WOMEN AND ECONOMIC AUTONOMY: ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AS A SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY

Female entrepreneurship has consolidated itself as a relevant strategy for income generation and the expansion of women's economic autonomy, particularly in historically feminized and labor-intensive sectors such as the beauty industry. Although women-led enterprises have grown significantly in recent decades, financial sustainability remains one of the main challenges faced by female entrepreneurs. This fragility is largely associated with informality, lack of structured financial planning, and limited use of accounting tools for managerial purposes. In this context, this theoretical article aims to analyze how managerial accounting can contribute to financial sustainability and to the strengthening of women's economic autonomy in the beauty sector. Based on a literature review addressing female entrepreneurship, economic inequalities, and accounting practices applied to small businesses, the study argues that instruments such as cash flow control, cost analysis, strategic pricing, financial planning, and profitability assessment function as structuring mechanisms for economic stability and risk reduction. Accounting, when understood as a managerial tool rather than merely a fiscal requirement, assumes a strategic role in economic organization, supporting profitability preservation and sustainable growth. The article contributes by articulating gender, financial management, and accounting as key elements in the consolidation of women-led enterprises and in the promotion of women's economic autonomy.