Page 1 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 01
January 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 274
Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: Synergistic Association
* CHANDERPRABHA
Assistant Professor (Ad-hoc), Maharaja Agrasen P.G. College for Women, Jhajjar
E-Mail: chanderprabhasen@gmail.com
Abstract
Women constitute around half of the total world population, so is in India also. They are,
therefore, regarded as the better half of the society. In ancient times, they were confined to the
four walls of houses performing household activities. In modern times, they have come out of the
four walls to participate in all sorts of activities. The global evidences 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 about the development of women
entrepreneurs also in the country. Traditionally, women in India have been generally found in
low productive sectors such as agriculture and household activities. Gender equality and
economic development go hand in hand. The emergence of women entrepreneurs and their
contribution be national economy is quite visible in India. They now constitute around 10% of
the total number of entrepreneurs with a rapidly increasing trend. The growing recognition that
the women have unique talents which could be harnessed for development, and for creating
employment opportunities for others. Women entrepreneurs in India are handicapped in the
matter of organizing and running businesses on account of their generally low levels of skills and
for want of support system. The transition from homemaker to sophisticated business woman is
not that easy. But the trend is changing. Women across India are showing an interest to be
economically independent. Women are coming forth to the business arena with ideas to start
small and medium enterprises. The modern large scale industry cannot absorb much of labor as
it is capital intensive. The small scale industry plays an important role absorbing around 80% of
the employment. The myth that women cannot engage in productive employment needs to be
dispelled. They can be encouraged to set up small and medium scale industries on their own
initiative. Entrepreneurship development for women is an important factor in economic
Page 2 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 01
January 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 275
development of India. This paper is an attempt to highlight the synergistical association between
women entrepreneurship and economic development of India.
Key – words: women entrepreneurship, self help groups (SHGs), economic development.
Introduction
Women entrepreneurship refers to the act of setting up a new business or sustaining an existing
business so as to reap benefits from new opportunities. An entrepreneur is a person who starts an
enterprise. He/she conceives innovative ideas, changes and responds to it positively or creatively.
Thus, entrepreneurship does not merely pertain to minting money or making profits. Rather,
entrepreneurship is a pursuit to develop something innovative and performing an act which
brings value in the whole social eco-system. A, V. and S, J (2013) in their research paper
concluded that women being the vital gender of the overall population have great capacity and
potential to be the contributor in the overall economic development of any nation. Therefore
programs and policies should be formulated and implemented in such a mode so that these can
boost entrepreneurial zeal among the youth. Media can also play a crucial role in entrepreneurial
development by creating and highlighting all such platforms which can bring out the creativity
and innovation among the women and men to grow entrepreneurial culture in the society. They
recommended that there is a dire need to encourage women entrepreneurial as women workforce
is promptly available to exploit the unexplored dimensions of business and market challenges. It
is very unfortunate that the government sponsored development activities have benefited only a
tiny chunk of women in India. Majority of them are still unaffected by the change and
development activities. They opined that women entrepreneurs in India are required to be
molded with entrepreneurial traits and skills to meet changing trends and challenging global
markets and also be competent enough to sustain and strive in the local economic arena. [1]
Bhardwaj, G.N. et al. (2012) investigated that there is a dire need of bringing attitudinal change
in the mindsets of the person of the society, launching various type of programs be it
entrepreneurial skill development, finance granting, structural skill programs to train, motivate
and assist the women entrepreneurs in achieving their ultimate goals.[2] Mahajan, S. (2013) in
her work recommended that there is a dire need to bring attitudinal change in the mindsets of
people in society rather than being limited to only creation of opportunities for women. Thus,
there is a need to design programmes that will address to attitudinal changes, training, supportive
services. The basic requirement in development of women entrepreneurship is to make aware the
women regarding her identity, existence and contribution towards economic development.
However efforts should be made to develop infrastructure, personality development attempts,
SHGs, business development training programs and access to finance programs. [3] Yadav and
Unni (2016) in their study found that there is a need to be inclusive of diverse voices and
consider constructionist approaches to explore traditional as well as non-traditional questions.
There is a need to use the lens of feminist theories to capture heterogeneity in women
entrepreneurial research and extend existing entrepreneurial theories. There is a need to study
entrepreneurial processes of women founded business models and adopt innovativeness in
Page 3 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 01
January 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 276
research method choices. There is a need to build research as well as practice networks across
transactional borders. [4]
Research Methodology: This paper is conceptual in nature. Descriptive methodology is being
adopted to complete it. Various papers, magazines and internet references have been used. This
paper is secondary information based.
Objectives of the study
1. To have an insight about the women entrepreneurship in India and to know about their
contribution in economic development.
2. To list out the main points, what can be done further to improve the status of the women
entrepreneurs in India?
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA [5]
Entrepreneurship is a less desirable career choice in India, when compared to its peers in
Brazil, China, and South Africa.
According to a survey, only 39.3 percent in India think entrepreneurship as a good career
choice.
Major constraints for entrepreneurship development in India include lack of funds,
government regulation and complex tax structures, entrepreneurship education at primary
and secondary school levels and culture and social norms.
Poor infrastructure and basic services are the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship.
However Indian entrepreneurs have progressed in areas such as IT, media and
entertainment, and health-care and life sciences.
Although, there is significant potential to harness the untapped potential of women’s
entrepreneurship in India.
STATUS OF INDIAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS [5]
