From Limitations to Opportunities: Elicit Factors Shaping Women’s Choice towards Entrepreneurship in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Women entrepreneurship matters not only for individuals but for communities and countries. However, the socio-cultural construct of Pakistan presents a restrictive environment for women particularly its province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Women in KP are significantly embedded in the informal norms of society. Besides limitations, entrepreneurship is rapidly increasing in Pakistan where a huge number of women are opening up their small home-based entrepreneurial ventures. The current research study attempts to explore the elicit factors that shape the choice of socio-culturally embedded women in KP towards entrepreneurship. With a qualitative methodology and an interpretivist approach, the results of the study revealed that women’s embeddedness in informal norms is actually the “primary cause” of their preference for entrepreneurship over paid employment. Women tend to choose those jobs that give them enough space to cater their gendered responsibilities along work within the boundaries set by the Pukhtun society for them. The contribution of the study lays in the contextual analysis of women entrepreneurs in KP.  The research provides a deeper understanding of how women navigate these informal norms of society and familial roles into resilience and successful home-based ventures. The context specific pull and push factors guide the local government and policy makers in making more impactful policy initiatives for women entrepreneurs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.