How Education can empower the Women

to Become an Entrepreneur in Pakistan?

Submitted to: Prof. Dr. Masoodul-Hassan

Submitted By: Hafiz Muhammad Azib Miraj
Roll# 02

Department of Commerce,
Bahaudin Zakariya University, Multan.
Introduction
The field of advancement includes the investigation of ways that the society adopts for
the betterment of all human beings [ CITATION Mar18 \l 1033 ]. The economic system is a
fundamental element of development, and entrepreneurship is a principle component of
the economic system. Entrepreneurships can create a positive “change in the economic
system through innovations brought about by individuals who generate or respond to
economic opportunities that create value for both individuals and society” [ CITATION
Lia01 \l 1033 ]. Entrepreneurs are very important for any economic system and their

contributions to the economic system as the “key drivers” of economic progress. In fact,
renowned proof of female entrepreneurs’ contributions to local and regional economies
positions women’s entrepreneurial activity as “progressively important part of the
economic contour of any economy today” [ CITATION All07 \l 1033 ]. For the socio-economic
and constitutional development of the materialize economies, “women capital” is
progressively important as world is shifting towards the gender dynamics [ CITATION
Sam14 \l 1033 ].

Today, more Asian women than ever before are both educated and participating in the
labor market, and there is greater awareness that gender equality is of paramount
importance in efforts to reduce poverty and boost economic development [CITATION Int18 \l
1033 ]. But in the developing country like Pakistan where social and familial control over

women; their economic dependence on men, and restrictions on their mobility determine
the differential access that males and females experience concerning education and other
key supporting services[CITATION Muh10 \l 1033 ]. So there is a need to empower the women
of Pakistan in terms of education. The question arise here that how we can define the
education in term of women entrepreneurship? Firstly we should understand the
definition and role of entrepreneurship according to women entrepreneurship perspective.
“Entrepreneurship is about intense new streams, about believing in yourself, your
mission and inspiring others to join you in the journey. What sets (entrepreneurs) apart is
the will, courage and sometimes recklessness to actually do it” [CITATION Der18 \l 1033 ]. It
refers to the concept of developing and managing a business venture in order to gain
profit by taking several risks in the corporate world. Entrepreneurship require: 1. Skills
and understanding of the idea on whom someone is working, 2. To whom kind of
entrepreneurship (either start-ups or small business) someone is adopting, 3. There should
be flexibility in the work to get the maximum benefits, 4. Gives the enjoyment of
diversity and 5. Can be a career option (What is entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur
Handbook).
Entrepreneurship enables women to use their earned income to support household and
family goals, which leads to physically and financially healthier families and children;
improve their standards of living; and gain autonomy [CITATION AHL07 \l 1033 ]. They can
also set an example for another women. Entrepreneurship education and training (EET)—
which provides tools to aspiring, nascent, and practicing entrepreneurs to launch a new
business or to grow an existing business—can help women entrepreneurs reach these
goals, yet information regarding educating women entrepreneurs effectively is lacking
because of a dearth of research on women’s success in EET programs.
Eric Hoffer said;
“The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should
produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society,
where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.” Also Education is
defined as the formal progress of graded levels of instruction, from primary through
higher education. Both public and private educational systems function for the individual.
Learning, on the other hand, is the acquisition of knowledge and/or skills through study
and experience (Oxford Dictionary https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/learning
accessed on June 1, 2016).
Therefore to empower the women to become an entrepreneur it is necessary to educate
them so that they can participate in the stream of economic progress, in the developing
country like Pakistan. Expanding women’s economic opportunities is central to the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development. The economic empowerment of women—to
succeed and advance economically and to make and act on economic decisions—is a
cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [ CITATION Ban17 \l 1033 ].
Women economic empowerment is right to do and the smart thing to do. The vast
majority of work on female entrepreneurship in the education field has been limited to
either studies on curriculum development for entrepreneurial training programs [ CITATION
Bru12 \l 1033 ]. Entrepreneurship as it relates to formal education in terms of vocational

education (Maslak, Vocational Education of Female Entrepreneurs in China: A

Multitheoretical and Multidimensional Analysis of Successful Businesswomen’s
Everyday Lives 2014). Studies anticipates about women entrepreneur still include under
10% of all investigation in the business field. This solicits many questions about it.
How do the local and international organizations position the female entrepreneurship in
their national as well as international initiatives that promote the economic development?
At what level of education women are empowering to become an entrepreneur? Is there
any organization in Pakistan that is promoting entrepreneurship in Pakistan? Is it
necessary for females to have an education of entrepreneurship while they have a good
idea for a new business? How do national government in Pakistan plans for the
advancement of female entrepreneurship? Is there any educational or training program
that helps the women to achieve their goals? Is it necessary to get a formal education for
females to become an entrepreneur? How do they acquire information to design, plan,
open, operate, and expand their businesses? What are the links between policy and
practices for female entrepreneurs?
This paper will answer all these questions.
Research Objectives
The following are the research objectives related to the women education, empowerment
and entrepreneurship as;
1. What is the impact of education on the women personality to become an
entrepreneurs?
2. How do the local and international organizations position the female
entrepreneurship in their national as well as international initiatives that promote
the economic development?
3. At what level of education women are empowering to become an entrepreneur?
 4. Is there any organization in Pakistan that is promoting entrepreneurship in
Pakistan?
5. How do they acquire information to design, plan, open, operate, and expand their
businesses?
6. What are the links between policy and practices for female entrepreneurs?
These are some questions (and other relevant questions are also included) which we will
discuss in this study.

