Women Entrepreneurs in Modern Era
Women Entrepreneurs in Modern Era
Women Entrepreneurs in Modern Era
•Parallel to the male counterparts, female entrepreneurs are catalytic in job creation,
innovation and more than tangible contribution to the GNP of the country (Bulsara,
Chandwani & Gandhi, 2015).
• The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women
participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise.
• Accordingly, a women entrepreneur is defined as “an enterprise owned and
controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent of
the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the employment generated in the
enterprise to women”.
• Women entrepreneurs are being identified for their independent
contributions.
•Development of women entrepreneurship is considered a lucrative leverage to
acquire a level playing field for women, in a male predominant society and
economy.
•This paper analyses the role and contributions of women entrepreneurs in
different sectors.
•The paper is organized into 6 sections.
•The second section provides the background of the study.
• The third section gives the picture about the purpose and plan of the study.
•In the fourth section trends and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in
modern era are discussed.
• Fifth section reveals challenges and problems faced by the women
entrepreneurs in modern era.
• And in the fifth section we give the conclusion.
2. Background of the study
Considering the traditional role of women, going back to the Vedic
Age, it is seen that the Rig Vedic age women were the co-partners in life
and in pleasure and hazards.
The position of women was high in the later Vedic ages; however the
position of women deteriorated. They became minimally the vehicles
of bearing sons and had to obey her authoritarian and dominating
husband, regard him as her master and serve him faithfully.
Women entrepreneurship in India is still at a nascent stage. Women are
often heavily discriminated against in many countries including India.
In some situations this may actually encourage women to start then
own ventures because they may not secure employment or rise in pay
and leadership within their current employment.
In other situations, great struggle for equality in many countries which
is usually test identified as the equal opportunity for the job skill a
position and the same pay.
India, despite being a welfare state with planned economy and
conscious efforts at social security in general and women development
in particular, women were often made ‘subjects’ rather than ‘objects’
of development
Men are always considered as economic supporter for his family
as well as for the nation and women are considered as a care
taker of the family rather than an economic support (Khanka,
2014; Nandi & Kumar, 2014).
But in the modern era opportunities are galore. Employment of a
managerial economist has become inevitable. Only thing is that
she has to be open for innovation and imbibing entrepreneurial
spirit, come what may.
In this era, we must seize the opportunity for entrepreneurial
empowerment. India has already shown the world that this is
possible – through the enabling mechanism of Self Help Groups
(SHGs) for instance.
Particularly, the women enterprises are going beyond family and
child welfare, from reproductive roles to productive roles; and
from pappad-pickle-perfume triangle to techno-training and
services, skill textures and medium and large enterprises, and
the motivational spirit of women entrepreneurs is reinforcing
(Hans, 2016).
3. Purpose and plan of the study
3.1 Objectives of the Study:
To evaluate the present status of women
entrepreneurship and its determinants
To identify the various problems and alternative
avenues/strategies in promoting integrated women
entrepreneurship in India.
3.2 Methodology:
The study is a qualitative one and is based on
secondary data. Secondary data is obtained from the
various published and unpublished records, books,
magazines and journals
4. Conceptual and Operational Frame work
There has been a steady increase in the participation of women
in small business indicating immense potential for
entrepreneurial development among them.
From the point of view of performance, it was observed that the
women enterprises in India have made significant contributions
towards generation of employment, gross output assert creation
and exports.
Changes in the global and domestic environment have
contributed towards the growth of women entrepreneurship in
India.
Indian research reveals that studies conducted in the past have
covered various aspects such as motivation, available support
system and problem faced by women entrepreneurs
According to 1981 Census Report, there were only 1.5 lakhs
self-employed women in the country, which was 5.2
percent of total of self employed persons in the country.
Government of India reports, “Women start small-scale
industries exclusively run by them”^^ There are more than
2, 95,680 women entrepreneurs claiming 11.2 percent of
total 2.64 million entrepreneurs in India during 1995-96.
“During Eighth Year Plan, the number of Small Scale
Industries (SSIs) raised from 1.7 million to 2.5 million,
adding 0.8 million in five year periods or 1.60 lakh every
year.
Among the SSI entrepreneurs approximately 9 percent of
them were women entrepreneurs”.
In 2016 there were 15.27 female enterprises in rural areas
and 12.45 in urban areas. But male enterprises were 84.73 in
rural areas and 87.55 in urban areas.
5. Trends and
Opportunities
.
Over-Dependence
Most of the women entrepreneurs are seen to undertake purely as
a subcontractor (i.e. ancillary unit) on raw materials, or manufacture
items that are usually used by large-scale units. This leads to
dependence on large-scale industries. The success or failure of women
entrepreneurs depends on the success or failure of large-scale
industries
Lack of Raw Materials
The majority of the women are engaged in the unorganized sector
like handicrafts, handloom, and cottage-based industries. For these
sectors there is inadequate availability of raw materials.
