Purpose. Comprehensive assessment of women's entrepreneurial activity and their motivational preferences in creating their own business in Russia. At the same time, the following tasks were solved: the indicators characterizing women's entrepreneurial activity in Russia were studied; the level of women's business activity developed in recent years was considered; measures to ensure the development of women entrepreneurship in the future are given. Methods. The research is based on the methods of economic and comparative analysis, analogies, generalizations, classification, system and structural approaches. The information of the report on the project of the global monitoring of entrepreneurship in Russia, as well as the assessment of the index of entrepreneurial activity of women was used as initial data. Results. The features of women's entrepreneurship in Russia and the barriers hindering its development are revealed. The analysis of the main indicators of women's entrepreneurial activity is carried out. The growth of entrepreneurial activity of women in the early stages for the period from 2008 to 2016 was 3.6 times. Similarly, there was a significant 2.7 times increase in the number of established women entrepreneurs. In total, in 2016, about 2.9 million women were involved in early-stage entrepreneurship, and the number of established women entrepreneurs was about 2.3 million. The total number of women involved in entrepreneurship in Russia reached 5.2 million in 2016. The existing levels of voluntary and forced motivation of women in our country are estimated. The dynamics of growth of women's entrepreneurial activity indices for the period from 2015 to 2018 is considered. The main ways and methods of further development of women's entrepreneurship in Russia are revealed. Scientific novelty. The important role of women's entrepreneurship in Russia is proved. The factors influencing business activity in the Russian economy are revealed.
