PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPING WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
Abstract
The digital economy has fundamentally restructured the landscape of entrepreneurial opportunity, creating unprecedented pathways for women to establish, scale, and sustain businesses across geographic, sectoral, and cultural boundaries. This article examines the multidimensional prospects for women's entrepreneurship in the digital economy, integrating theoretical frameworks from feminist economics, innovation studies, and institutional economics with comprehensive empirical evidence from 54 countries. The study analyzes the primary enablers and constraints shaping women's digital entrepreneurship, including digital literacy, access to finance, platform economy participation, e-commerce integration, and regulatory environment quality. Special attention is devoted to the experience of Uzbekistan, where women's entrepreneurship policy has undergone significant reform since 2017, and where digital infrastructure development presents both expanding opportunity and persistent structural challenges. The research proposes a Women's Digital Entrepreneurship Development Index (WDEDI) as a composite measurement instrument and advances an evidence-based policy framework for accelerating women's entrepreneurial participation in digital economic ecosystems. Findings indicate that closing the gender digital divide could increase global GDP by USD 13–18 trillion by 2030, with disproportionate gains concentrated in emerging and transitional economies.
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