Empowerment Literature Review

1- Theoretical background:
1-1 Empowerment: The concept of empowerment has been a dominant key word for international policy-making , its precise definition and meaning have been long debated (Anna, Chandler, Jansen and Mero, 2000; McGehee and Kim, 2004) In the development literature, Friedman (1992) places empowerment at the forefront of the movement toward the type of development which is centered “on people and their environment rather than production and profits.” one of the most commonly agreed upon definitions of empowerment is by Rappaport (1987):“the ability of people, organizations, and communities to gain mastery over their affairs.” . Similarly Sadan (1997) defines empowerment as “a process of transition from a state of powerlessness

We will use the latter definition of empowerment as the ability to make choices and the power to make changes.
In turn, the empowerment in entrepreneurship is reflected in the ‘intention’ which is the state of mind directing a person's attention and action towards self-employment as opposed to organizational employment based on Bird (1988). Therefore, ‘high’ attitude towards self-employment actually indicates that the respondent is more empowered in favor of self-employment than organizational employment (Souitaris, Zerbinatiand Al-Laham,

It is noticeable that there are no women entrepreneurs in the Canal Zone. Regarding male entrepreneurs, Greater Cairo has the highest share with 31.7% followed by Upper Egypt with 22.6% and Delta with 22%. The lowest share of male entrepreneurs is found in Canal Zone with less than 10%., it is noticed that the main motive of entrepreneurs in Greater Cairo and Upper Egypt to start a business is necessity, while pursuing an opportunity was the main motive for entrepreneurs to start a business in Alexandria, Delta and Canal Zone. Whereas the gap between opportunity and necessity motives was minimal in three regions, it was noticeable in the case of Delta and Canal Zone (Hattab, 2013) whereas men are more entrepreneurially active than women in the Egyptian economy. This gap exists for several reasons; for example, the cultural perception of women working and owning business and the fewer opportunities available for women to develop the experience needed to engage in entrepreneurship. Relative to other regions, Egypt has the highest gender gap, even when compared to other Middle East and North Africa countries (Goby and Erogul, 2011). Fear and failure and lack of the required skills and knowledge in starting the business, along with the status of the country could justify the