Female Entrepreneurs and Employees Among the Economy: Selected Indicators From Turkey

Introduction

Equality in education, employment, wages, etc. is a main theme within sustainable development goals. 2030 Sustainable Development Goals includes specific goals as “Goal 4; Goal 5; Goal 8 and Goal 10” to support reducing inequalities between women and men in the long term (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development, n.d.). Women's employment is among the priority issues in every economy and the absence of women's employment is seen as a factor that hinders sustainable development (Yıldırım et al., 2019). The desired goal in sustainable development is to achieve a development by providing the balance between “economy, social and environmental” issues (Munasinghe, 2002; Yıldırım and Yıldırım, 2020). Therefore, the lack and scarcity of women's employment and the low and inadequate female entrepreneurship are indicators of an imbalance in the economy (Erdogan et al., 2012).

Entrepreneurship, on the other hand, plays an important driving role in terms of employment and economic development with its social welfare effect. Entrepreneurship can be handled differently in each country due to cultural and developmental differences (Acs et al., 2011). Nevertheless, it is emphasized that entrepreneurship should be supported in achieving sustainable development and the gender gap should be reduced. Women's entrepreneurship is an important factor in economic growth in terms of both its employment-creating effect and more women's participation in business life (social welfare). The low or lack of female entrepreneurship will bring negative returns in a country or economy in the long run (Jamali, 2009). The rise of entrepreneurship in a country can solve some social problems and support economic development, allowing the country to enter a balanced development and growth process. In the literature, the relationships and effects between entrepreneurship, gender equality and economic growth have been frequently examined. The conclusion of the studies is that it can be said that it is beneficial for countries to achieve economic growth by providing equality (Aparicio et al., 2022). Encouraging women's entrepreneurship, especially in developing countries, will support economic and social development more rapidly. In some studies, it has been observed that female entrepreneurship has positive effects on the rate of increase, general household welfare and consumption. Because, entrepreneurship provides women with economic confidence (Panda, 2018). Supporting women's entrepreneurship will also be an effective factor in reducing poverty (Kobeissi, 2010). However, since the difficulties and obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs vary from country to country, country-specific analyzes may yield more useful results.