Women Entrepreneurship in India –

Changes and Challenges

(A Conference presentation)

Ms Vembly Colaco Dr. V. B. Hans

Assistant Professor of Associate Professor of
Economics Economics
Rosary College of St Aloysius College institutions
Commerce and Arts Mangalore – 575 003
Goa, INDIA Karnataka State, INDIA
megnacolaco@gmail.com vhans2011@gmail.com
 Introduction
• “Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, scientist, famous actress, member of the royal
family or mother to children in your own family, all women will leave a legacy, and it is
up to each one of us to decide what it is”. – Anne Donovan
• A major component of economic growth over the past decade has been the rising role
of women.
• Women empowerment take many forms increased female labor force participation,
reduced discrimination and wage differentials that encourage greater effort, and
improved advancement practices that promote talented women into leadership and
managerial roles.
• According to the 2012 World Development Report, empowering half of the potential
workforce has significant economic benefits beyond promoting just gender equality
(World Bank 2012).
• In India, it has been observed that reservations for women in the political arena such as
panchayats—rural local self-government—have gone a long way in demanding political
participation for women. However, with respect to Economic Participation, gender
disparities remain deeply deep-rooted.
• India ranked 123rd out of 135 countries on economic participation and opportunity,
according to the 2012 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap
•
Figure 1 represents data from the Global Gender Gap Report (Haussmann, Tyson, & Zahidi 2011). It can be
observed that India scores average on the gender gap index overall (horizontal despite rapid economic growth,
gender disparities in women’s economic participation have remained deep and persistent in India.
 Cont’d
• The theme of the global Entrepreneurship Summit –‘Women First, Prosperity for
All’ highlighted that if women do better, countries do better
• It is observed that 48% of the country’s population comprises of women, and it is
impossible to think about economic growth without women as a fundamental
driver.
• This paper therefore, emphasizes the role and challenges of women
entrepreneurs, particularly in India.
• Recognition, reputation, resource regeneration are some of the advantages of
women entrepreneurship besides monetary gains and financial inclusion. However
any drastic changes in a cultural diverse environ like India is never easy. Perception
of weakness, exploitation by middlemen etc. put barriers on the mobility and risk-
taking ability of entrepreneurs in general and women in particular
 Objectives & Methodology

The objectives of the present study are -

• to analyze new dimensions of entrepreneurship empirically;
• to examine prospects and challenges for strategic entrepreneurship in India

Research Methodology
In order to examine the objectives, secondary data was collected from various
reputed publications. The data was gathered from Female Entrepreneurship Index
2015, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2017-18, Ministry of Statistics and
Programme implementation, Government of India
The data is analyzed in the form of graphs, tables. The data is also analyzed by
employing statistical tools such as t-test of mean, and regression analysis
 Importance of the Study

• The nexus between successful entrepreneurship and sustainable

development of women is at the center of this essay. By
undertaking this research we can explore the challenges
• Entrepreneurship development helps educated and uneducated,
urban and rural women in acquiring skills for both wage and self-
employment; expertise and knowledge-building exercises for
themselves and for other women by inspiration and motivation.
Entrepreneurship, in short ensures inclusive growth through
wealth-creation and employment generation and human
development.
• Progressive steps, with sincere efforts and focused attention by
women will help them cross from just feminine entrepreneurs to
successful entrepreneurs. We admit that “women hold up half the
world”; they are able to deal with the details of business but many
things around them crush their ambitions, derail their dreams and
prevents their true-value competition and contributions
• It is important to benchmark female participation in firm ownership,
management.
• The following figure provides insights about women's entrepreneurship
and economic participation in the labor force.
• The five indicators measure women's participation in businesses in 139
countries.
• The results are based on surveys of more than 1,35,000 firms.
• For the purpose of analysis, the graph examines female participation in
firm ownership at the international regional level, i.e. south Asia.
• It provides insights of female participation in firms ownership in terms of
five indicators 1) Percentage of firms with female participation.
• 2) Percentage of firms with majority female ownership,
• 3) percentage of firms with female top managers
• 4) Proportion of permanent full time production workers that are female
• 5) Proportion of permanent full time non- production workers that are
female.
 50

45

40
percentage of firms with female paticipation
35

30 percentage of firms with majority female

ownership

25

percentage of firms with female top managers

20

15
proportion of permanent full time production
worker that are female
10

proportion of permanent full timenon production

5 worker that are female

Source : http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/Data/ExploreTopics/gender
 10
20
30
40
50
70
80
90

60

0
A&N Isalnd
Arunchal Pradesh
assam
andhra Pradesh
Bihar
Chandigarh
Dadra& Nagar haveli
Daman n diu
delhi
Goa
Gujrat
Haryna
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhan
karnatak
kerela
laksahdweep
Madhya Pradesh

Source: 6th Economic Census (2013-14), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
Mharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
nangland
odihsa
Pondicherry
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Telegna
Growth of proprietary establishment by females in India

