Purpose – This paper aims to attempt to collate and understand the fragmented research on female entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The review assesses the literature at the macro, meso and micro analysis levels and addresses the obstacles, challenges, motivations and characteristics of female entrepreneurship in the MENA region. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis bases on a gender aware, narrative review, which is an appropriate method when aggregating studies of different methodological approaches, covering broad and fragmented topics in different settings. The study analyzes the areas that have received sufficient research attention and those which are still under-developed. Findings – Important gaps in the field are lack of theoretical foundations; an over emphasis on macro level indicators, such as culture and religion and an under emphasis on organizational level variables; a lack of studies that analyze female entrepreneurship within ethnic groups, or studies that acknowledge the complex social, cultural and religious diversity of the region; and inattention to particular regional experiences (e.g. refugees crisis) and emerging trends. Originality/value – This is the first integrative review of the literature in the growing field of female entrepreneurship in the MENA region that identifies areas of particular research interest and questions that are still under-developed. The study proposes further avenues for future research.

Introduction

The emergence of the role of women as business-owners in the global economy has been mirrored by a proliferation of studies examining female entrepreneurship over the past three decades (Jennings and Brush, 2013), with a dominance of studies examining women entrepreneurs in Anglo-Saxon countries (Tlaiss, 2013; Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2010). However, a better understanding of the factors influencing women entrepreneurship in other regions is a must. Given that female entrepreneurial activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) aggregates to a strikingly low rate of 4 per cent (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [GEM], 2013), there is a need to understand female entrepreneurial activity in this region. Research in this regard is still in a developing stage, and no integrative view of the available body of literature exists. The entrepreneurial trends observed in the region are coupled with prevailing gender ideologies engendered by patriarchal socio-cultural norms. Certain religious understandings and legislative traditions limit women’s ability to start and develop their own businesses. For example, in most of the MENA countries, women are not granted equal rights at work (UNDP, 2009), and their participation in the labor market remains at a dismal rate of 24 per cent (World Bank, 2015). What is even more alarming is the significant variation between male and female labor market participation rates (Sidani, 2016). On the other hand, the professional environment in the MENA region is highly gendered, where women are predominantly employed in education and social and health care, while men predominantly hold leadership positions (Metcalfe, 2011; Sidani et al., 2015). Those disturbing indicators have attracted a number of scholars to try and understand the female entrepreneurial activity in this region. Research in this regard is still in a developing stage, and there has been no integrative review of the body of literature on women entrepreneurs in the MENA. Studies on this topic have been sporadic and unbalanced either in terms of focus or in terms of geographic coverage within the region. Thus, this paper contributes to the development of female entrepreneurship in two ways. First, we provide a review of the literature uncovering the areas that have received sufficient research attention and those which are still under-explored. Second, we propose research avenues that provide further insight into the larger field of entrepreneurship. In reviewing female entrepreneurship in the MENA region, we apply a gender aware framework, paying attention to social and normative institutions while identifying current knowledge areas and research gaps. Our analysis ties a fragmented research field together and offers important insights into the larger field of entrepreneurship. This contextualization has the potential to increase knowledge in the larger entrepreneurial field (Steyaert and Katz, 2004). We tackle the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis and identify gaps that we recommend should be addressed by future research.