Women Entrepreneurship
Women Entrepreneurship
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.
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.