ably discuss the important aspects of WOMEN Seen TS »preneurs. > ; : z ~e yomen entreprene Let us begin with understanding the concept of wor FERRE concert of WomEN ENTREPRENEUR Based on oncept of entrepreneur discussed earlier, wome, entrepreneur a eae es woman or group of women ie amutate organize, and run a business enterprise. In terms of ae ‘Oncep of innovative entrepreneurs, women who innovate, imitate or adopt a busines, activity are called “women. entrepreneurs ,, Kamal Singh who is a woma; entrepreneur from Rajasthian, has defiried Woman entrepreneur as “A confiden, innovative and creative woman capable of achieving self-economic independenc, individually or in collaboration, generates employment opportunities for other; through initiating, establishing and running the enterprise by keeping pace with he personal, family and social life.” The Government of India has defined wome entrepreneurs based on women participation in equity and employment of ; business enterprise. Accordingly, the Government of India (GOI 2006) has define¢ women entrepreneur as “an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having 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.” However, this definitiornl | | | | rae & n the condition of employing more than 50 per cent women workers in the enterprises owned and run by the women. In nutshell, women entrepreneurs are those women who think of a business enterprise, initiate it, organize and combine the factors of production, operate the enterprise and undertake risks and handle economic uncertainty involved in running a business enterprise [EES runcrons oF women ENTREPRENEURS As an entrepreneur, a woman e1 functions involved in establishin and screening, determination of and determination of forms of b formalities, raising funds, procu: of business. Frederick Harbison (1956) has enum woman entrepreneur: » 1 Beploration of the prospects of starting a new business enterprise. 2 ‘Undertaking of risks and the handling of economic uncertainties involved ntrepreneur has also to perfo: 8 an enterprise. These include idea § objectives, project Preparation, product an. uusiness organization, completion of promotional ring men, machine and materials, and operation erated the following five functions of a 3. Introduction of innovations or imitation of innovations ~ 4, Coordination, administration and control. 5. Supervision and leadership. The fact remains that, like the definition of the term entrepreneur’, different scholars have identified different sets of functions performed by an entreprenet whether man or women. All these entrepreneurial functions can be clas broadly into three categories: Innovations These functions have already been discussed earlier in Chapter 1; therefore these are not discussed again for the sake of repetition. FEW Grow G¢ won enrrepReNEURSHIP IN INDIA "Women in India cbnstitute around half of the country “s population. Hence, they ‘We regarded as thé'“better half of the society”. In the official proclamation, they are at par-with'men:” But, in real life, the truth Prevails otherwise. Our society is still male-dominated and women are not treated as equal partners both and outside four walls of the house. In fact, they are treated a. =»! and dependent on men:”” AS Such, the Indian women enjoy a disadv “Stus in the sociéty. Let is give some facts about it. The low liter SY sork participation’ Fate" (28%) ‘and low urban population share f ~sompared to 60%, 52% and 18% respectively: of their male counterparts55 women Entrepreneurship Government of Kerala 1984), the number of women’s industrial units in Kerala was 358 in 1981 which rose to 782 in March 1984. These 782 units include 502 proprietary concerns, 43 partnership firms, 42 charitable institutions, 03 joint stock companies and 102 co-operative societies covering a wide-range of jetivities. On the whole, proper education of women in Kerala resulted in high motivation among them to enter into business. The financial, marketing, and training assistance provided by the State Government also helped motivate women to assume entrepreneurial career. Women’s desire to work at the Jace or residence, difficulty of getting jobs in the public and private sectors and the desire for social recognition also motivated women in Kerala for self- employment. Like Kerala, an increasing number of women are entering the pusiness in the State of Maharashtra also. PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Women entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems, viz., general problems of entrepreneurs and problems specific to women entrepreneurs (Birley 1989). ‘These are discussed as follows: Problem of Finance; Finance is regarded as “life-blood” for any enterprise, be it big or small. However, women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts. Firstly, women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for obtaining funds from external sources. Thus, their access to the external sources of funds is limited. Secondly, the banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage women borrowers on the belief that they can at any time leave their business. Given such situation, women entrepreneurs are bound to rely on their own savings, if any and loans from friends and relatives who are expectedly meager and negligible. Thus, women enterprises fail due to the shortage of finance. Scarcity of Raw Material: Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw material and necessary inputs. Added to this are the high prices of raw material, on the one hand, and getting raw material at the minimum of discount, on the other. The failure of many women co-operatives in 1971 engaged in basket-making is an.example how the scarcity of raw material sounds the death-knell of enterprises run by women (Gupta and Srinivasan 2009). Stiff Competition: Women entrepreneurs do not have organizational set-up to pump in a lot of money for canvassing and advertisement. Thus, they have to face a stiff competition for marketing their products with both organized sector and their male counterparts. Such a competition ultimately results in the liquidation of women enterprises. Limited Mobility: Unlike men, women mobility in India is highly limited due to various reasons. A single woman asking for room is still looked upon suspicion. Cumbersome exercise involved in starting an enterprise coupled with the officials humiliating attitude towards women compels them to give up idea of starting an enterprise." Fcenpreesatta Org atten the Dike rop Family Tes: tn Urvtia, i is mainly a women’s duty ty lok after amt other members of the fantily. Man plays a secondary rate sin vam of } mamed women, she has ty strike a fine balance between her business and farniby ™ ad tiene to