lack of work experience
Low self esteem
Difficulties in accessing the market
Need for coaching and consultancy
Inability to access incentive mechanisms
Difficulties in harmonizing work and family life

Women Entrepreneurship in Basic Policy Documents

Our country's basic policy documents include important targets and measures in the field of women's entrepreneurship and women's employment;

In the 12th Development Plan (2024-2028; it is aimed to increase the female labor force participation rate to 40.1% and the female employment rate to 36.2% by the end of 2028).

The plan includes the following measures in the field of women entrepreneurship:

Efforts will be carried out to increase women's entrepreneurship and technological literacy in rural areas, to create social areas for women, to provide quality, economical and accessible care services, and to make women working as agricultural workers paid and registered.
Programs in areas such as entrepreneurship, financial and digital literacy, and cooperatives that will increase women's participation in the workforce will be expanded and disseminated.

In the 2024-2026 Medium Term Program;

Special programs will be developed to ensure the full, equal, safe and effective participation of women in the labor market changing with digital and green transformation and to provide women and girls with the new skills and abilities that will be needed in this context, and programs will be developed in areas such as entrepreneurship, financial literacy and cooperatives that will increase women's participation in the workforce. Their scope will be expanded and disseminated.

Kadının Güçlenmesi Strateji Belgesi ve Eylem Planı

In the "Women's Empowerment Strategy Document and Action Plan" implemented by our Ministry

Strengthening the economic position of women, supporting women's entrepreneurship, and reconciling work and family life are included as priority policy areas. Our preparation work for the new "Women's Empowerment Strategy Document and Action Plan", covering the period 2024-2028, continues and women's entrepreneurship constitutes one of the priority areas.