Page 70 - DMGT310_ENTREPRENEURSHIP_AND_SMALL_BUSINESS_MANAGEMENT

Unit 5: Women Entrepreneurship

2. India has more …………... women than any other country in the world. Notes
3. Efforts have been made by various governmental and non-governmental …………….. all
over the world to promote women entrepreneurs.

4. Women contribute to development not only through remunerated work but also through
a great deal of …………………… work.

5.2 Working Environment

Women entrepreneurs operate through different environment as compared to the traditional
business environment. The overall essence of women entrepreneurship can be visualized as
operating to be in three different environments or spheres such as:

Micro Sphere

In many countries women experience an unequal power relationship with men which are often
reflected in persistent inter-family inequalities in the distribution of tasks. Male possessiveness
and dominance also weakens women’s extra household bargaining power. This amounts to
deprivation of influence at all the levels of operations. Gender relations also determine the
ascription to men and women of different abilities, attitudes, desires and so on. These factors are
seen to be important in women entrepreneurship development.
Organizations tend to militate against women and their economic empowerment as most are
based on patrilineal and paralegal relationships where women rarely have access to property
succession rights from fathers or husbands; where a woman is obliged to live close to the
husband’s family, even after the husband’s demise. In the household, women are expected to
carry out the domestic work, childcare and other tasks and their economic opportunities are
restricted.
The requirement that women have to stay close by to domestic activities inevitably limits their
potential to operate in business, which involves traveling, even over short distances, to procure
supplies and meet customers. This is another strong reason for disempowerment of women
entrepreneurship.

Meso Sphere

There are a large number of organizations, both government and non-government, involved in
providing support services to entrepreneurs. However, for a variety of reasons, many of these
organizations tend to act as barriers when it comes to providing assistance to women
entrepreneurs. In some cases this can be attributed to a lack of awareness about women’s concerns
and insensitivity towards gender issues.

It is at the Meso level that it is found that the lack of support for women entrepreneurs by any of
these organizations which implement policies and operationalize programs contribute greatly
to their continued disempowerment.

Macro Sphere

The Macro environment within which women entrepreneurs develop and grow comprises
many interconnecting structures and dynamics, including laws and regulations, economy,
international trade: including market liberalization and globalization, availability of finance
and credit, labor market, human capital resources, technology, physical infrastructure and natural
resources.

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