Religion and Spirituality Empowering Female Refugee Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Female refugees face additional challenges and obstacles on their path to entrepreneurship. This can be explained by intersectionality, taking into account compounded discrimination due to gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and also religion. While conservative religious values and norms tend to be portrayed in a negative light, as hindering female leadership and fostering patriarchal views, this chapter assesses the positive impact that religion and spirituality may have for women refugee entrepreneurs. From the perspective of social psychology, it also considers how a comprehensive and creative training for female entrepreneurs should account for the demand-side, supply-side, soft skills, mental health, and religion and spirituality, preceded by a sound analysis of the context.