6 Women Entrepreneurship

Shikha Nehru Sharma

Women Entrepreneurship- Some Observations Some Questions

Entrepreneurship is connected directly and indirectly to many factors related to the women‟s position and rol explore the myriad influences impacting women in enterprises .This paper shall traverse the path beginning from early influences to the market conditions . It shall also attempt to look at the internal psyche and environment of women and at the external environment of business.

Early influences

When a women is born as a baby girl in a family , is she welcomed or is taken as a burden ? In her early impressionable years beginning from the age of 4 or 5 years , is she treated at par with other male siblings and brothers or is she made to feel different ? What is the family structure ? Is she part of a joint family or is she born in a nuclear family ? At some levels all these factors play a role . Girls born into very traditional families with a rigid outlook and in joint structure are likely to be assigned the usual conventional roles and be expected to adhere to the prevailing rules diligently , or face rejection . The rejection can be subtle with an element of emotional pressure questioning the basic relationship , like telling her that she is not orait could“ be tangiblegoodlike daughter”aninstruction

“good Girls should be seen.Theandother extremenotcouldheardbe “ over pampering , mollycoddling, indulgence and a lack of training on being responsible . The family being over protective could install self doubt and a severe lack of confidence in the girl . Both lead to a deficiency of personality in the girl child .If the Girl child is not entrusted with any task which requires a sense of self- esteem and participation in the family affairs and is treated as “ Paraya Dhan “ she is likely to find herself as a beautiful wallflower in her parental home . Young girls absorb subtle messages , which may be unintentional , but very powerful , for example – Girls only have to work if the family is poor and work is like a punishment and sacrifice for a girl . Similarly when working women are frowned upon , the subtle conditioning towards work begins at an early age .

What are the kind of toys given to the girl ? Are they always gender based toys , or is she allowed to play with all toys irrespective of the gender conditioning .At an early age as part of subtle messaging and conditioning,

is the girl taughtggestachievementthatis landingher a life‟suitable bi successful husband ? Is her value linked more to her spouse rather than her personal ability ?

Most Importantly , Is the Girl ever allowed to have her own dream ?

All human beings have dreams . A dream serves as a purpose in life which keeps the human being engaged passionately in the business of living . A dream allows people to face and overcome personal turmoils . A dream is the “ raisonkeepsd‟êtrehumansgoing “throughthatlife.This is not something which can be dictated by anyone except the person concerned .

When the liberty to “ have a personalirlchild, drea she begins to live a life of emptiness and devoid of any real happiness , even though she may have the mundane pleasures of life .

The question arises as to why girls are discouraged from dreaming. A girl child is not allowed to dream because dreams are dangerous and highly inconvenient for the family in particular and society in general . A male child is actively encouraged to dream and go out in the world and find his place in the Sun, but girl child is told that her role( engraved in stone ) is of a dutiful wife , sacrificing mother and an obedient daughter . If she steps out of this “ lakshman rekha “ she is doome reputation to the family .

In some families of trained professionals like Engineers , Doctors , Chartered Accountants , Lawyers and like , the daughter may be allowed to choose the family profession , but only with the unwritten code , that she should not excel in it to the point where getting a suitable groom becomes difficult. In effect, she must be carful not to appear too intelligent ordumbsmart‟down,so thatandshe maymustfinda groom„ easily .

Subconsciously it is deeply etched in society and the minds of women that they must must be good followers and never leaders .

What does Entrepreneurship Demand ?

When the question of women‟s entreprene factors come into play. These are personal, social and economic. Coming down to the basics, the following points/qualities make for success in the field.

An enterprising attitude ?

A desire to show the path to the team and find solutions ?

Ability and trust in oneself to take decisions ?

A confidence in oneself to rise after every failure ?

The ability to explore and consider the journey of entrepreneurship with the passion of an adventurer ?

The courage of self -belief and self- dignity to plod on even when everyone around believesone“ “it can’t be

An ability to accept applause and believe it was her ability and not a favour / gift from the family or society ?

The faith in one‟s capability to handle power and money ?

Important questions that we as a society /parents/teachers need to ask ourselves are

Do we measure the worth of the drive and passion to work in terms of a higher value of contribution or do we boil it down to financial outcome only? Do we instill the right values and belief system in our Girls , so that some of them may choose entrepreneurship as a way of life ?

