An international comparative analysis on the status of women's entrepreneurship in Turkey

Entrepreneurship is an economic, cultural, and social activity that is influenced by the conditions of the country in which it operates. In the 1990s, women's entrepreneurship began to be studied separately from the broader concept of entrepreneurship. The rise of the information society has led to a decline in men's physical and cultural dominance, and women have increasingly become involved in entrepreneurial activities in certain areas. However, awareness of this shift has not spread at the same pace worldwide, leading to regional disparities for a variety of reasons. This study aims to explore the concept of entrepreneurship in general and then examine the factors that affect women's entrepreneurship in Turkey before and after the global pandemic. It also aims to compare the place of women's entrepreneurship in European countries and Middle Eastern and African countries and determine the role of women in post-pandemic entrepreneurship. The 2021-2022 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data was used to evaluate women's entrepreneurship in Europe and Turkey, allowing for cross-country comparisons. The data includes information on women's entrepreneurship in 50 countries, 5 global regions, and 3 national income levels. Turkey is included in the Middle Eastern and African regional group in the report. The study concludes that the factors that affect women's entrepreneurship require further investigation, and the differences in women's entrepreneurship between countries and regions cannot be easily explained by simplistic geographic or cultural differences.