Introduction

Promoting women entrepreneurship contributes to socio-economic development of countries (Jamali, 2009; Verheul et al., 2006). The rate of increase of women entrepreneurship, especially in developing countries, has created a positive impact on overall household welfare and consumption (Minniti and Naudé, ۲۰۱۰). Women’s unique role in the household creates a network effect resulting in increased entrepreneurial activities (Datta and Gailey, 2012; Minniti, 2010). Entrepreneurship offers economic security to women (Itani et al., 2011), provides them a platform for self-expression and fulfilment (Eddleston and Powell, 2008) and empowers them as individuals (Jamali, 2009). There exist variations between the number of men and women entrepreneurs, and the rate of women entrepreneurship varies across countries due to heterogeneity in their structural characteristics (Baughn et al., 2006). While the absolute number of women entrepreneurs has increased worldwide, their number is considerably less than that of their male counterparts (De Bruin et al., 2006; Verheul et al., 2006). Women entrepreneurship is especially challenging in developing countries because such women lack opportunities, are resource-constrained and face unique challenges (Panda and Dash, 2014, 2016; Verheul et al., 2006). Balancing work and family life, handling patriarchal societies and gender discrimination are just some of the unique challenges facing women. Country-specific research in developing economies has offered an in-depth, microscopic view of the socio-cultural, economic and political challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. But, such research offers only a geographically concentrated view of the challenges faced; there is a lack of understanding about macroscopic factors that constrain women entrepreneurship in the developing world, especially factors that aggravate their situations compared to male entrepreneurs. This study addresses the gap in two respects. First, it identifies seven key constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in developing countries and ranks them. Second, it offers a framework to highlight factors that make women entrepreneurship relatively difficult compared to men. The study makes two important contributions to entrepreneurship theory and practice: it extends the entrepreneurship literature by highlighting key difficulties for women who engage in entrepreneurship, and it outlines interrelationships between multiple constraints resulting in hostile environments for women entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the framework offered to rank the constraints is intended to aid donor agencies and policy makers in making effective decisions related to planning and resource allocation, as there have been criticisms about the need for and efficacy of funded entrepreneurship programs which do not prioritize women (Minniti and Naudé, ۲۰۱۰). This is especially important because financing for women entrepreneurs is increasing in developing countries (Kevane and Wydick, 2001). The paper proceeds as follows: the next section outlines the research methodology. This is followed by a section that includes a review of the constraints faced by women entrepreneurs across developing countries. There then follows a section that ranks these constraints and highlights differences between constraints faced by male and female entrepreneurs, and in the final section, we draw conclusions.