WOMEN'S LABOR FORCE, WOMEN'S EMPLOYEMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR SUPPORT

Abstract

Women's involvement in business life and better understanding of the concept women's labor force
can be attributed to the Industrial Revolution that emerged in the UK in the 18th century. With the
industrial revolution, the world has started to change, whereby it is suggested that demand for labor
force has emerged, and women and men play an important role in meeting those demands. An
entrepreneur can be defined as the person who gathers production factors to realize the production
of economic good and services to meet the needs.Realizing every entrepreneurial activity within a certain plan and schedule is an integral part of
laying the foundation of a healthy enterprise. Otherwise, it is possible for many enterprises to
encounter undesired situations such as bankruptcy or closure and losing all existing savings because
of financial and technical problems within the business cycle. It has been suggested that the
continuous low rate of women's employment cannot be associated with a single reason. However,
largely, the obstacles in women's employment can be listed as follows: traditional family structure,
social value judgments, gender-oriented division of labor, weakness of the demand structure for
women's work, low volume of employment in the society, rural-to-urban movement of migration,
disintegration in agricultural production structure, low level of women's education and especially in
professional areas, fertility of women, motherhood, deinstitutionalization of housework and
childcare, and lack of mechanisms that facilitate introduction of women into the labor market. In
Turkey, numerous institutions and organizations support women's entrepreneurship. Apart from
moral support, institutions also provide financial support for women. Some examples of these
institutions are KAGİDER, TOBB, KOSGEB, Chamber of Industry, Chamber of Commerce, local
administrations, and Entrepreneurship Foundation etc.