Women entrepreneurship

Dr. Y.P. Sharma
Although entrepreneurial activity represents the oldest and most predominant economic factor in the economics of countries yet less endeavour has been done in this field. Entrepreneurship is a purposeful activity of an individual or group of individuals undertaken to initiate, maintain or aggrandize profit by production or distribution of economic goods and services. It might well be said that the entrepreneurial input spells the difference between the prosperity and poverty among nations. Japan is the place where entrepreneurs have achieved success by hard work as well as imagination and ability. The economic progress of the USA and Western Europe also highlights the significance of entrepreneurship.
Women became involved in the business world only when the idea of women in business became palatable to the general public. This does not mean that there were no female entrepreneurs until that time. In the 17th century, Dutch colonists who came to what is now known as New York City, operated under a matriarchal society. Many women inherited money and lands, and through this inheritance became business owners. Margaret Hardenbrook Philipse is an example who was a merchant, a ship owner and was engaged in trading of goods. In 18th and 19th centuries, more women came out and engaged as entrepreneurs. In 1825 Rebecca Lukens flourished and took her family business of iron works and turned it into a profit generating steel business. In 1900s due to more progressive way of thinking female entrepreneurs became a common term. In 1980s and 1990s people started acknowledging the valuable contribution of women entrepreneurs. As the 1990s came in, the availability of computers and the increasing popularity of the internet gave a much needed boost to women in business. Since 2000 there has been an increase in small and big ventures held and run by women.
According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, “Women are nearly one-third more likely to start businesses out of necessity than men.” The self-employed women have shown significant increase over the past three decades. In 1972 women-owned businesses accounted for 6.4 percent of all U.S. businesses – that was about 1.5 million self-employed women. That number increased to 2.1 million in 1979 and 3.5 million in 1984. In 1997 there were about 5.4 million women-owned businesses and in 2007, the number increased to 7.8 million. The participation of females in entrepreneurial activities does of course vary in different levels around the world. Asia as well as Israel show only 5 percent population whereas Zambia 4 percent, Latin America/Caribbean economies 15 percent and Sub-Saharan Africa with 27 percent of the female population. According to one study in 2012 there was an approximate 125 million women that were engaged in business activities in various economies all over the world.
Metropolitan areas in many countries have increasingly turned into pluriform and multi-cultural societies. Ethnic entrepreneurship and, increasingly, female entrepreneurship have become popular concepts in modern multi-cultural society. In a modern “multi-color” city, ethnic and female entrepreneurship tend to become an indigenous and significant part of the local economy. Ethnic entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs can be identified as having untapped job-creating potential; while they reflect different cultures and open-ended capacities for creating economic growth in cities, they are also special in urban economic life because of their growing numbers and their contributions to economic diversity. Liberalization coupled with globalization brought rapid growth in entrepreneurship.The existing studies on women entrepreneurs revolve around five thematic areas: the “breeding grounds”, patterns of female entrepreneurship; overcoming barriers against women entrepreneurs; motivation and organizational and managerial methods – the “enterprise culture” -of women entrepreneurs.
In Latin America and Africa women dominate the consumer sectors and are less likely to be found in the male-dominated sectors. Thirty percent of all female-headed businesses operate from the home in Mexico, compared with only 11 percent of male-operated businesses. In Bolivia, this figure is23 and 10 percent for female and male operated businesses, respectively. In Tanzania, men spent 5 percent of their day on un-paid care work (less than 1.5 hours), while women spent 14 percent of their day on the same task.
The ILO Helpdesk for Business provides information on wide range of topics pertaining to problems of women entrepreneurs. These are:
* Child labour
* Collective bargaining
* Discrimination and inequality
* Employment promotion
* Freedom of association and right to organize
* General policies
* Occupational safety and health
* Security and employment
* Wages and benefits
* Working time
The ILO Helpdesk suggests understanding and implementing the following labour standards:
* Declaration of fundamental principles and rights at work.
* Eliminating discrimination at workplace.
* Worker’s housing.
* International labour standards.
There exist more complex and fundamental challenges that women need to address in a masculine society such as India. Women social entrepreneurs face three fundamental challenges:
* The ability to take financial risk;
* The ability to mitigate organizational risk; and
* The ability to empower as a social collective
Addressing financial, organizational and empowerment (FOE) challenges requires inclusive strategies and equitable stakeholders’ engagement. It rests on  India and most other developing countries require many more initiatives such as Maitree to reduce rising social and spatial inequity. Despite an inclusive structure and strategy, women entrepreneurs need an enabling policy environment. The social enterprise-related programmes need to go beyond the paradigm of income generation (a wage for the employed). Social entrepreneurship programmes must be designed to promote sustainable production (employment providing consumable outputs along with asset creation) and an inclusive organizational structure that recognize the strength of the marginalized sections – and value being engaged in an endeavor that is worthwhile for the individual, the family, society and the nation at large.
(The author is Head of the Department of                 Commerce Govt. P.G.  College Rajouri, J&K)
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