Page 74 - DMGT310_ENTREPRENEURSHIP_AND_SMALL_BUSINESS_MANAGEMENT

Unit 5: Women Entrepreneurship

6. Be determined and professional in the business: It is also very important; it helps in gaining Notes
respect and confidence from employees, customers financiers and other professional
associates.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
9. Women generally do not lack confidence in their own capabilities.
10. Women do not enjoy right over property of any form, they have limited access over
external sources of funds.
11. Women entrepreneurs are taken seriously enough by the labor force.
12. Women entrepreneurs find it difficult to capture the market and make their products
popular.

5.4 Women Empowerment

A nation can only be developed if its women are given ample opportunities. Developing
entrepreneurship among women will be right approach for women empowerment. This would
enhance their socio-economic status. Once a woman feels that she is economically strong, she
will feel equal to man in all respect. This is perhaps the need of the hour.
The term ‘women empowerment’ has come to occupy an important position globally over the
years. Educational attainment and economic participation are the key constituents in ensuring
empowerment of women. The economic empowerment of women is a vital element of strong
economic growth in any country.

Notes Entrepreneurship happens to be one of the best ways towards self-sufficiency and
poverty alleviation for women in a country where employment is not guaranteed.
Involvement of women in entrepreneurial activities would ensure effective utilization of
labour, generation of income and hence improvement in quality of life. Women
empowerment through entrepreneurship is must for a modern developed economy.

Women empowerment is a new phrase in the vocabulary of gender literature. In a general
sense, it refers to empowering women to be self-dependent by providing them access to all the
freedoms and opportunities, which they were denied in the past only because of their being
women. In a specific sense, women empowerment refers to enhancing their position in the
power structure of the society. Empowerment of women has five components: women’s sense of
self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities
and resource; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside
the home; and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social
and economic order, nationally and internationally.

Example: Neelam Dhawan, Managing director of Microsoft India, has carved a special
niche for herself in the IT industry. She looks after the company’s sales and marketing division
of the country in India.
In today’s competitive world, there are various ways by which women get themselves
empowered. The entrepreneurship of women is considered to be an effective instrument to the

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