Women entrepreneurs in Malta : personal motivations and policy drivers

Abstract

This research will analyse female entrepreneurship in Malta. The research looks at the evolution of female self-employment in the labour market in the last sixteen years and benchmarks Malta’s performance against that of EU member states, including those which share similar labour market characteristics. This will be supplemented by a qualitative analysis of female entrepreneurship in Malta which will identify potential motivators of female entrepreneurship and the main constraints faced by female entrepreneurs in embarking on a potentially risky venture in their career rather than follow the arguably more predictable and safer path of paid employment. Furthermore, in this study we will see if the policies and new incentives introduced by the Maltese Government throughout the years such as the family friendly measures and the childcare centres were an incentive for the Maltese women to go back to work and even become self-employed. Finally the research proposes a number of policy recommendations spanning from labour market policy to enterprise policy and education, with a view to promote female self-employment as a means to foster creativity and innovation which are the essential building blocks of economic development and sustainable improvement in living standards.