A Path for Enhancing Women’s Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The Programme “Women and Local Economic Development” (MyDEL in its Spanish acronym) tackles the different structural causes of gender inequality and social exclusion of women. MyDEL prioritized multi-dimensional initiatives aiming at promoting and advancing the practices of women’s economic citizenship. Amongst those, projects on women’s entrepreneurship have been considered of primary importance and MyDEL has put in place a methodology aimed at: a) highlighting the presence of women entrepreneurs, by locating them through the GIS system; b) identifying the characteristics of women’s work and contribution as well as the legal and structural barriers hindering their development; c) creating a set of tools to contribute to women’s economic and financial empowerment and to increased control over their lives and choices. This experience, realized in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, sets a relevant methodological and strategic precedent that can be used to enhance the effective inclusion of women as active players in all the stages of development processes.

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