This study was conducted to assess disparities in women entrepreneurship in urban and rural communities in Cross River state. Specifically the study was aimed at identifying motivation for entrepreneurship by urban and rural women, identifying entrepreneurship activities engaged by urban and rural women entrepreneurs and challenges faced by urban and women entrepreneurs in the state. The study adopted survey design while cluster sampling technique was used to select samples. Questionnaires were used for data collection while percentages were used for data analysis. The study reveals that most women entrepreneurs from age category 41-45 while in rural areas, most of them were from ages of 36-40. In both areas, majority of the women were married. Majority of urban women entrepreneurs had tertiary education while in rural communities; most of the women had secondary education. Further, most of the women in urban areas were from monogamous relationships while relationships of most of rural women entrepreneurs were from polygamous. The study also found that entrepreneurship activities engaged by urban women entrepreneurs included mostly retail stores, followed by jewelry or boutiques, event management outfits, beautician shops and tailoring shops and small eateries. For the rural women, the most common business activities were agricultural business, followed by food restaurants, palm wine/beer joints and retail shops. Urban women entrepreneurs sourced their capital from mostly family, followed by personal savings, financial institutions and friends. Rural counterparts sourced capital mainly from informal financial institutions, followed by sale of crops and friends. The most common motivations for entrepreneurship for urban women entrepreneurship included the need to generate extra income while social status was the least motivation. For rural women, support their family members was the most common reason. Challenges faced by urban women entrepreneurs mostly included conflicts between business and family functions and lack of access to credit, inexperience and gender discrimination. For rural women, lack of funds, gender discrimination, government neglect in entrepreneurship programmes, low education and lack of business skills were the challenges. The study therefore recommended for opportunities for access to capital urban and rural women, involvement of rural women in entrepreneurship programmes and gender equality.
Keywords: Communities, Entrepreneurship, Socio-economic development., Urban Areas, rural areas