Stiff Competition
Women entrepreneurs in the unorganized sector face intense
competition from organized sector and male entrepreneurs in terms of
quality and price of the product.
Lack of Training
The biggest problem is the lack of sufficient business training and
this weakness is all the more glaring in the case of rural entrepreneurs
who are uneducated. Due to social structure which is often culturally
driven, women have different training needs when it comes to
entrepreneurship and self-employment that helps to gain confidence
Marketing Problems:
Access to market is more difficult than access to finance. Accesses to
market pose a very big challenge to entrepreneurs. Women
entrepreneurs with adequate experience continue to face the problem
of marketing their products.
High cost of Production:
The profitability, development and expansion depend on the cost of
production. High cost of production due to problem of material, labor,
infrastructure, human resource, etc, hinders the efficiency,
development and expansion of an enterprise. Women entrepreneurs
also face the same problem.
Lack of awareness:
Women entrepreneurs sometimes are not aware of technological
developments and other information on subsidies and concessions
available to them in respect of getting loan or getting industrial sheds
or raw-materials, etc.
Lack of Self-confidence:
The element of risk is very high in business. The women
entrepreneurs hesitate to take risk. The risk bearing ability is
comparatively lower than men.
8. Suggestions
Clandestine of Success "Attribute my success to one thing –
never run away from life. Face it boldly. Dare to be
different".
Education has been instrumental in increasing the
participation of women in entrepreneurial activities. The
formal education not only helps in acquisition of requires
knowledge for a job, which demands non-traditional skills
but also imparts knowledge about the different
occupational opportunities.
There should be an incessant attempt to motivate, give
confidence, inspire and assist women entrepreneurs.
Government should provide better educational facilities
and schemes to women folk.
There should be continuous monitoring, improvement of
training programmers, practical experience and personality
development programmes to improvise their over-all
personality standards.
Establishment of proper training institutes for enhancing
their level of work-knowledge, skills, risk-taking abilities,
enhancing their capabilities. Training Centers should
provide training to prospective women entrepreneurs free
of cost and Entrepreneurship Successful Leading Business
Women in India development Program should be much
more practical oriented.
·A women entrepreneur should herself set up an example
by being successful and should act as a role model. Since
children have a tendency to emulate their parents, the
resultant effect would be automatic.
Establishment of proper training institutes for enhancing
their level of work-knowledge, skills, risk-taking abilities,
enhancing their capabilities.
Creating provision of micro credit system and enterprise
credit system to the women entrepreneurs at local level
with low rate of interest.
Provision should be made to provide land / sheds to deserving women
entrepreneurs on priority basis. Group Women Entrepreneurship
(GWE) may be promoted in rural sector by reinvigorating activities /
skills on traditional crafts or practices with which they are acquainted.
A Women Entrepreneur's Guidance Cell should be set up to handle the
various problems of women entrepreneurs all over the state.
Positive attitudinal change in the society recognizing the role of women
as entrepreneur may lead to the development of appropriate
environment in which women will be able to exploit their
entrepreneurial talents
Offering seed capital, upliftment schemes, women entrepreneurs fund
etc. to encourage them economically.
To extend confessional rates facilities and schemes for women
entrepreneurs to prosper in the field of enterprise acquainted.
Women entrepreneurs should be provided marketing facilities and
subsidy for raw materials. 267 Thus by adopting the above said
suggestions in letter and spirit the problems associated with women
can be solved.
9 C’s list for women entrepreneurs
1. Control
2. Confidence
3. Courage
4. Creativity
5. Conviction
6. Clarity
7. Contribution
8. Connections
9. Commitment
These all are the traits which are needed for
successful women entrepreneurs
10. Conclusion
Women have the potential and the determination to set up,
uphold and supervise their own enterprises in a very
systematic manner.
Appropriate support and encouragement from the Society
in general and family members in particular is required to
help them scale new heights in their business ventures.
The right kind of assistance from family, society and
Government can make these Women Entrepreneurs a part
of the mainstream of national.
There has been a steady increase in the participation of
women in small business indicating immense potential for
entrepreneurial development among them.
From the point of view of performance, it was observed
that the women enterprises in India have made significant
contribution towards generation of employment, gross
output, asset creation and exports.
Women form the family, which participate to develop
society and Nation. Entrepreneurial movement among
women started late and is still in its infancy.
Changes in the global and domestic environment have
contributed towards the growth of women
entrepreneurship in India.
As observed the success of women entrepreneurs differs
from State to State in India. It was also observed that
women enterprises are concentrated in the micro segment
of the MSME sector.
To enlarge their participation in small and medium
segments a stronger coordinated role of Indian
Government, financial institutions, voluntary agencies and
educational institutions with an integrated approach is
necessary.
Young female entrepreneurs should share their success
stories in the world of e-commerce to speed up
entrepreneurial movement in India.
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Other:
http://knowstartup.com/2016/08/female-entrepreneurs/
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