Purpose

This study aims to examine how women's groups help women to navigate context-related barriers to their engagement in rural entrepreneurship. The paper combines the contextualisation of entrepreneurship framework and the feminist separatist theory to describe how women's groups in patriarchal rural communities enable women to circumvent context-related barriers and actively engage in rural entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a case study of 12 women's groups engaged in paddy farming, rice processing and marketing in rural Tanzania, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with 46 women, four focus group discussions, four in-depth key informant interviews and non-participant observation.

Findings

Rural women face unique context-related challenges that hinder them from effectively participating in rural entrepreneurship. Specifically, limited access to farmlands and profitable markets, lack of business networks, limited time, poverty and insufficient financial resources constrain women's engagement in entrepreneurship. To overcome these contextual barriers, rural women have organised themselves into groups to gain access to business services, business-related training, grants and business networks.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the existing literature on contextualising entrepreneurship by focussing on how rural contexts may constrain women's entrepreneurial engagement while showing how women respond to contextual barriers that enable them to participate in rural entrepreneurship.

Practical implications

This study shows that women with low education can pursue rural entrepreneurship if they are supported through training and access to networks. This will support the performance of these groups of women.

Originality/value

This study offers new insights into the role of women's groups in navigating gender-related constraints that hinder women from participating in rural entrepreneurship within the patriarchal context of low-income countries. Thus, new perceptions for the gender and rural entrepreneurship theory and the policy implications thereof are proffered.

中文翻译：

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农村创业与背景：通过妇女团体克服背景障碍

目的

本研究旨在探讨妇女团体如何帮助妇女克服与环境相关的障碍，使其参与农村创业。本文结合创业框架的语境化和女权分离主义理论，描述了父权制农村社区的妇女团体如何使妇女能够绕过与背景相关的障碍，积极参与农村创业。

设计/方法/方法

基于对坦桑尼亚农村 12 个从事稻米种植、大米加工和营销的妇女团体的案例研究，本研究借鉴了对 46 名妇女的半结构化访谈、四次焦点小组讨论、四次深入的关键知情人访谈和非参与者观察。

发现

农村妇女面临着与环境相关的独特挑战，这些挑战阻碍了她们有效参与农村创业。具体而言，进入农田和有利可图的市场的机会有限、缺乏商业网络、时间有限、贫困和财政资源不足，这些都限制了妇女参与创业。为了克服这些背景障碍，农村妇女将自己组织成团体，以获得商业服务、商业相关培训、赠款和商业网络。

研究限制/影响

本研究通过关注农村背景如何限制女性的创业参与，同时展示女性如何应对使她们能够参与农村创业的背景障碍，为现有的关于情境化创业的文献做出了贡献。

实际影响

这项研究表明，受教育程度低的妇女如果得到培训和网络访问的支持，就可以从事农村创业。这将支持这些女性群体的表现。

原创性/价值

这项研究为女性团体在克服阻碍女性在低收入国家父权制背景下参与农村创业的性别相关限制方面的作用提供了新的见解。因此，提出了对性别和农村创业理论及其政策含义的新认识。