The women enTrepreneurs of The Beqaa valley: voices and paThs of sororiTy

Abstract

This article examines the reality of women entrepreneurs in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, a region marked by significant socio-economic constraints and strong patriarchal norms. The central focus is on how these women, confronted with gender discrimination and a severe economic crisis since 2019, manage to engage in transformative entrepreneurship to sustain their families and invent new forms of autonomy. This study is based on auto-ethnography, a qualitative methodology, combining
sensitive writing, photographs, and life stories collected during coaching work. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship functions as a subversive and emancipatory act, redefining social relations and patriarchal norms without erasing women’s vulnerability. Sorority emerges as a crucial relational and political force within this social transformation. This article challenges masculine representations of entrepreneurship and situates the research conducted within a feminist and critical framework.