The place of women entrepreneurs in agricultural production: A case study in Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş province

Women's entrepreneurship has an important place in Turkey as well as in underdeveloped or developing countries. In our country, women contribute to production in both urban and rural areas. In the countryside, women largely participate in agricultural activities and contribute to the family budget. Despite their contributions, many factors hinder their participation in the workforce. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting women's entrepreneurship, to examine the participation of rural women in agricultural production activities and to offer solutions to the problems they encounter in their entrepreneurship activities. The main material of the study is the places obtained from women engaged in agricultural entrepreneurship activities in various neighborhoods in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş province. The data used in the research were obtained using the survey method with 60 female entrepreneurs who tend to entrepreneurship. The importance levels of factors were determined by using the likert scale to determine the entrepreneurial characteristics of women, the problems they face in their working lives and the proposals for solutions to these problems. As a result of the research, it was revealed that the average age of the female entrepreneurs surveyed was 34 years and that the majority of them were primary school graduates as an educational status, and based on this, education was not a very decisive factor for female entrepreneurs involved in agricultural entrepreneurship activities. Entrepreneurs carry out their activities either alone or with their spouses, and most of them are motivated by the desire to make money in the agricultural sector. Tradition upbringing is one of the biggest problems that women face in entrepreneurship activities, and this requires the awareness of the general society and the abandonment of the traditional style. Women entrepreneurs have stated that they are most aware of banks from institutions that provide incentives and support in their agricultural activities, followed by cooperatives and İŞKUR. Necessary training and information should be made in to increase the support of institutions and organizations for entrepreneurial women and to be informed about other institutions. Also, financial and moral supports provided for women to gain their economic independence alone should be diversified.