The present study intends to identify the profile of women microentrepreneurs and assess the extent to which their entrepreneurial motivations may be influenced by legal incentives to formalise their businesses and by their capacity to reconcile the demands of family and work. A questionnaire was used to gather data on the individual entrepreneurial initiatives of women in Brazil. We evaluated multiple linear regression models for their explanation of the dimensions involving motivations to formalise business activities and dual roles as workers and homemakers, as well as using cluster analysis to identify the profile of women micro-entrepreneurs. The results suggest that these women opt for legalised individual entrepreneurship to access the benefits offered by the formalisation of their businesses and to search for mechanisms that encourage a work-family balance.
