Development of Women Entrepreneurs In India

Women constitute around half of the total world population. So it is in India also. They are, therefore, regarded as the better half of society.

In traditional societies, they were confined to the four walls of houses performing household activities. In modem societies, they have Come but of the four walls to participate in all sorts of activities.

The global evidence buttress that women have been performing exceedingly well in different spheres of activities like academics, politics, administration, social work and so on.

Now, they have started plunging into industry also and running their enterprises successfully.

Therefore, while discussing on entrepreneurial development, it seems in the fitness of the context to study the development of women entrepreneurs in the country.

Let us begin with understanding the concept of women entrepreneurs.

Concept of Women Entrepreneurs

Based on the general concept of an entrepreneur just discussed in the previous chapter, women entrepreneurs may be .defined as a woman or group of women who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise.

In terms of Schumpeterian concept of innovative entrepreneurs, women who innovate, imitate or adopt a business activity are called “women entrepreneurs’’.

The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women’s participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise.

Accordingly, a women entrepreneur is defined as “an enterprise owned and controlled by women having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent-bf the capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women”.

However, this definition is subject to criticism mainly on the condition Of employing more than 50 percent of 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.

Functions of Women Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, a woman entrepreneur has also to perform all the functions involved in establishing an enterprise.

These include idea generation and screening, determination of objectives, project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of business organization, completion of promotional formalities, raising funds, procuring men, machine and materials and operation of a business.

Frederick Harbison has enumerated the following five functions of a women entrepreneur:

1. Exploration of the prospects of starting a new business enterprise.
2. The undertaking of risks and the handling of economic uncertainties involved in the business.
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 entrepreneur whether man or woman.

All these entrepreneurial functions can be classified broadly into 3 categories;

1. Risk-bearing.
2. Organization.
3. Innovations.

Growth of Women Entrepreneurship

Women in India constitute around half of the country’s population. Hence, they are regarded as the “better half of society”. In the official proclamation, they are on par with men.

But, in real life, the truth prevails otherwise. Our society is still male-dominated and women ate not treated as equal partners both inside and outside four walls of the house.

They are treated as weak and dependent on men. As such, the Indian women enjoy a disadvantageous status in the Society. Let some facts be given.

The low literacy rate (40%), low work participation rate (28%) and low urban population share (10%) of women as compared to 60%, 52%, and 18% respectively of their male counterparts well confirm their disadvantageous position in the society.

Our, age-old sodocultural traditions and taboos arresting the women within four walls of their houses also make their conditions more disadvantageous These factors combined!)’ serve as non-conducive conditions for the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship in the country.

Given these unfavorable conditions, the development of women entrepreneurship is expectedly low in the country.

This is well indicated by a dismally low level of women (5.2%) in total self-employed persons in the country.

Further, women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01% of the total of 1.70 million entrepreneurs during 1988–89

A cross-country comparison reveals that the emergence and development of entrepreneur­ship is largely caused by the availability of supporting conditions in a country.

To quote, with improving supporting conditions, the share of women-owned enterprises in the United States has risen hum 7.1% in 1977 to 32% in 1990. It is likely to reach 50% by the turn of the 20th century.

In India, women’s entry into business is a new phenomenon.

Women entry into the business, or say, entrepreneurship is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps, viz.. Pickles, Powder, and Pappad. Women in India plunged into business for both pull and push factors. Pull factors imply the factors which encourage women to start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently.

Push factors refer to those factors which compel women to take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.

With growing awareness about a business and the spread of education among women over the period, women have started shifting from 3 Ps to engross to 3 modem Es, viz., Engineering, Electronics, and Energy.

Urey has excelled in these activities.

Women entrepreneurs manufacturing solar cookers in Gujarat, small foundries in Maharashtra and T.V. capacitors in Orissa have proved beyond doubt that given the opportunities, they can excel their male counterparts. Smt. Sumati Morarji (Shipping Corporation), Smt. Kirloskar (Mahila Udyog Limited), Smt. Neena Malhotra (Exports) and Smt Shahnaz Hussain (Beauty Clinic) are some exemplary names of successful and accomplished women entrepreneurs in our country Case studies of two successful women entrepreneurs are given at the last of the book.

In India, Kerala is a state, with the highest literacy (including women literacy) reflecting a congenial atmosphere for the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship in the State.

According to a study, the number of women’s industrial units in Kerala was 358 in 1981 which rose to 782. in March 1984. These 782 units included 592 proprietory concerns, 43 partnership firms, 42 charitable institutions, 03 joint-stock companies and 102 co-operative societies covering a wide range of activities.

On the whole, the 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 an entrepreneurial career.

