Female Entrepreneurship in East and South-East Asia

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Historical and current socio-political and economic context of female entrepreneurship

Introduction

In all four countries, looking at the evolution of women as producers and decision-makers, it is observed that they have a long history of moving beyond the role of housewife while confronting degrees and forms of resistance to their drive. Involved in farming, craft and trade, trying to preserve or recreate the porosity in gendered divisions of labor, they have often been stuck between several contradictory or overlapping identities when attempting to enter the labor market as salaried persons and then to start and manage businesses. Undeniably, they have played important roles at national, regional and local levels. But similar to in Europe, ...