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Role of Women in Socio-Economic growth of the country through

Entrepreneurial Education

Roopal Shrivastava1 ,Ila Dixit2

1, 2 Assistant Professor, Kruti Institute of Technology & Engineering, Engineering Raipur (c.g.)

‘You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.’ – Jawaharlal Nehru

I. INTRODUCTION

India has experienced swift growth and advance in the recent decades in wide areas. Gender equity is

not one of them. The Indian development model has yet to incorporate role played by women for

propelling the socio-economic growth of the country. Current government at state and central level must

understand that no nation can progress unless its women are given equal access to opportunities and

adequate safety and security. The World Development Report, 2012 represents that women owned

businesses show great potential source of future for economic growth and job creation women in rural

areas continue to face exploitation. If women are allowed to gain access to education, they can make a

huge impact in enhancing the productivity of the economy. The purpose of this research is to facilitate a

discussion on how best to empower women using entrepreneurship. This will in turn help in the

marketing of entrepreneurship as a tool for the female empowerment and emancipation Women

entrepreneurship is both about women’s position in the society and about the role of entrepreneurship in

the same society.

II. CONCEPT OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS:

Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate, organize and

operate a business enterprise. The government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an

enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent of the

capital and giving at least 51 per cent of employment generated in the enterprise to women. Women

entrepreneurship is associated with concepts such as women empowerment and emancipation.

Women are generally perceived as home makers with little to do with economy. In Modern India, more

and more women are taking up entrepreneurial activity in medium and small scale enterprises. Even

women are receiving education; they face the prospect of unemployment. In this background, self

employment is regarded as a cure to generate income .The Planning commission as well as the Indian

government recognizes the need for women to be part of the mainstream of economic development.

Traditionally, women in India have been generally found in low productive sectors such as agriculture

and household activities. Human Development Report 2004 ranks India 103 in Gender related

Development Index (GDI). As per 2001 census; women constitute nearly half of India’s population. Out

of this total, 72% were engaged in agriculture, 21.7% in other non agricultural pursuits with only 6.3%

in household industries.

Entrepreneurship education enables policymakers to formulate, monitor and evaluate national policies to

inspire and enable individuals to start and to grow entrepreneurial ventures. Women such as Ella Bhatt

who founded SEWA are empowering women to gain freedom from poverty and unemployment. Women

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entrepreneurs are also benefiting from some of the well-implemented governmental programs at central

and state level. They contribute significantly to the growth the development of India in multifaceted

ways. Stalwart women leaders such as Vijalakshmi Pandit and Sarojini Naidu played a key role in the

Indian freedom movement.

III. LITERATURE REVIEW According to a study the industrial performance of Asia-Pacific region propelled by Foreign Direct

Investment (FDI), technological innovations and manufactured exports has brought a wide range of

economic and social opportunities to women entrepreneurs.

Tamil Nadu points out financing the enterprise as a major problem faced by the women entrepreneurs

(Mangai et al., 1992). They face this problem at the time of starting, as well as during the operations of

their business enterprises, problem of getting loan and subsidy, insistence of collateral security and

margin money requirement, time taken to process loan, tight repayment schedule, poor financial

management and maintenance of accounts Jayammal, 2012).According to a report by the United Nations

Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), ‘despite evidence that women’s loan repayment rates

are higher than men’s, women still face more difficulties in obtaining credit’, often due to discriminatory

attitudes of banks and informal lending groups (UNIDO, 1995) . The microenterprise and micro-finance

widely accepted development strategy for poverty reduction. This responsibility has been equally taken

up by government, commercial banks and civil society. The role of SHGs in providing micro-finance

has been enormous in last one decade. Self help groups with micro finance are effective in reducing

poverty, empowerment women and creating self sufficiency in rural development. As per the Annual

Report of SHGs, an increasing number of micro-finance institutions prefer women members as they are

better and more reliable borrowers. Considering the importance of the MSME sector and the need for

rural development, the role of micro-finance through SHGs has been given due importance especially to

women entrepreneurs, who are bringing economical and social changes in their livelihood.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu are such examples where women entrepreneurship and micro-enterprises have

grown due to extensive support of SHGs. They have provided micro-finances, capacity building

programmes by training women, and have nurtured them with their financial support. Today, the reserve

bank of India (RBI) also understands the role and importance of SHGs in financing, and has extended

medium sized loans to women entrepreneurs in support with NABARD. The beauty of women

entrepreneurs is the motivation for other women to come up and participate with equal opportunities and

maintain their enterprise.

