Abstract

This study seeks to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) of the present state of
research on gender and international women entrepreneurship. This SLR critically assesses the
existing frameworks offered by literature for measuring women entrepreneurship, including the
theoretical frameworks on which they were built, their validation (if any) and their application
beyond the original settings. Based on a total of 241 works using the keywords “Entrepreneurship”
AND “Framework” AND “Gender”, this review reveals that although research on gender and women
entrepreneurship has made considerable progress over the last few years, still there is a lack of an
established gender-aware framework, which was urged by the scholars in this field for decade after
decade. The findings of this review reveal that a few studies offer a framework for evaluating
women entrepreneurship using gender perspective with no conceptual and operational definition of
constructs and empirical validation. Additionally, the review unfolds that the suitability in assessing
women entrepreneurship in cross-boarder entrepreneurship is insubstantial. Finally, the review
points out that the uneven advancement of this prominent paradigm leaves important avenues to
explore in future research.