The influence of the Mother

The position of the Mother in the family is one of the critical influencers of the girl child . There are families where the mother has a minor or passive role in the family affairs . Most of the decisions are taken by the men and the mother is a quiet and in some ways helpless observer whose opinions and views are considered irrelevant. In some of the families, the mother‟s role is limited to bringing the child into the world and then feeding and nurturing the baby . Her rights on the child are limited and she has little role in the important decisions regarding the child like, choosing the name of the child , or which school the child is admitted into or in what direction are the skills and talents of the child to move, or what the career of the child should be and later, when the child has grown up, who the marriage partner will be. The women in many cases is confined to the affairs of the kitchen and minor family politics .

More than the education of the mother , it is her personal belief system , which are absorbed and manifested by the child , and in particular the girl child . If the mother believes that the daughter is talented , capable and an asset to the family , her belief in her child will translate into reality. If, on the other hand she believes her daughter is a liability and a responsibility , then that particular subconscious message shall be embedded in her daughter and in challenging times she will crack under pressure because her core is weak .

If the daughter watches her mother mostly as a shadow in the house with no real rights , opinions or respect within the family , the daughter shall believe itealitytoof womenfolkbe„The”.This perception shall guide her decision making skills throughout her life as this becomes “ Evidence indicates that strong capable mother are more likely to have capable daughters.

The family as a moral and emotional anchor help greatly in the development of entrepreneurship in women and the support can be of the spouse or the mother . In most cases an unmarried daughter requires the mother as a support to facilitate the process of entrepreneurship. In cases of married women , it is again the mother who provides the support to her daughter to take care of the children , so that the women can work at her business .

Educational Background and Influence

Education can be of different types , one is the basic education which helps women to read and write and understand basic maths . There are enough examples in society to show that formal education is not mandatory for women to venture into entrepreneurship. However, education begins to play a vital role if women need outside or bank funding or she needs to develop her business .

For entrepreneurship the basic ingredient remains the aptitude and willingness to venture into a business .

While reading and writing skills play an important role in making a women confident enough to start and run her business and also deal with monetary and small legal paperwork connected to her business ,its absence is not a real deterrent , because many women start their businesses despite not being literate and along the way they enlist the support of someone in the family to help out with the details requiring literacy . However beyond a level , highly qualified women may not venture into business as they already may be able to earn their financial freedom from an appropriate employment and hence the rough and tumble of the business enterprise may lose its charm .

Influence of the media and newspapers

On the tangible levels, the media influences fashion and the perceptions of the people , but the media also has an intangible and deep rooted impact on the psyche of women . When the stories and images in the media , magazines and the popular press depict women in a poor light or a regressive image , they have a subtle impact on the millions of impressionable minds . When the stories which are told are about women as helpless victims rather than women as capable participants in society , then a lot of women follow the narrative . A culture which has stories of women from different fields making a mark in their areas of interest , it sparks interest and dreams in the minds of the Young women .

If in the popular media, powerful women are depicted as conniving and greedy , and good women as victims, then most young women being sensitive to relationships would choose take the role of the sufferer and victim , rather than be branded as ambitious and heartless .

If 5 samples are collected from Television , cinema , magazines and radio ,

it will be hard to find manyoraboutstoriesthe of contribution of women in nation building .

How are the women projected in media? As objects of attraction or as thinking cerebral beings ? Objectification of women in the media , be it print or television , radio or the cinemas is an age old problem .Very rarely are the success stories of the working women shared as an achievement . While the stories of male achievement are described in glowing terms , for the women it is always with a tag of sacrifice and neediness and some dire financial need .

Many of the official nomenclature is still regressive in nature and it is not uncommon to find the top titles still carry a masculine tone even if the presiding officer is a lady ( Chairman being a case in point )

External culture and Society , Nature of Industry

When a woman steps out of the house to work and set up her own business , very frequently she has to struggle to be taken seriously . aociety does not consider a woman in business as a serious player. In many cases the business network expects a woman to at least have a male family member to depend upon as the faith in a woman‟sability to manage a business is not great in society . A women supporting a husband in business is far more palatable to society than a women working on her own steam.

Having said that , however, in some businesses women have found it easier to establish and thrive than in other sectors . For example, in the services business, women are found in larger numbers and doing quite well. Services not only employ a lot of women , but they also create more entrepreneurs . Media and Press also attract and retain talent besides creating many lady Entrepreneurs . Similarly fashion and healthcare by nature are Industries which attract a lot of women.

Role Models

The role models in our society also are an influence on the budding woman entrepreneur . The role model can be from the popular local tales , or be from the outside society of women leaders , business women and local panchayat leaders . When the local panchayat is mandated to elect a women Sarpanch , over a period of time the daughters and the young women who grow up observing them exercising authority and making decisions that will impact many people, eventually have a different perception about their role and position in society .

Since time immemorial the first influencers are the Mothers , but a very close second in terns of the impact and influence are the school teachers , and mentors .

