Güçlendirme Yaklaşımı Perspektifinden Kadın Girişimciler: Turizm Sektörü Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma (Women Entrepreneurs from the Perspective of Empowerment Approach: A Qualitative Research on the Tourism Sector)

Abstract

This study starts from the question of what impact women entrepreneurs have on gender inequality and cultural norms as change agents. In this regard, the aim of the study is to reveal the important role of women entrepreneurs, who have a very important place in the development of countries but cannot provide the desired and expected employment in the entrepreneurship ecosystem with a male-dominated discourse, in the social change they create as well as in their economic output, from the perspective of empowerment approach. For this purpose, the reasons that influence female entrepreneurs struggling with social norms and gender inequality to enter the entrepreneurship ecosystem where women are disadvantaged, the obstacles they encounter, their motivations against these obstacles and the transformation they create, were examined through a research conducted on four female entrepreneurs operating in the tourism sector within the scope of the sample. has been attempted to be determined. In the study, the phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research designs, was preferred and content analysis was used in data analysis. As a result of the research, it was determined that women entrepreneurs not only created significant economic progress in regional development, but also changed the mentality of the society.