International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

Women Entrepreneurs in MSEs in Indonesia: Their Motivations and Main Constraints
Tulus Tahi Hamonangan Tambunan

Abstract
This paper is based on a research aiming to examine the development of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia with the focus on their personal motivations or initial reasons to run own businesses and their main constraints in doing their businesses. The research was based on a desk study, secondary data analysis with data from Statistics Indonesia , and a small field survey of 108 women owning micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the Great Jakarta area. It reveals from secondary data analysis that despite the growing number of women-led business and a significant increase of initiatives, policies and resources to promote and develop women‘s entrepreneurship, the gender gap in entrepreneurship in Indonesia still persist. Findings from the survey show that many of the respondents run their own businesses as a means to survive, and limited access to finance is the most serious constraint faced by the respondents, caused by their lack of valuable assets as collateral. The results may potentially have profound impact on women entrepreneurship policy and equality policy.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v5n1a9