The primary objective of this study was to investigate the challenges that urban Zimbabwean
women entrepreneurs face. The study was motivated by the theoretical findings that women
have always been discriminated against politically, economically, socio‐culturally, legally,
educationally and at work. Scholars of gender studies assert that despite the fact that over the
last decades women had attained educational levels comparable to those of men, women still
remained in relatively low paying jobs (Wirth, 2001:49; Carter & Silva, 2010:19, 20‐1). Due to
frustrations and challenges faced in the workplace, some women in both developed and
developing countries had left formal employment to start their own businesses. According to
Coulter (2000:114), even in business where women had opted to be, they continued to face
challenges.
A review of literature further indicated that the historical background of women in developed
countries differed from that of women in developing countries because of differences in
environmental factors (Adler & Israeli quoted by Woldie & Ardesua, 2004:79). However, the
challenges that women faced were similar except that in developed countries more gains had
been registered in improving women’s lives compared to developing countries.