Women Entrepreneurship in Tourism Industry; General Outlook of Turkey

Tourism continues to grow and has been perceived as a fertile sector for entrepreneurial initiatives. The importance of women in business life as an entrepreneur has become a significant phenomenon in recent decades. Over the past decade, although women entrepreneurs have gained more education and experience and the more women are entering male-dominated occupations, the integration of women into positions of authority within business organisations has achieved only limited success. Due to a predominance of small firms and relatively low entry barriers have led to tourism entrepreneurs being premised on its potential to empower women and providing opportunities specifically for women entrepreneurs (Figueroa-Domecq, Jong and Williams, 2020). According to United Nation’s (UN) Woman in Tourism report, the majority of the tourism workforce worldwide is female; 54 per cent of people employed in tourism are women compared to 39 per cent in the broader economy. A high proportion of women are employed in the tourism area. However, their function in the sector is dominated by unskilled, low-paid jobs. In this study, women entrepreneurs’ position in Turkey has been examined briefly in order to show their existence by considering their obstacles and challenges.