One of the concepts that has received attention in social spheres over the past two decades is social innovation. Interest in social innovation has rapidly increased in research, policymaking, and implementation due to its potential to address complex social challenges such as poverty, unemployment, demographic changes, and climate change. Social innovation is defined as the development and acceptance of new solutions to meet social needs. Social innovations are considered as alternatives to addressing social and environmental problems. Social innovation is defined as a new solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or equitable than existing solutions, and the value created primarily belongs to the community rather than private individuals. In fact, social innovation focuses more on social values.

Social innovations take various forms, such as the production of new goods and services, innovative methods, approaches, and solutions for widespread social renewal, community participation in designing and delivering public services, reducing the problems of patients and unemployed individuals, reintegrating marginalized individuals into society. Launching innovative entrepreneurial businesses to address social issues, outsourcing businesses to marginalized individuals in rural and small urban areas are at the heart of social innovation. Essentially, social innovation is introduced as a response to facing social challenges. The growing interest in social innovation is a reaction to an excessive focus on the technological dimensions of innovation. In fact, social innovation focuses on social goals rather than technological ones. Social innovations include the production of goods, services, social processes, and more. Social innovation refers to improving the quality of life, welfare, relationships, and empowering individuals and communities.

Multiple studies have identified four main components of social innovation:

1) Identifying unresolved social challenges or unmet social needs among marginalized groups in society.

2) Engaging marginalized groups in society in developing solutions to address these needs and challenges.

3) Aligning existing solutions with new contexts or novel combinations of existing solutions.

4) Desired social transformations resulting from the implementation of these solutions. The outcomes of social innovation include aspects such as empowering individuals and communities, improving quality of life, increasing justice, and eradicating poverty, enhancing social participation.

The six main dimensions of social innovation include transformation (the context in which social innovation develops), innovative features (social action that leads to formation, execution), innovation (type, scale, and objectives of innovation), actors (individuals involved in production and implementation), and process (coordination methods, resources involved, and implementation constraints).

The role of women is essential for local, national, and global development. Even if women live in poor rural communities, they participate in the local economy. Women's participation in the workforce enhances human resource environments and contributes to better conditions in their families and communities. Entrepreneurship and social innovation can facilitate the empowerment of the most vulnerable social groups, such as local women who suffer from compounded discrimination. Social innovation empowers women through entrepreneurship and the establishment of social businesses, promoting them to the equal position they deserve. The nature of social innovation in the field of women consists of two elements: a social goal and a long-term solution to meet social needs achieved through entrepreneurial activities and social businesses.

Social enterprises help develop women's roles in society through two aspects of social innovation and scalability. Social innovation is a positive change in the process and product and requires new uses of resources to achieve social goals. Scalability refers to the ability to replicate successful business models in other locations to continue social production. The scalability of social enterprises is usually limited due to resource constraints and infrastructure. Expected impacts of social enterprises include value creation and sustainability. Value creation refers to the benefits of participating in a new business that go beyond profitability and help stakeholders. When creating value simultaneously involves economic, social, and environmental benefits, sustainability and stability are established. In fact, social innovation through social enterprises and entrepreneurial activities can help women entrepreneurship and family development, ultimately benefiting society.