Education for Women Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Intentions: The Role of Perceptions on Gender Equality and Empowerment

Within the patriarchal society of Pakistan, the current study has modeled one research question: Does university-based entrepreneurship education (EE) raise university students’ self-employment attitudes and intention through nurturing their perceptions of gender equality and empowering women? To address this question, the current study uses partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), with the hypotheses grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 4&5) to provide the complementary explanations of the female students’ intention to become self-employed. Based on reliable and valid constructs, the PLS structural model significantly explains about 54% of the variance in female students’ intention to become self-employed. However, the most relevant result to be considered is the confirmation that female students’ positive perceptions of gender equality can lead them to their perceptions of women empowerment. Likewise, through it, to attitudes about and intention to participate in self-employment Apart from its limitations, the current study presents some theoretical and practical implications in the Pakistani context. Particularly that through discussion and persuasion, entrepreneurial education-based gendered supportive activities can reshape especially female students’ gender attitudes and stereotypes. That, in turn, may enhance their selfemployment career attitudes and intention.