Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 23 Issue 9

women their role as full citizens. The empowerment of women has become irreversible and deserves to be supported by the provision of substantial funding for the various mechanisms put in place. The aim of this approach is to understand the situation of women entrepreneurs in Tunisia, by analysing the individual and contextual factors that influence their entrepreneurial process. To do this, we conducted individual interviews with three groups of women. The first group was made up of women business owners, the second of self- employed women and the third of women co-operators. We have highlighted the gender impact of women's entrepreneurial activities. However, this impact is different for each of our groups. Our results show that Tunisia has made every effort to encourage entrepreneurship in general, and female entrepreneurship in particular, using legal and policy instruments that take account of local specificities. The most salient features include the hybrid motivations for entrepreneurship, between constraint and opportunity; _ the lack of confidence in the skills of women entrepreneurs; _ the predominance of authoritarian leadership, which is poorly accepted when it comes to women leaders; _ male tutelage, which handicaps women's mobility and their freedom to take certain decisions; _ the predominance of patriarchal culture; _ corruption. We have also shown that it is difficult to support entrepreneurs, whether men or women, by neglecting the influence of their internal and external environment. Standardised support that does not take account of the diversity of contexts in which entrepreneurs operate is inappropriate and ineffective. In any case, the situation of Tunisian women has undergone clear changes in recent decades, both in terms of their situation and their behaviour. Traditionally, women have participated in the economy, in particular by helping to grow the crops needed for family consumption. Now, with the advent of schooling, women's position in the family has been strengthened. Women still face difficulties in accessing credit, which reflects the low level of interest shown in them by the authorities, who do not consider them to be a useful part of the national economy, with the risk of them migrating to the informal sector. Our research has a number of limitations, including the fact that it only considers women entrepreneurs operating in the formal sector, overlooking a significant proportion of women operating in the informal sector. Studies on this sector could help to provide a broader view of the reality of female entrepreneurship in Tunisia. B ibliography 1. Abargaz, M. and Aboudrar, S. (2013). Relation banque/PME: cas des PME de la région Souss Massa Dara au Maroc (dissertation). Agadir, Université Ibn Zohr d'Agadir. 2. AFARD (2007). 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