At the threshold of enterprise: understanding barriers to and supports of young Muslim women through interpretative phenomenology

Purpose This study examines how young Muslim women in the United Arab Emirates interpret their initial entrepreneurship experiences during the pre-startup phase, focusing on the interplay between traditional cultural contexts and modern economic goals. We investigate the barriers and supports they encounter in their early entrepreneurial endeavours. Design/methodology/approach The research employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis integrated with feminist phenomenology and hermeneutics to analyse in-depth interviews with three young Muslim women engaged in entrepreneurship events and programs. This idiographic approach combines Tuan’s space-place dialectic with a feminist lens, moving between a hermeneutics of suspicion and a hermeneutics of faith. Findings Our analysis reveals that extended family is both a significant barrier and potential support in these women’s entrepreneurial journeys, with entrepreneurial spaces providing both freedom and constraint. Islam and entrepreneurship go together positively, while cultural traditions can be a barrier. Entrepreneurship is not intrinsically emancipatory for these women but offers a complex site where they negotiate familial expectations, cultural traditions, faith and personal goals. Research limitations/implications The idiographic nature of this study limits broad generalization but provides valuable insights into individual experiences that may resonate in other contexts. The study demonstrates the value of combining feminist phenomenology with feminist hermeneutics to better understand the participants. Practical implications Entrepreneurship programs could benefit from considering not just startup skills but broader dimensions related to family dynamics, cultural traditions and religious sentiment that shape participants’ perspectives. Campaigns targeting older relatives to support young women entrepreneurs and communication training for young women to help negotiate with family members could be particularly beneficial. Efforts should be made to blend western, Silicon Valley-type thinking with Islamic principles, to ground entrepreneurship in the UAE. Social implications This research challenges simplistic notions of entrepreneurship as inherently emancipatory, revealing how young Muslim women actively interpret and negotiate cultural expectations while pursuing entrepreneurial goals. By highlighting how these women interpret what is happening to them, the study contributes to a broader understanding of women’s entrepreneurship in contexts where religious and cultural norms override western business assumptions. Originality/value This study makes three key contributions: it focuses on the pre-startup phase of young Muslim women in the UAE, demonstrates the value of combining feminist phenomenology with feminist hermeneutics and uses idiography to generate insights that may resonate beyond the immediate research context while honouring individual experiences.