@article{article_1535487, title={Women Entrepreneurship in Handicrafts: The Case of Kocaeli Province}, journal={Şura Akademi}, pages={51–60}, year={2024}, author={Işık, Ebru}, keywords={Women Entrepreneurship, Kocaeli, Handicrafts, Social Institutions, Digitalization}, abstract={Women’s entrepreneurship is closely related to many social institutions. Family, culture, economy and arts are some of these social institutions. Proposing projects and policies linked to these social institutions to support women’s entrepreneurship, especially at the local level, is very important for developing permanent solutions. Entrepreneurship is a good way for women’s participation and empowerment in economic life. Supporting women’s entrepreneurial activities not only contributes to economic development, but also to the development of institutions that are the building blocks of society such as culture, arts and family. Governments take many steps to support women’s entrepreneurship, but generalized policies that do not consider local practices may have a positive impact on women’s entrepreneurship in the short term, but do not serve the purpose of creating lasting solutions in the long term. In order to increase women’s entrepreneurship motivation at the local level, there is a need for local government-supported policies that tackle structural problems, take into account local practices, improve women’s knowledge and capacities, and provide them with new skills to adapt to the new era. In this study, the potential of developing handicrafts to promote women entrepreneurship in Kocaeli province will be discussed and the challenges, personality traits and needs of potential women entrepreneurs engaged in handicrafts in Kocaeli province will be conveyed through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 7 potential women entrepreneurs.}, number={7 KADIN VE AİLE}, publisher={Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi}