Emancipation through tourism entrepreneurship for women in Nepal: ‘Empowerment entrepreneurship’

In rural and remote areas of Nepal, women are marginalised, impoverished, and exist in low socioeconomic conditions. Building on previous research of women entrepreneurs in rural and remote Nepal (Hillman & Radel, 2016; Radel & Hillman, 2016), seven female entrepreneurs from a range of tourism-related industries were interviewed to understand the contexts, approaches, strategies and success factors of their enterprises in enabling and empowering Nepali women to lift themselves out of poverty through tourism. The proprietors of these all-female led and operated tourism enterprises were asked to narrate their journeys of emancipation and earn a sustainable income for themselves and their families. The qualitative research was undertaken using a grounded theory approach in order to examine the links between grassroots, female entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment groups, and women training organisations developed specifically to support women in Nepal.