مجلة العلوم الانسانية لجامعة أم البواقي

The Role Of Women In Entrepreneurship And Handicraft Industries: Innovation, Empowerment, And Sustainable Development

Auteurs : Baghou Houari . Mouici Ichraf .

Résumé

This paper presents a critical narrative review of 20 peer-reviewed studies examining the role of women in entrepreneurship and handicraft industries. Drawing on literature published between 2014 and 2024 and retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, the review analyses three interconnected research questions: how women’s handicraft entrepreneurship contributes to sustainable development; how women in this sector drive innovation; and what structural and sociocultural barriers constrain their entrepreneurial performance. Grounded in three complementary theoretical perspectives, the synthesis reveals that women entrepreneurs are significant drivers of cultural preservation, employment generation, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability, yet remain systematically constrained by limited access to finance, gender discrimination, inadequate institutional support, and the digital divide. Innovation capacity particularly product and process innovation enabled by digital platforms is identified as a critical mediating variable between institutional context and entrepreneurial performance.

Mots clés

Women’s entrepreneurship ; Handicraft industries ; Innovation ; Sustainable development ; Empowerment