Tripura
Utttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
west bengal
rural %
Urban %
 Results
In order to understand the mean difference in women entrepreneurial
activity a t-test was conducted to examine the difference. The following
are the results:
Null hypothesis: there is no significant difference in the means of rural and
urban proprietary establishment.
Alternative: There is a significant difference between the means of rural
and urban proprietary establishment.

rural urban
Mean 26.85 26.64
variance 348.85 306.78
T-stat 0.046884
T-critical two 1.996564
tail
 Cont’d
• It is observed that the mean value of rural propriety establishment is
26.85 and urban is 26.64. The t stats value =0.0468 and t-critical
value two tail is 1.99.
• So, we accept the null hypothesis i.e. there is no significant
difference in proprietary ownership by female in rural and urban
setup of India.
 Nature of establishment by women entrepreneurs

Nature of Operation Prennial Nature of Operation Seasonal Nature of Operation Casual

1200000

1000000

800000

600000

400000

200000

Fig 4: Nature of operation of establishments

Source:6th Economic Census (2013-14), Ministry of Statistics &Programme Implementation
 Perception of societal values regarding
entrepreneurship
• The entrepreneurial potential was largely measured by the Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study, by taking into account the self-perception
about entrepreneurship. It encompassed perceived opportunity to initiate a
business, perceived capabilities to start a business, fear of failure and
entrepreneurial intention.
• The GEM identifies those who perceive good opportunities for venturing into a
business, as well as those who consider they have the necessary skills, as
prospective entrepreneurs in the society. Opportunities occupy a significant role in
shaping whether an individual will even regard as starting a business or not.
• Potential entrepreneurs visualize superior opportunities for starting a business and
consider they have the basic skills, knowledge and experience to start a business.
However, perceiving a good opportunity and having the skills to follow it will not
necessarily guide to the objective of starting a business. Individuals will review the
opportunity costs, risks and rewards of starting a business vs. other employment
preferences and options, if available.
• The GEM defines entrepreneurial intention as the percentage of the 18–64 –year
old population (individuals already engaged in any stage of entrepreneurial activity
excluded) who are latent entrepreneurs and intend to start a business within the
next 3 yea
Figure showing perception of societal values
regarding entrepreneurship
male female

44.7 44.8 41.5

55.3 55.2 58.5

Entreprenurship as a good carreer choice high status of succesufl entreprenurs media attention to entreprenurship
Gender and self-perception about entrepreneurship in India

• As per GEM Survey 2016, it is reported that in contrast to females,

the males have higher levels of perceived opportunities,
capabilities, fear of failure and entrepreneurial intention.

Self perception about entreprenurship in India

70

60

50

40

30 male

20 female

10

0
perceived opportunity percived capabilty fear of failure entreprnrial intention
 Cont’d
16 TEA in India - Gender wise camparison

14

12

10

0
male female
Cont’d +
 Conclusion
Women entrepreneurship is central for economic
growth. India being a country of diverse culture
marked by various obligations, traditions and
responsibilities, India views women role as confined to
domestic work of the household. But with recent
development, India has developed, and therefore
although the stand of women entrepreneurship is less,
but if India, attains liberalization of thought breaking
cultural barriers, at the same time conserving the
essence of it, can go a long way.
Being an emerging supermarket, India if recognizes
women as an emerging human resource and cross the
barrier on the path of development.
 References

• Amlathe, Satish Kumar; & Mehrotra, Rajesh (2017).Opportunities & Challenges of Women
Entrepreneurship:An overview. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 19(3), 99-104. Available
at http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol19-issue3/Version-4/L19030499104.pdf

• B. Kavitha & Hans, V. Basil (2018). Women Entrepreneurs in Modern Era – Opportunities, Trends
and Challenges. Paper for Besant College, Mangalore Conference.

• Donnovan, Annie (2018, June 27). Women, Be Your Own Boss. Available at
https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/women-be-your-own-boss/

• Fernandes, Divya J; Crasta, J. Shawna; and Hans, V. Basil (n.d.). Innovations in Human Resource
Management – Lessons to Lean. Working Paper.

• Gatrell, Caroline & Swan, Elaine (2008).Gender in Management: Social and Cultural Perspectives. In
Caroline Gatrell & Elaine Swan (Ed.), Gender and Diversity in Management: A Concise Introduction,
SAGE books.

• Hans, V. Basil (2017). Redefining Entrepreneurship: Impact on Gender Differences. Working Paper.
 Cont’d
• http://gemindiaconsortium.org/reports/GEM_INDIA_REPO
RT_2016_17.pdf
• http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/reports_and_publica
tion/statistical_publication/social_statistics/WM16Chapter
4.pdf
• https://thegedi.org/wp-
content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2017/11/GEI-2018-1.pdf
• http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/Data/ExploreTopics/gen
der
• http://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/reports_and_p
ublication/statistical_publication/social_statistics/Chapter_
4.pdf