Abstract—Together with the industrialization, women began to be included in business life by peeling off of the tasks given them by society and they have become a factor of production creating value in economic and social sense. Thus, women have taken place in the labor market, majority of which has been formed by men. In this study, the experiences of women entrepreneurs, who succeed in business activities, will be analyzed. By the study, current state of the women entrepreneurs in the labor market of Turkey will be put down, as a result of interferences obtained from the shared experiences of women entrepreneurs. Findings obtained at the end of the study are thought to light the way of future studies for increasing women entrepreneurship. Keywords—Women Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Turkey. I. INTRODUCTION LTHOUGH roles of genders varies in different societies, and also differ more throughout history, women has endured to have a minor importance in relation to men. The role of women in society was largely determined by tradition, culture, and values. By these values, division of labor was formed gender based and while roles of bringing home the bacon, providing financial support was given to men; roles of bringing up the children and managing home were given to women. Surely, while woman had been created as more emotional, gentle, and domestic; man is more powerful, adventurous, and brave. Together with the industrialization, women began to be included in business life by peeling off of the tasks given them by society and they have become a factor of production creating value in economic and social sense. Thus, women have taken place in the labor market, majority of which has been formed by men. In this study, the experiences of women entrepreneurs, who succeed in business activities, will be analyzed. By the study, current state of the women entrepreneurs in the labor market of Turkey will be put down, as a result of interferences obtained from the shared experiences of women entrepreneurs. Findings obtained at the end of the study are thought to light the way of future studies for increasing women entrepreneurship. II. ENTREPRENEUR WOMAN AND SPECIALTIES In the literature, there are different meanings of the concept A. Bedük is with the Selçuk University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Konya, 42075 Turkey (phone: +90-332-223-4351; fax: +90-332-241-0046; e-mail: abeduk@hotmail.com). K. Eryeşil is with the Selçuk University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Konya, 42075 Turkey (phone: +90-332-223-3091; fax: +90-332-241-0046; e-mail: kemalettineryesil@hotmail.com). of entrepreneurial woman. In the vast majority of studies, woman entrepreneur is defined as the woman establishing the enterprise and the second-generation entrepreneur. Also in some studies in the literature, woman entrepreneurship is considered equal with small business. Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGİDER), founded in 2002, defines woman entrepreneur as "With a creative idea of a woman; in a sustainable, long-term framework of a business plan, process of establishing a new business where capital and idea is combined". According to entrepreneur undertakes a calculable risk and creates employment [1]. According to another definition, a woman alone or employing other people, which is a registered member of Chamber of Tradesmen and Artisans of Turkey Union of Chambers or Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), and is under the umbrella of one of the social security institutions, which employ women alone or alongside other people, producing and selling directly market-oriented goods or services which are convertible into cash, by undertaking calculated risks, having their own business tax registration, within a market economy [2]. In light of all this information, it is possible to collect the woman entrepreneur in a common definition as; woman, working in a place outside the home, having a workplace set up her own behalf and carrying out activities related to the production of any goods or services by working with people in her employ, doing/having done the distribution, marketing and selling of these goods or services, undertaking all types of work-related risks, having the right to route her gains derived [3]. According to determination of the study conducted by Schreier and Schwartz about women entrepreneurship in the United States, characteristics of women entrepreneurs are listed as follows [4]; 1) Though owner of the business seems to be a woman, generally women entrepreneurs work in partnership with a man, 2) The vast majority of women entrepreneurs operate in the service and retail sector, 3) Women Entrepreneurs’ educational levels are over the national education level, 4) Women Entrepreneurs women are usually the first child of a family belonging to the middle layer, 5) The vast majority of women entrepreneurs are included in the labor market after 35 years, 6) Before setting up their own business they work in other places for a few years, 7) Women entrepreneurs generally dense in health, food and clothing, tourism and service sectors, and mostly evaluate their own savings in small-sized enterprises. Aykut Bedük and Kemalettin Eryeşil Women Entrepreneurship & Problems in Turkey A World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 77 2013 568