MICRO CREDIT SYSTEM FOR INCREASING FEMALE EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TURKEY

Abstract

Women labor participation rate is very low in Turkey. Although the government incentive policies have relatively improved, positive developments expected in this area have not taken place at the desired level. The micro-credit scheme aiming at providing relatively smaller amount of loans to entrepreneur women to start their business began in 1980s in the world, and became operational in our country at the beginning of 2000s. Currently, certain level of successful is observed through in many Turkish provinces through this system. To this day, nearly 200 thousand female entrepreneur established their business through small capital provided by the micro credit system in Turkey. Moreover, they have already paid back all the loans that they used. In this study, the application of micro-credit system for increasing female participation in labor force and business life is investigated. The labor participation level of women in Turkey has remained quite low. Although the government incentive policies have relatively provided improvement, the positive developments expected in this area have not taken place at the desired level. The micro-credit scheme aiming at providing relatively lower amount of loans to women to start their business began in 1980s in the world, and became operational in our country at the beginning of 2000s. Currently, we see successful work is done through this scheme in many Turkish provinces. In this study, the application of micro-credit system for increasing the participation of women in working life is elaborated.

Keywords

• Women Entrepreneurship, Female Employment, Women in Turkey