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Source: Micro, small and medium industries report from the ministry under the Government of India, 2012–13.

Policies and Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs in India the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

development organizations, various State Small Industries Development Corporations, the Nationalized

banks and even NGOs are conducting various programmes including Entrepreneurship Development

Programmes (EDPs) to cater to the needs of potential women entrepreneurs, who may not have adequate

educational background and skills. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has also been

implementing special schemes for women entrepreneurs.The government has also made several

relaxations for women to facilitate the participation of women beneficiaries in this scheme. Similarly,

under the MSE Cluster Development Programme by Ministry of MSME, the contribution from the

Ministry of MSME varies between 30-80% of the total project in case of hard intervention, but in the

case of clusters owned and managed by women entrepreneurs, contribution of the M/o MSME could be

up to 90% of the project cost. Similarly, under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small

Enterprises, the guarantee cover is generally available upto 75% of the loans extended; however the

extent of guarantee cover is 80% for MSEs operated and/ or owned by women. Some of the special

schemes for women entrepreneurs implemented by the government bodies and allied institutions are

provided below. At present, the Government of India has more than 27 schemes for women operated by

different departments and ministries. Some of these are:

Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)

Khadi And Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM)

Prime Minister„s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY)

Entrepreneurial Development programme (EDPs)

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Management Development progammes

Women„s Development Corporations (WDCs)

Marketing of Non-Farm Products of Rural Women (MAHIMA)

Assistance to Rural Women in Non-Farm Development (ARWIND) schemes

Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD)

Working Women„s Forum

Indira Mahila Yojana

Indira Mahila Kendra

Mahila Samiti Yojana

Mahila Vikas Nidhi

Micro Credit Scheme

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh

SIDBIs

Mahila Udyam Nidhi

Mahila Vikas Nidhi SBI„s Stree Shakti Scheme NGO„s

Credit Schemes Micro & Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programmes (MSE-CDP)

National Banks for Agriculture and Rural Development

Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP)

IV. ROLE OF RURAL WOMENENTREPNEURS

Rural entrepreneurs such as Jashwantiben Popat who pioneered Lijjat papad are proof of the strong

capabilities of Indian women to mould positive social change in India. From 7 women working in one

building to over 43,000 lady workers, Lijjat papad is a corporate initiative that is fuelling the

economy. Empowered Indian women can also pioneer self help groups and initiatives for creating social

change in rural or underdeveloped areas. Economic empowerment is the capacity of women and men to

participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth processes in ways which recognize the value of

their contributions, respect their dignity and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the

benefits of growth (Eyben et al., 2008). Economic empowerment increases women’s access to economic

resources and opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets,

skills development and market information.

V. CONCLUSION Indian women plays an important role in initiating socio-economic progress of the country.. Women in

urban and rural areas should be given access to good opportunities so as to bring positive social change

and contribute to the growth of the country as they play a crucial role in initiating the advancement and

growth of society, in nations across the world. Women entrepreneurs face many obstacles, specifically

in marketing their product (including family responsibilities), that have to be overcome in order to give

them access to the same opportunities as men. Rural women can do wonders by their effectual and

competent involvement in entrepreneurial activities. rural women have the basic indigenous knowledge,

skill, potential and resources to establish and manage enterprise. the need is for knowledge regarding

accessibility to loans, various funding agencies, procedures regarding certification, awareness on

government welfare programmes, motivation, technical skill and support from family government and

other organisation, formation and strengthening of rural women entrepreneur’s network must be

encouraged. This article highlights the importance and need of the rural women entrepreneurs to be

included in the government’s registered sector which would pave the way for economic development of

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the country. Thus, it can be asserted that women entrepreneurs can perform better, both in urban and

rural areas, given that the government provides them financial support by including them under the

registered sector.

REFERENCES

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