A STUDY ON PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN WAYANAD DISTRICT OF KERALA STATE
Women Entrepreneurs are inspiring. An entrepreneur is someone that organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of a business enterprise. Today, more women are breaking free from the traditional, gender-specific roles and venturing into the business world. Not only are they holding high corporate positions but they are also successful women entrepreneurs .The steady rise in female entrepreneurs can be due to many different reasons, most of which share the same rational as their male counterparts—passion for their ideas, the desire to become their own boss, and the need to address philanthropic causes. The educated Indian women have to go a long way to achieve equal rights and position because traditions are deep rooted in Indian society where the sociological set up has been a male dominated one. Despite all the social hurdles, Indian women stand tall from the rest of the crowd and are applauded for their achievements in their respective field. The transformation of social fabric of the Indian society, in terms of increased educational status of women and varied aspirations for better living, necessitated a change in the life style of Indian women. She has competed with man and successfully stood up with him in every walk of life and business is no exception for this. These women leaders are assertive, persuasive and willing to take risks. They managed to survive and succeed in this cut throat competition with their hard work, diligence and perseverance. Women have been successful in breaking their confinement within the limits of their homes by entering into varied kinds of professionals and services women entrepreneurs have proved to be on par with their men counterparts in business acumen and are emerging as smart and dynamic entrepreneurs. Women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of almost all countries.
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: A NEW FACE OF INDIA
Women constitute a family which leads to a society and nation. Social and economic development of women is necessary for overall development of an economy or a society. In every woman, there is a sense of entrepreneurship, the need is only to capitalize it in a right way. Today there are many thrust areas where women can excel their skills with maintaining balance in their lives. Women entrepreneurs have become an eminent part of human resource. Any development strategy without involving women remains in complete and unbalanced as women have made a great contribution in country’s upliftment. In this dynamic world, women are essential for sustained economic development and social progress. But some loopholes are still there which prevent the growth of budding entrepreneurs. They are keeping away from their rights and traits. Though our government has done a lot of work in this regard but there is a long way yet to go. This paper talks about the hurdles in the path of women entrepreneurs and initiatives taken by government to facilitate women entrepreneurs. In the end, some suggested measures are also stated for the healthy growth of them.
Women Enterpreneurship Development in India
Women entrepreneurship development is an essential part of human resource development. The development of women entrepreneurship is very low in India, especially in the rural areas. Entrepreneurship amongst women has been a recent concern. Women have become aware of their existence their rights and their work situation. However, women of middle class are not too eager to alter their role in fear of social backlash. The progress is more visible among upper class families in urban cities. This paper focuses on women entrepreneur. Any understanding of Indian women, of their identity, and especially of their role taking and breaking new paths, will be incomplete without a walk down the corridors of Indian history where women have lived and internalized various role models. The paper talks about the status of women entrepreneurs and the problems faced by them when they ventured out to carve their own niche in the competitive world of business environment. ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION- The Indian economy has been witnessing a drastic change since mid -1991, with new policies of economic liberalization, globalization and privatization initiated by the Indian government. India has great en- trepreneurial potential. At present, women involvement in economic activities is marked by a low work participation rate, excessive con- centration in the unorganized sector and employment in less skilled jobs. Any strategy aimed at economic development will be lop-sided with- out involving women who constitute half of the world population. Ev- idence has unequivocally established that entrepreneurial spirit is not a male prerogative. Women entrepreneurship has gained momentum in the last three decades with the increase in the number of women enterprises and their substantive contribution to economic growth. The industrial performance of Asia-Pacific region propelled by Foreign Direct Investment, technological innovations and manufactured ex- ports has brought a wide range of economic and social opportunities to women entrepreneurs. In this dynamic world, women entrepreneurs are an important part of the global quest for sustained economic development and social pro- gress. In India, though women have played a key role in the society, their entrepreneurial ability has not been properly tapped due to the lower status of women in the society. It is only from the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards that their role has been explicitly recognized with a marked shift in the approach from women welfare to women development and empowerment. The development of women entre- preneurship has become an important aspect of our plan priorities. Several policies and programmes are being implemented for the de- velopment of women entrepreneurship in India. There is a need for changing the mindset towards women so as to give equal rights as enshrined in the constitution. The progress to- wards gender equality is slow and is partly due to the failure to attach money to policy commitments. In the words of president APJ Abdul Kalam "empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good na- tion, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their val- ue systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation."