As a result of the growing global economy and a development model with entrepreneurialism at its heart, women in remote and high-mountain societies in Gilgit-Baltistan, the northernmost part of Pakistan, have begun to venture outside the traditional and gendered economies by embarking on new forms of income-generating activities. This ethnographic study of women entrepreneurs in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, provides a critical analysis of the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship as a key strategy by development organizations to address gender inequities. The ethnographic accounts of women’s diverse experiences as entrepreneurs featured in this article demonstrate that the neoliberal development model and the global capitalist market serve as an opportunity for women in these high-mountain communities that allows them to push against socio-cultural pressures. Within these environments, women strive to become economic actors and make space for themselves in conventionally male-dominated economic trades such as business and entrepreneurship. In contrast to the NGOs’ narratives that glorify women as entrepreneurs in uncontentious ways, my ethnographic research views women as complex subjectivities whose lived experiences are embedded within socio-economic, religious and political dimensions of notions of legitimacy that dictate women’s participation in public spaces. The ethnographic accounts in this article illustrate how women navigate, negotiate, contest and reproduce the patriarchal sovereignties and development regimes.

由于全球经济的增长和以企业家精神为核心的发展模式的结果，巴基斯坦最北部的吉尔吉特-巴尔的斯坦的偏远和高山社会中的妇女开始从事传统和性别经济之外的创业活动新形式的创收活动。这项关于巴基斯坦吉尔吉特-巴尔的斯坦女企业家的人种志研究报告对发展妇女的女企业家精神作了批判性分析，这是发展组织解决性别不平等的一项关键战略。关于妇女担任企业家的各种经历的人种志说明表明，新自由主义发展模式和全球资本主义市场为这些高山区社区的妇女提供了机会，使她们能够抵制社会文化压力。在这些环境中，妇女努力成为经济参与者，并在传统上由男性主导的经济行业（例如商业和企业家精神）中为自己腾出空间。与非政府组织的叙述以无争议的方式赞美妇女成为企业家相比，我的人种学研究认为妇女是复杂的主观性，其生活经验植根于合法性概念的社会经济，宗教和政治层面，这些方面决定了妇女在公共场所的参与。