devente fey Her total involvement iny family leaves little of no energy and tie business. Support and approval of husbands seem ne entry into business. Accondingly, the educational le husbands positively influence women’s entry into busi Lack of Education: In India, around three-fifths (60%) of ee np Hin iterate. Mliteracy is the root cause of socio-economic a wet « . the ’ owledge. Also, lack of educ a le whore aaa ones "Ths lack of education sirlace one type or other problems for women in the setting up and running of business Male-Déminated Society: Male chauvinism is still the order of the day in India. The Constitution of India speaks of equality between sexes. But, in practice, women are looked upon as abla, i.e. weak in all respects. Women suffer from male reservations about a women’s role, ability and capacity and are treated accordingly. In nutshell, in the male-dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This, in turn, serves as a barrier to women entry into business, Low Risk-Bearing Ability: Women in India lead a protected life. They are less educated and economically not self-dependent. All these reduce their ability to bear risk involved in running an enterprise. Risk-bearing is an essential requisite of a successful entrepreneur. {mn addition to above problems, inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of Power, high cost of production, social attitude, low need for achievement and socio. ecanamic constraints also hold the women back from entering into business. ary condition [or Women’s and family background og « activities nnn aeencceeenle gees 2 os EF FEe eo5BaA 28 eget BES 3s gee Ee SEE es eth sa ps2 BREE 2g s 2 scussions relating to Preneurs should strengthens much on the Organizations entry of women into and i . a 21 der eloping w agencies have appreciated the aes and international ¥ industries depends ve industry. Several national ntetrat on - entreprenenss iP ind importance of men recent years. A brief Teview of it is given Kewomen Entrepreneurship 57 ty ie, women, the United Nations declared the decade 1975.85 as the Decade for Women. ‘The UNIDO Preparatory, Mecting onthe Role of Women in Indistilisation in Developing Countries held at Vienna during 6-10 February, 1978 identified several constreints such as social, attitudinal and institutional bartiers, inadequate employment opportunities inappropriate and inadequate training, and insufficient information and so on which held women back from Participating in industrial activities. The World Conference of the United Nations Decade ‘for Women held at Copenhagen in Denmark on 30° June, 1980 also adopted a programme aimed at promoting full and equal Opportunities and treatment of women in employment and their access to non-traditional skilled trades (Prasad 1983), The First National Conference of Women Entrepreneurs held at New Delhi in November 1981 advocated the need for developing women entrepreneurs for the overall development of the country. It called for priority to women in allotment of land, sheds, sanction of Power, licensing, etc. The Second International Conference of Women Entrepreneurs organized by the National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE) held in 1989 at New Delhi also adopted certain declarations involving women’s Participation in industry. The Government of India has been assigning increasing importance to the development of women entrepreneurs in the country in recent years. The Sixth Five Year Plan, for example, Proposed for promoting female employment in women-owned industries. The Government moved a step forward in the Seventh Five Year Plan by including a special chapter on Integration of Women in Development. The chapter suggested: « To treat women as specific target groups in all development programmes. # To devise and diversify vocational training facilities for women to suit their varied needs and skills. ¢ To promote appropriate technologies to improve their efficiency and productivity. * To provide assistance for marketing their products. * To involve women in decision-making process. Inher recent Industrial Policy 1991, the Government of India further stressed the need for conducting special entrepreneurship development programmes for women with a view to encourage women to join industry. Product and process-oriented courses enabling women to start small-scale industries are also tecommended in the Policy Statement. There are several institutional arrangements both at the centre and the State levels like nationalized banks, state financial corporations, state industrial Corporations, district industry centers and voluntary agencies like FICCI’s Ladies ; Organisation (FLO), National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE) which e been engaged in protecting and developing women entrepreneurs in the duntry. Added to these are national and international women associations set with a purpose to create a congenial environment for developing women *Preneurship in rural and urban areas. With a view of develop better half of theE ntrepraneurial Developmen, __ 58 Sud. (EGR uration oF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP eo ai A ' f¢ governmental It is a cliché to mention that despite the various Cen entrepreneur, in and non-governmental organizations, the number of he case. Several India has so far been y small. But, unfortunately - nthe ., : D ppre! limitations explain this. The prodigious volume of Seri? gender differences has highlighted several limitations oo hereunder: entrepreneurship. The most important ones are disc = involve risk-taking. In First, establishing and running enterprise®. ey gelt, lake of confidence, eptic > the fe: a of women, the gender so Paks Added to these a fea e of and assertiveness, pose imitation: $ esital involve non-traditional and ee e home activi Cee in business. ; / sn Second, the Indian women are known as housew? aring heavy stic . ange the status from commitments and resistance of social oar =. ae ae reneurshi housewives to working wives also limits women S entry into PI ie P. Especially in a patriarchal social structure, women aF° dependent on the males speband and father in their lives. As such, family resistance is a ™3)0P barrier to start an enterprise. In such social structures, male family members often make decisions for women. Third, as indicated by much low literacy rate of women, lack of access to education and training serve yet other barriers for women to enter into entrepreneurship. Fourth, as women generally lack in collateral, they find it diffi ; |, they find it difficult to obtain even small amounts from’ the banks. Banks generally have a perception about women as weak in repaying capacity. ou that is # neurial Fr ment of women esearch on ties mak ves be: