REFLECTION OF INDIAN WOMEN IN ENTREPRENURIAL WORLD: A CASE STUDY OF CHANDIGARH Mahima Suden 1, Garima Singh 2 1,2 Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, DAV College Sector, Chandigarh (India) ABSTRACT Women have been a very crucial part of our society. Over a period of time there has been a revolutionary transformation in their role. Women have grown from being homemakers, educated, leaving home and entering the workplace. And finally, today women are leaving their workplaces in favour of being at home. But unlike before, these women are opting to work in the home not as homemakers but as job-makers i.e. Entrepreneurs. With the spread of education and awareness, women have shifted from kitchen to higher level of professional activities. Initially entrepreneurship has been a male-dominated phenomenon, but with time there has been a change in the situation making women as today's path -breaking entrepreneurs. The primary research has been used to understand the role of Indian women in the entrepreneurial world. The paper endeavours to study the status of women entrepreneurs in Chandigarh. Keywords: Entrepreneur, Job-Makers, Society, Women, Workplace I INTRODUCTION In today s world, educated women do not want to restrict themselves within the boundaries of house. They demand equal respect from their partners as given to them. But there has been a general belief that the role of women is restricted only to homely affairs like cooking and rearing of children. Thus to bring a change and demand equality and respect, Indian women have to go a long way. Women are considered as the weaker sex and always made to depend on the male members in their family and outside, throughout their life. Despite hurdles, India is brimming with the success stories of women. They stand tall from the rest of the crowd and are applauded for their achievements in their respective field. There has been transformation of Indian society, in terms of increased educational status of women and numerous job opportunities. She has stood up with man and competed successfully with him in every walk of life and business is no exception for this. These women leaders are dynamic, innovative and willing to take risks. They have managed to survive and succeed in this cut throat competition with their diligent attitude, dedication and perseverance. 388 P a g e
WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR In general terms an entrepreneur can be termed as a person who starts a business and is willing to take risk in order to make money. Thus, an entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages, and utilizes resources to earn profits. An entrepreneur is an initiator and a risk taker who comes up with new products, techniques, markets, etc. An entrepreneur pays a very crucial role in the growth and development of society. Many economists have even considered entrepreneur as one of the factor of production along with land, labour and capital. Entrepreneurship has been a male dominated area since many past years. But with the growing awareness there has been a tremendous change in this trend. Women have come up in this field and are successfully managing various businesses single handedly. In spite of such changes, a lot still needs to done to bring status of women at par with that of a man. Women s entrepreneurship isn t an alien concept in India. But much of this enterprise has tended to be smallscale, and in areas in which women are expected to have natural expertise, for instance; food-related businesses like baking and catering, clothing-related like tailoring or boutiques, handicrafts, lifestyle sector businesses, and so on. It is time their talents are used in more diversified and traditionally male dominated areas as well. II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Jayan (2013) analysed women entrepreneurship in MSMEs and the relationship between industries related factors and success of entrepreneurs with special reference to Coimbatore city. The study identified that the factors which motivate women to become a successful entrepreneurs are achievement motivation and human relation. WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR S IN INDIA: STATES WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Jammu & Kashmir 5742 Himachal Pradesh 3722 Punjab 29068 Chandigarh 2243 Uttaranchal 8804 Haryana 9620 Delhi 14383 Rajasthan 36371 Uttar Pradesh 72667 Bihar 49443 Sikkim 98 Arunachal Pradesh 150 389 P a g e
Nagaland 179 Manipur 10745 Mizoram 3700 Tripura 863 Meghalaya 3580 Assam 11757 West Bengal 69625 Jharkhand 7865 Orissa 38233 Chhattisgarh 10034 Madhya Pradesh 68823 Gujarat 53703 Daman& Diu, Dadar & Nagar Haveli 213 Maharashtra 100670 Andhra Pradesh 77166 Karnataka 103169 Goa 810 Lakshadweep 67 Kerala 139225 Tamil Nadu 129808 Pondicherry 1065 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 110 TOTAL 1063721 Source: Development Commissioner, MSME III NEED OF STUDY With the growing need and importance of entrepreneurship skills for the development of an economy, it has become essential to study the place of women as an entrepreneur in the entrepreneurial world. In the words of president APJ Abdul Kalam "empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation." Thus, to combine entrepreneurship with women there is a need to provide women a solid base in the economy. IV OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY To study the current scenario of women entrepreneurs in today s world. To analyze various problems being faced by women entrepreneurs. 390 P a g e
