Entrepreneurial Aspirations and Empowerment: A Study of Urban Educated Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Author(s): Salma Khan

Publication Date: June 30, 2025

Abstract

Post-independent Bangladesh had undergone a visible socio-economic transformation that fundamentally altered women’s role in the family and society. This shift resulted in the growing participation of women in non-traditional employment for economic independence. Considering the firm link between entrepreneurship and women's empowerment and economic growth, promoting women's entrepreneurship has gained a key focus of government and NGO development programs. While entrepreneurship emerged as a means of income generation for rural women, an encouraging number of educated urban women have embraced entrepreneurship as a career choice to achieve economic independence and self-autonomy. This qualitative research paper is based on in-depth interviews of fifteen urban-educated female entrepreneurs involved in diverse entrepreneurial activities. The study focuses on the incentives behind entrepreneurial endeavors, business aspirations, and the broader influences of their enterprises on their personal and social lives. It has been identified that challenges such as graduate unemployment, the need for autonomy, rigid work hours, the glass ceiling effect, and difficulties balancing work and family responsibilities in traditional employment motivated these women to pursue entrepreneurship as a career path. The study also examines their perspective on the changing socio-economic reality of the business environment for women in Bangladesh. Despite countless barriers, these women entrepreneurs demonstrate noteworthy resilience and a strong sense of social responsibility, and contribute not only to the generation of employment but also to reshaping the outlook regarding women’s roles in the business landscape.