Women’s desire to work at the place of residence, the difficulty of getting jobs in the public and private sectors and the desire for social recognition also motivated women in Kerala for seif-employment. Like Kerala, an increasing number of women are entering the business 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. These are discussed as follows:

1. The problem of Finance: Finance is regarded as “life-blood” for any enterprise, be it big car small. However, women entrepreneurs suffer from a 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 a situation, women entrepreneurs are bound to rely on their savings, if any, and loans from friends and relatives which are expectedly meager and negligible. Thus, women enterprises fail due to the shortage of finance.
2. Scarcity of Raw Material: Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw material and necessary inputs. Added to this is 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 of how the scarcity of raw material sounds the death-knell of enterprises run by women.
3. 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 stiff competition for marketing their products with both the organized sector and their male counterparts. Such a competition ultimately results in the liquidation of women enterprises.
4. Limited Mobility: Unlike men, women’s mobility in India is highly limited due to various reasons. A single woman asking for a room is still looked upon suspicion. The cumbersome exercise involved in starting an enterprise coupled with the officials’ humiliating attitude towards women compels them to give up the idea of starting an enterprise.
5. Family Ties: In India, a woman mainly must look after the children and other members of the family. Man plays a secondary role only. In the case of married women, she has to strike a fine balance between her business and family. Her total involvement in the family leaves little or no energy and time to devote to the business. Support and approval of husbands seem a necessary condition for women’s entry into the business. Accordingly, the educational level and family background of husbands positively influence women’s entry into business activities.
6. Lack of Education: In India, around three-fifths (60%) of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the root cause of socio-economic problems. Due to the lack of education and that too qualitative education, women are not aware of a business, technology, and market knowledge. Also, a lack of education causes low achievement motivation among women. Thus, the lack of education creates problems for women in the setting up and running of business enterprises.
7. Male-Dominated 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, i.e. weak in all respects. Women suffer from male reservations about a woman’s role, ability and capacity and are treated accordingly. In nutshell, in the male-dominated Indian society, women are not treated equally to men. This, in turn, serves as a barrier to women’s entry into the business.
8. 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.

In addition to the above problems, inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of power, high C’wt of production, social attitude, low need for achievement and socio-economic constraints also hold the women back from entering into business.

Development of Women Entrepreneurs — Recent Trends

Days are gone when women in Mia remained confined to within four walls of their homes and their immense strength and potential remained unrecognized and unaccounted for.

Now, they are increasingly participating in all spheres of activities. The fact remains that the citadels of excellence in academics, politics, administration, business, and industry are no longer the prerogatives of men in India

The consensus that is emerging in all discussions relating to She development of women is that the promotion of women entrepreneurs should form an integral part of all development efforts.

Tire experience of the United States where the share of women-owned enterprises is continuously on increase strengthens the view that the future of small-scale industries depends very much on the entry of women into the industry.

Several national and international organizations and agencies have appreciated the need for and importance of developing women entrepre­neurs in recent years. A brief review of it is given here.

To develop better half of the society, the United Nations declared the decade 1975–85 as the Decade for Women.

The UNIDO Preparatory Meeting on the Rote of Women in Industrialisatim in Developing Countries held at Vienna during 6–10 February 1978 identified several constraints such as social, altitudinal and institutional barriers, inadequate employment opportunities, inappropriate and inadequate training, 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 30th June 1980 also adopted a program aimed at promoting full and equal opportunities and treatment of women in employment and their access to non-traditional skilled hades.

The Tirslldatiaml 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, ft called for priority to women in allotment of land, sheds, a 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 the industry.

The Government of India has been assigning increasing importance to the development of women entrepreneurs in die 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 the Integration of Women in Development. The chapter suggested:

• To treat women as specific target groups in all development programs.
• 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 assist in marketing their products
• To involve women in the decision-making process.

In her recent Industrial Policy 1991, the Government of India further stressed the need for conducting special entrepreneurship development programs for women to encourage women to enter the industry. Product and process,-oriented courses enabling women to start small scale industries are also recommended in the Policy Statement.

There are several institutional arrangements both at the centre and the state levels like nationalised banks, state financial corporations, state industrial corporations, district industry centres and voluntary agencies like FICCI’s Ladies Organisation (FLO), National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE) Which have been engaged in protecting and developing women entrepreneurs in the country.

Added to these are national and international women associations set up with a purpose to create a congenial environment for developing women entrepreneurship in rural and urban areas.

Final Words

A women entrepreneur is one who owns and contrails an enterprise having a share capital of not less than 51 percent as partners/shareholders/directors of private limited company/members of the co-operative society. The functions performed by a women entrepreneur are categorized as risk-bearing, organization, and innovation.

Women’s entry into business is a recent phenomenon. It is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities to three Ps, i.e., pickles, powder (masala) and pappad manufacturing.

With growing awareness and spread of-education over the years, women have started engrossing modern activities like engineering, electronics, and energy popularly known as 3Es.

In certain businesses, women entrepreneurs are doing exceed­ingly well and excelling their male counterparts. Women entrepreneurs account for about 10 percent of total entrepreneurs in the country.

Women entrepreneurs face two types of problems, one, general problems faced by all entrepreneurs and, second, problems specific to women. Male dominating society, family ties, lack of ne&Tachievement, education and risk-bearing abilities are examples of problems specific to women entrepreneurs.

Women in India are no longer able and remain confined to within four walls of the house. They are participating and performing well in all spheres of activities such as academics, politics, administration, space, and industry.

Efforts are on at the Government and voluntary agencies levels to tap the hitherto unrecognized and unaccounted for the strength of women to integrate them in the process of industrial development, more especially small-scale industry development in the country.