Study on Women Entrepreneurship in Tribal Communities: Economic Growth, Social Justice, and Sustainable Development in the Contemporary World

Abstract

Women entrepreneurship has increasingly been recognized as a strategic pathway for fostering inclusive economic growth, advancing gender equity, and promoting sustainable development. However, women entrepreneurs from tribal and indigenous communities remain largely marginalized within mainstream entrepreneurial discourse, policy frameworks, and empirical research. Situated at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, geography, and historical exclusion, tribal women experience distinctive structural constraints that shape their entrepreneurial opportunities and outcomes. It highlights how women-led enterprises contribute to local economic diversification, livelihood security, and employment generation while simultaneously fostering social empowerment, cultural preservation, and environmental stewardship through the application of traditional ecological knowledge. The analysis reveals that while entrepreneurship can enhance women’s agency and community resilience, it does not automatically translate into social justice or sustainability without supportive institutional, legal, and policy environments. This article examines women’s entrepreneurship in tribal communities through the interconnected lenses of economic growth, social justice, and sustainable development in the contemporary world.