GENDER AND RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. CLUES FOR CAREER GUIDANCE

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to find out how young women who have decided to return to rural areas perceive and interpret the transition processes which they have gone through to undertake their business project in a rural area. A qualitative methodology has been chosen, following a case study method, using the in-depth interview and field notes as information gathering techniques. The participants are 6 young adult women, with university training who have decided to start an entrepreneurial activity in rural areas and who belong to different rural contexts of Catalonia and Galicia. For the analysis of the information obtained, the Atlas-ti program was used. The main conclusions suggest that the articulation between the career and vital project is the engine that has driven the entrepreneurship of these women and that their transition experiences show a change in rural entrepreneurship. The place has an important influence when deciding the type of activity to be developed in the business and plays a fundamental role in the decision of these women to undertake. The commitment they establish with the environment is a reason to deploy all their capabilities in it and the focus is on projects that closely relate people and places. It is essential in career guidance to consider the impact of gender socialization on women in order to reinforce their entrepreneurial culture by overcoming the obstacles imposed by their social role.