It is a critical role all institutions play in the development of a women entrepreneur . All entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs in particular need a “sparknigniting“ oforthe minda. This can come from observing a local woman influencer , a school teacher or even a story shared by the school teacher about an outstanding woman . At a young age, the minds do not have rigid boundaries about what can be done and what are their limitations , hence it is far easier to influence young women rather than try to change the perceptions later . In general, many women entrepreneurs also draw inspiration from outside role models , even if the conditions at home are restrictive or regressive .Though living inspirations are more likely to create an impact , but even a story or narrative may spark interest as the minds are still flexible and impressionable and have not become cynical .

Support System

The support systems for an entrepreneur can be on many fronts – inspirational support , sustained motivational support , financial support , legal support , travel and modes of travel support , infrastructure support .

Inspirational Support comes from some role model who sparks an interest or who inspires.

Sustained motivational support usually comes from some one who is within the sphere of influence such as Uncles / Aunts / Teachers or even beneficiaries .To give a simple example, if a women is good at making juices or pickles , or taking coaching classes for younger students or maybe as a beautician , her beneficiaries may prod her to consider being a business women and convert her talent to financial gains . Such early validation of her services lead to the women gaining confidence and a positive environment for her services .

Most entrepreneurs find little difficulty to convert their personal talent and passion to setting up a small store / enterprise. The real challenges start emerging usually concerning her time management , because as she begins to increasingly devote her time to her work , many people may resent her activities and favour a more acceptable option of quickly getting her married before she became financially too strong and is able to dictate her decisions . In families considerable friction is around marriage and work .

In case she is already married this resistance may emerge from her in-laws or even the husband . Usually successful women entrepreneurs have to get the support of their husbands before taking financial decisions . The ability to take decisions independently is a freedom not given to women easily as it is perceived as a threat to her role . Submissive women are considered an asset to the in-laws as they get another person in the home to order around. More significantly, challenging the status Quo in any society is a huge task by itself . Whatever has been seen before is the norm and the norm should never be challenged . So a woman moving from her submissive , domestic labour role to an independent role is a threat to the status Quo .

Financial Support is something all business people require and it is true for the woman entrepreneur too. Women in general manage to create a small financial nest before starting their businesses , but the harder part is raising funds for the expansion of the business .Interestingly , when women borrow funds , they are less likely to abscond or create bad debts and therefore, paradoxically,lending to women is perceived to be a lot safer . In many cases women lack the knowledge of how to access funds , and in many cases hesitate to reach out to Government funds .

Most women are not aware of the schemes available , and even if they are aware it is a cumbersome process with layers of bureaucracy, paperwork and corruption .

Women also usually are not in a position to mortgage property against a loan , because of a lack of property ownership and even in that they do not get the freedom as much as their male counterparts do .

Travel is a huge problem for women , even when the woman is not an entrepreneur. The ability of a women to travel and conveyance facility is limited . It also comes with a host of social problems like safety and security issues . Therefore it is not a small surprise that many women entrepreneurs naturally tend to start businesses from home which solves the problem of travel and infrastructure .

The Outliers

Even though there are many parameters influencing women‟s entrepreneurship , at the end of the day there exist considerable outliers also . These are cases who without any support systems , education or exposure are able to create and build businesses . These are women who confound most researchers as they do not follow the pattern . They are like the outliers , where all theories of entrepreneurship fail . These outliers exist among all kinds of women entrepreneurs , they can exist in India or anywhere in the word , where many times, they are not even aware of their stupendous achievements. Many questions come to the forefront when we look at such women – Are they born to lead ? Do they have a genetic pre-disposition to be enterprising ? Are they gifted in a special way ?

Sometimes the urge to look at DNA and genetics becomes strong , when we encounter such people in society who defy all theories and statistics to demonstrate , that human beings are unique and many theories fail to give a full understanding of human behaviour .

However , as thinkers and planners we still need to look at people within the Bell curve , so that policies and facilitation planning can be done to provide opportunity to future women leaders and entrepreneurs .

Suggested facilitation for development of women entrepreneurs in India

1- Information on web about schemes for women , television advertisements , publications and radio

programs on women entrepreneurship

2- Creche / daycare facilitation centres as part of school system in smaller towns specially .

3- Information about fund raising opportunities .

4-Better law and order in the country

Weblinks

• www.indiastat.com/media/21/stats.aspx womeninads.weebly.com/history.html india.gov.in › Topics
• ripublication.com/gjmbs_spl/gjmbsv3n4_05.pdf
• www.womensweb.in/articles/women-entrepreneurship-in-india
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising