Women entrepreneurs in developing nations face persistent structural, sociocultural, and institutional constraints. The purpose of the study is to examines how constraints faced by women act not only as barriers but also as motivational drivers shaping entrepreneurial intention. Grounded in the push–pull motivation theory, the study explores how adverse challenges and pull factors interact to impact women’s decision to pursue entrepreneurship. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires from employed women, and the data were analysed using PLS-SEM. The findings of the study identified key constraints, which include family responsibilities, financial constraints, gender discrimination, and institutional constraints, and examined how these constraints are transformed into motivational factors such as achievement, financial independence, work-life balance, and government and market opportunities. The study proposes and empirically tests a conceptual framework that explains the relationship between constraint, motivation, and intention. The findings of the study extend push–pull motivation theory by describing how constraints function as catalytic forces that shape women’s entrepreneurial intention.