CONFERENCE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND HUMAN RIGHTS


ABSTRACT



Topic: Women as entrepreneurs in the 
formal and informal economy.


Entrepreneurship being the foremost concepts in
contemporary economic theory and practice involving
the organization and management of an economic
activity has provided a valuable mobilizing tool for
feminist movements. Although a Western concept, it is
increasingly being deployed and re-articulated in my
country Cameroon. Entrepreneurship is an essentially
contested concept both theoretically and normatively
and at every level from its very meaning to its
application, with implications for the kind of society
to which it aspires. Much more contested, as in my
society when the entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to be
are women. A society in which the right to engage in
any economic activity by women remains equivocal, and
blurred, due to lack of education cultural and
political barriers. Despite efforts to create
awareness, women’s participation and involvement in
entrepreneurial activity is alarmingly low. 

 Until recently it is a rights discourse in the
economic domain, which has been more dominant. A new
way of looking at the relationship between human
rights and economic development has emerged. It is
rights – based approach to economic development
	
However it is particularly important in challenging
the construction of women as passive entrepreneurs,
while not losing sight of the structural and
institutional constraints on their ability to act.
Despite its claim to universalism, in both theory and
practice, entrepreneurship has been quintessentially
male in my country.

Laws and treaties alone have not guaranteed human
rights and freedom to engage in any kind of
entrepreneurial activity. There is now the urgent need
to shift from developing norms to their
implementation.  It is my fervent hope and wish that a
conference of this nature would tackle better
strategies which can help women to integrate without
huddles into the entrepreneurial world.