Literature View
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship develops in those countries which have high-educational endowments.
Therefore, increased investment in entrepreneurial education infrastructure creates
economic values in the society [ CITATION Min04 \l 1033 ] . Many authors have defined
entrepreneurship in different ways. Hafizullah et al (2012) viewed entrepreneurship as
bringing and implementing novel ideas or modifying the old ones, to bring innovations
into businesses that have the ability to create value. Tambunan (2009) described an
entrepreneur as a self-employed person. Entrepreneurs are considered as vital factors in
initiating and providing social and fiscal development. According to a research the
countries having hefty number of entrepreneurs are more urbanized and are on route for
advance compared to those countries which have less percentage of the entrepreneurs
(Rao, Rao and Suri Ganesh, 2011).
“Push” and “Pull” factors are associated with entrepreneurship. Push factors mainly are
lack of employment opportunities, dissatisfaction of working under supervision and
unsupported governmental activities; on the other hand pull factors are the desire for self-
fulfillment and attainment of personal goals (Singh et al., 2011). That is why; jobseekers
are now turning into job creators (Palaniappan, Ramanigopal and Mani, 2012).
Women Entrepreneurship
Female who play an intriguing role by frequently interacting and actively adjusting
herself with socio-economic, financial and support spheres in society is called women
entrepreneur (Pareek, 1992). Tambunan (2009) divided women entrepreneurs into three
categories of chance, forced and created and these categories are based upon the fact that
how they started their businesses. He argues that women, who do not have any clear
objective or goal in their mind at the time of initiating business, fall in the chance
category as with time their businesses evolve from their hobbies. While forced
entrepreneurship is the category for such women who start their businesses being
constrained by circumstances. Whereas the women who start their businesses by being
motivated or encouraged by others fall in the category of created entrepreneurs. Women
entrepreneur are further divided into three categories based on the areas of their
engagement, the micro sphere, where female’s economic empowerment is affected by
intra -familial associations. The second sphere is institutional also called mesosphere; it
includes organizations other than family ones, for example schools, NGOs and other
businesses. The last sphere is macro, this is the environment in which one lives and carry
on one’s work, it includes international and national dynamics, regulatory authorities,
credit availability, sources of finance and other factors of internal and external
environments (Jones, 2004).
On view of the world, 1.4 billion poor people 70% are anticipated to be women. In the
last few decades women had started to realize the value of self-employment and they are
now utilizing their capabilities in entrepreneurial activities. And it is noted that there has
been a rapid upsurge in self-employed women in the developed nations. In USA, 25% of
the total business is owned by women and almost same patterns are being identified in
Canada and France where one-third and one-fifth small businesses are owned by women
respectively. Whereas in Asia, women comprise 40% of the total workforce. However, in
China women are dominating the men at least by two fold and similar inclinations are
observed in Japan(Rao, Rao and Suri Ganesh, 2011).And it is the scarceness of
employment opportunities that tend to raise neologism i.e. Entrepreneurship Mentality”
(Ahl, 2006). Women can either be self or paid employed. But both of the employments
are prone to risks and problems that discourage females in both domains (Singh et all.,
2012).Researchers claim that family issues such as giving proper time and fulfilling
family culpabilities are the chief issues confronted by them(Rao, Rao and Suri Ganesh,
2011). Another inquiry supported the findings that women are mainly impelled to be the
home makers (Roomi and Parrot, 2008).Whereas Hafizullahet al (2012) highlighted that
male dominance in culture creates problems for female entrepreneurs in terms of limiting
their mobility, business participation and market interactions. The further arguments of
the research revealed that women entrepreneurs of Pakistan have to face both
environments; traditional and contemporary in order to run their enterprises. Traditional
category includes socio cultural and religious elements while contemporary category is a
sub category of above mentioned factors and includes constitutional structure, policy
making and other institutional mechanism. Furthermore, they recognized poor economy
and stereotyped society as other factors liable of causing glitches for female
entrepreneurs. The geo-political crisis has adversely affected Pakistan’s socio-economic
growth and such a jeopardized scenario has also affected women entrepreneurship. The
major factors that restrain women from business are gender-based discrimination, lack of
communal support, limited access to information, inadequate education & training
facilities, absence of trust in one’s capabilities and access to resources (Afza, Hassan and
Rashid, 2010). These arguments are supported by the findings of another research that
says that the lack of proper leadership, planning and inadequate financial resource
allocation is some other difficulties that women usually face during execution of their
businesses (Palaniappan, Ramgopal and Mani, 2012). Besides all the problems women
also face some challenges and significant of them are uncloaked guidelines, challenging
interactions due to gender, dependence upon their male counterparts for transactions and
extra restrictions imposed on them as compared to their gender counterparts (Ahmad,
2011).
Research Methodology
The nature of this study is to explore and describe the major problems of women
entrepreneurs and to surface their perspectives. The Survey method was used to collect
data and structured questionnaire was used as a tool to gauge views of respondents. Semi
structured interviews were also conducted of those respondents who showed difficulties
in completing the questionnaires. The questionnaire was divided into five sections; the
first section was to assess the general profile of the respondents while the rest of the
sections were divided into four subsections including I) education II) Knowledge about
the idea III) Empowerment of women through education in the society IV) Financial and
economic support. A sample comprising of 100 respondents from almost all areas of the
city was approached by using the “snow ball” sampling technique. The respondents were
requested to furnish the names and addresses of other women entrepreneurs they know.
Also from the university students who are studying this course at practical level.
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