Empowerment through Entrepreneurship - A Tool for Integration among Immigrant Women?

The study investigates whether entrepreneurship among immigrant women in Sweden may be a way to achieve integration in working life and thereby increase their empowerment. Sixteen female entrepreneurs were interviewed. They started their businesses for a number of reasons: unemployment, lack of suitable jobs and career possibilities, discrimination and forced privatization, desire for personal development, independence and freedom, or work within one’s own field of interest. We conclude that entrepreneurship can be a tool for increasing empowerment among educated immigrant women.