The Impact of Women's Empowerment in Entrepreneurship on the Sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises During Economic Crises.

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the impact of women’s empowerment in entrepreneurship on the sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during major global economic crises. It focuses on three key cases: the 2008 global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022 energy crisis. The research adopts a -quantitative descriptive–analytical methodology-, combining theoretical analysis of the conceptual framework of women’s empowerment and leadership with empirical statistical analysis to assess its impact on institutional performance indicators. Data were collected from -reliable secondary sources-, including reports and publications from international organizations such as the OECD, UN Women, and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), as well as official financial statements from multinational corporations (Apple, Google, TechSolution, and GlobalConsult) during crisis periods. The sample was selected purposively (Purposive Sampling), targeting institutions with notable female representation in leadership positions to measure the influence of women’s leadership on organizational resilience and performance stability. The EVIEWS software was employed for regression analysis to estimate the relationship between female leadership representation and financial growth. Additionally, the ANOVA test was used to identify performance differences between enterprises with and without women in leadership roles across the three crisis periods. The use of secondary data is scientifically justified due to: • ts availability from credible international research institutions, • Its broad temporal and geographical coverage enabling cross-crisis comparison, and • Its suitability for assessing macroeconomic variables without requiring field experimentation. The findings reveal that empowering women in leadership positions is a decisive factor in enhancing the resilience of SMEs and their ability to adapt to economic shocks through innovation, digital transformation, and improved risk management.