Studying the Self-Empowerment Model of Women Entrepreneurs in Yazd: Constructive Interaction with Mental and Social Barriers

In Iran, the development and promotion of entrepreneurship is one of the serious needs of society and family structure, traditional attitudes and gender stereotypes that describe the social structures of countries have a strong impact on the process of women entrepreneurship development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the successful entrepreneurial behaviors of women in Yazd. In this qualitative study, the focused  population are women entrepreneurs in Yazd. Selected by purposive and theoretical sampling, the sample of this study included 15 women entrepreneurs, who were different in terms of age, education, type of profession and marital status. The content analysis technique was used to analyze the interviews. From the results of the analysis, three main themes were obtained. The main theme of constructive interaction with mental and social barriers includes 21 concepts and 5 sub-themes (domination of patriarchal gender ideology, lack of structural support, stereotype of disbelief in women's ability, economic view of women's work, social short-sightedness). The theme of self-improvement was obtained from 21 concepts and 4 sub-themes (aligning with social norms, proving individual abilities, overcoming self-limitation, observing gender norms). The main themes of reflection positivity were extracted from 9 concepts and 2 sub-themes, positive self-affirmation and action self-belief.