Supportive social norms, attitudes and gender relations

The ILO‘s Women’s Entrepreneurship Development programme (ILO-WED) is centred around three foundational pillars to ensure interventions comprehensively tackle structural barriers that hinder women from starting, formalizing, growing and sustaining their businesses while also improving working conditions.

Women entrepreneurs often face deep-rooted societal expectations that limit their economic participation and specifically their opportunities to initiate and expand their businesses. ILO-WED works to foster more supportive norms, attitudes and gender relations by challenging stereotypes and addressing cultural traditions that create bottlenecks for women entrepreneurs. By engaging women and men in communities, households and broader society, the programme helps create an environment where women have increased agency and more equal gender relations, and are recognized as key contributors to economic and social progress.