To find solutions and answers to the problems faced by women entrepreneurship. To understand the level of awareness among women entrepreneurs regarding various govt. policies and programmes for them. To analyze the key areas where women entrepreneurs find themselves comfortable. To explore reasons why women start their own business. To provide entrepreneurs with awareness about various EDP S. V RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The use of methodology is Primary data which includes Questionnaire. Along with the Primary data, information has been taken from internet via journal and websites. The data has been presented with the use of bar diagrams and pie charts. Results and recommendations have been reached upon which are discussed further in this research paper. 5.1 Analysis and Interpretation The results are affected by a number of variables like area of operation, size of firm, motivational factors, major hindrances faced by women entrepreneurs, etc. And all of these variables are being discussed below. A sample size of 100 women entrepreneurs within the tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali) has been taken. 30 20 10 0 24 Apparels & jewellery 20 Food products FIG.1 AREA OF OPERATION AS ENTREPRENEUR 28 25 Beauty saloons 2 Computer & I.T. Related services Coaching Centres 1 Factories & mills FIG.1 AREA OF OPERATION AS ENTREPRENEUR FIG.2 SIZE OF FIRM 100 50 0 52 34 14 Micro Small Medium FIG.2 Size of firm 391 P a g e
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FIG.7 MAJOR AREAS WHERE OBSTACLES FACED 29 9 12 8 10 32 Financial Marketing Managerial Technological Networking Family issues 393 P a g e
VI FINDINGS KERALA tops the list of maximum number of women entrepreneurs in INDIA (139225), followed by TAMIL NADU (129808), KARNATAKA (103169), MAHARASHTRA (100670) as per survey conducted by development commissioner, MSME. Most of the women entrepreneurs in the tricity i.e. 28 operate in coaching centres, closely followed by beauty salon(25), apparels & jewellery(24), food products(20), computer & IT services(2), factories & mills(1). (fig. 1) It has been found that the size of the firm s operated by women entrepreneurs are micro (52). 34 and 14 women entrepreneurs have small and medium size of firm respectively.(fig. 2) 394 P a g e
More than 50% i.e. 52 respondents have being working somewhere else before starting their own business. (fig. 3) Economic independence has been a major reason for which women have become entrepreneurs, nearly 30. Other reasons being flexible hours (22), supplement family income (17), creative interest (15), family occupation (10), utilize free time (6).(fig. 4) Profit earning is the main motivator which has motivated maximum women to become entrepreneurs (27), followed by becoming independent (24), dis-satisfaction from earlier job (16), confidence in product offered (13), social status (12), self achievement(8). (fig. 5) It has also been found that financial needs of maximum women entrepreneurs have been met through banks (52), family members (22), relatives (15) and other financial institutions (11). (fig. 6) 32 respondents are facing problems in the area of marketing, followed by networking (29), technological (12), managerial (10), family issues (9), financial (8). (fig. 7) Majority entrepreneurs i.e. 98% are interested in attending various entrepreneur development programmes (EDPs). (fig. 8) 68 respondents are aware about the various govt. policies and schemes started for the women entrepreneurs. (fig. 9) Out of 68 respondents who are aware about govt. schemes, 41 have been benefitted from these policies. (fig. 10) VII CONCLUSION From the study it can be concluded that women entrepreneur s contribution towards economic growth and development is on the higher trajectory. There has been a change in role of women from not only being a home maker but a nation builder as well. Though there are many hindrances and challenges in the path of becoming a successful entrepreneur, but various schemes and initiatives started by the government are helping them a lot. WOMEN LED DEVELOPMENT, is the new slogan of the millennium REFERENCES [1].Kumar, N.B., Gugloth, S. (2012). Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the 21 st Century. ZENITH International Journal of Business Economics and Management Research, 2 (5), 23-38. [2].Dr.Vijayakumar, A., Jayachitra, S. (2013). Women Entrepreneurs in India- Emerging Issues and Challenges. International Journal of Development Research, 3 (4), 12-17. [3].Arakeri, Shanta, V. (2014). Women Entrepreneurship in India. ABHINAV National Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in Arts & Education, 1 (3), 1-7. [4].Dangi, Neha., Ritika. (2014). Women Entrepreneurship and Growth and Performance of MSMEs in India. International Journal of Advance Research in Computer science and Management Studies, 2 (4), 174-182. [5].Mahajan, Shikha. (2013). Women Entrepreneurship in India. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3 (10), 1143-1148. 395 P a g e
[6].Dr. Singh, Amandeep., Raina, Manisha. (2013). Women Entrepreneurs in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research, 2 (8), 4-8. [7].Women Empowerment. (2016, September). YOJANA. [8]. https://thegedi.org/2015-female-entrepreneurship-index-press-release/ [9].http://governancetoday.co.in/women-entrepreneurs-a-dire-need-for-indias- development/ [10].http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/ssiindia/census/ch11.html ANNEXURE Women Entrepreneurship - Questionnaire for Existing Entrepreneurs NAME: ADDRESS: CONTACT NO.: AGE: MARITAL STATUS: 1. What is your area of operations as an entrepreneur? Apparels & Jewellery Coaching Centres Factories and Mill Beauty Saloons Computer and I.T. related services Retail business Food products 2. What is the size of your firm? Micro (1-9 employees) Medium (50 249) Small (10 49) Large( 250+) 3. Is this business your first job? YES NO 4. If no, where have you worked earlier? 5. Why did you wanted to become an entrepreneur? To be economically independent Family occupation To utilize free time To supplement family income 396 P a g e
To satisfy creative interest Non availability of job Others Self satisfaction Flexible hours 6. What made you start your own business? Profit/ money making Self-achievement Did not want to work for others Confidence in Product/ Services offered To become independent Dis -satisfaction from job Social status Others, please specify 7. From where did you meet your financial needs? Family members Banks Relatives Other financial institutions 8. What major obstacles are being faced by you? Financial Networking Marketing Family issues Managerial Gender discrimination Technological 9. Are you willing to attend an entrepreneurial development programme (EDP)? YES NO 10. Are you aware about the various govt. policies and programmes related with women entrepreneurs? YES NO 11. If yes, are you being benefitted from these policies? YES NO THANKS 397 P a g e