Challenges and Prospects for Women Entrepreneurs in Tunisia

Abstract

Women who do not have a salaried employment contract have the opportunity to work on a self-employed basis to generate an income. Under self-employed status, these women take on, alone or perhaps in partnership, all the financial, administrative and social risks involved in developing their activities. In this approach, we will focus on the reality of these women who are self-employed. The aim of this research is to understand the entrepreneurial process of women, by distinguishing three different realities: women entrepreneurs, women in the professions and women involved in cooperatives. This shows how complex and diverse the notion of female entrepreneurship is. Through this research, we defend the idea that we need to approach the situation of these women entrepreneurs from a systemic angle, since their daily lives are the result of an interaction between their professional lives and their family lives. Their choices are guided by their positions in society and by the infrastructure that society makes available to them. Finally, understanding these women entrepreneurs, and what motivates and guides their choice, cannot be done without a diversion through the reality of the labour market, and without cross-referencing other variables such as level of qualification, age or origin. Thus, we will mobilize their individual and family variables, the specific features linked to the characteristics of their companies and the sector of activity, and the socio-economic, cultural, political and legal characteristics of Tunisia.