International Conference on Humanities, Geography and Economics (ICHGE'2011) Pattaya Dec.

2011

Rural Women Entrepreneurship in India:Opportunities and challenges

Dr. Anita Mehta and Dr. Mukund Chandra Mehta

AbstractThe entrepreneur is an economic man, who tries to

maximize his profits by innovation. Innovation involves problem solving and entrepreneur gets satisfaction from using capabilities in attacking problems. There are around seven lakh villages in India and also that more than 70% of our population live in villages of half are women. Rural women represent a sizeable percentage of labor force in our country yet; they have not been brought under the main stream of development. The rural women may be mobilized and may lead to the nation towards the path of progress and prosperity. The rural women by all means can be very effective agents of change for better homes, better society and ultimately for robust economy in the present global scenario.

1993-94. The women entrepreneurs in Kerala are now at the top of all industries right from ready made garments to high tech computers.( Kuruksehtra, June 1998). In our state Jharkhand, Silli (legislative assembly area) is one of the best example where 15,000 women are involved in "Gunj Pariwar" (NGO) and women entrepreneurs are involved in Knitting, mushroom agriculture & pickle making Industry etc. A. Growth in women Entrepreneurship In recent years the entrepreneurship has gained wide popularity on the whole globe. The rate of becoming entrepreneurs in women is more compared to men. (Renzulli et a1 2000) In north America 38 percent & small businesses are owned by women (Brush & Hierarch, 1999) The growth rate in women owned enterprises in some of the developing countries are higher as compared to the developed countries. According to ILO Statistics the growth rate is 24% in Malaysia, 30% in Thailand & 36% in Philippines & 42% in Indonesia. The growth rate was highest in the Tamil Nadu state of India. It was 18% in 2001. B. Challenges Faced by Rural Women Entrepreneurs The main challenges faced by rural women in business are educational & work background. They have to balance their time between work & family. Some of the challenges faced by rural entrepreneurs are as follows:1. Growth of Mall culture The greatest deterrent to rural women entrepreneurs is that they are women. India is a kind of patriarchal male dominant society. Male members think it is a big risk financing the ventures run by women. 2. Illiteracy The literacy rate of women in India is found at low level compared to male population. The rural women are ignorant of new technology or unskilled. They are often unable to do research & gain the necessary training (UNIDO, 1995, p1). According to the economist, women are treated as second-class citizens which keeps them in a pervasive cycle of poverty. The uneducated Rural women do not have the knowledge of measurement and basic accounting. 3. Low Ability to Bear Risk Women in India lives protected life. She is taught to
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I. INTRODUCTION HE entrepreneur is an economic man who tries to maximize his profits by innovation. Innovation involves problem solving and entrepreneur gets satisfaction from using capabilities in attacking problems. Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a women or a group of women who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise. Women owned business are highly increasing. You can tell condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.- By- Jawaharlal Nehru Men & women both are two wheels of society and contribution of both is very essential for building healthy nation. There are around seven lakh villages in India and more than 70% of our population lives in villages. In rural sector 56% of the male and 33% of the female were in the labour force. About 66% of the female population in the rural sector is idle & unutilized. Even after 56 years of the independence women in India are struggling for entrepreneurial freedom. They have to face various socio-economic problems. But now the Scenario is changing fast with modernisation, urbanisation and development of education and business. Thus the opportunities of employment for women have increased drastically. We have an example of Kerala State in India. In 1975-76 the number of Industrial units run by women entrepreneurs in Kerala was 73. It has increased to 4, 190 industrial Units in
Dr. Anita Mehta is Asst. Professor, with R.L.S.Y., College, Ranchi, Ranchi University, Ranchi Jharkhand, India. E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Mukund Chandra Mehta, is Asst. Professor, with University Deptt. of commerce & Bus. Mgt, Ranchi University, Ranchi Jharkhand, India. E-mail: [email protected]

International Conference on Humanities, Geography and Economics (ICHGE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011

depend on male members from birth. She is not allowed to take any type of risk even if she is willing to take and has ability to bear. Economically they are not self dependent. 4. Lack of Infrastructure and Rampant Corruption These are also the other problems for the rural women entrepreneurs. They have to depend on office staffs and intermediaries to get the things done, especially the marketing and sales side of business. Here is the more probability for business fallacies like the intermediaries take major part of the surplus or profit. 5. Lack of Finance The financial institutions discourage women entrepreneurs on the belief that they can at any time leave their business. Therefore, they are forced to rely on their own savings, loan from their relatives and family friends. II. MOBILITY CONSTRAINTS Rural women is Indian Society have got restricted mobility. The carrier of women is limited in four walls of kitchen. The women confined themselves to three KS-Kitchen, kids & knitting. There is hardly any opportunities to cross this boundary (Manimakalai & Rajeshwais 2000).The mobility problem has been solved to certain extent by the explosion of Information technology & telecommunication facilities. A. Opportunities for rural Entrepreneurs. 1. Integrated rural development programme:- The main objectives of Integrated rural development Programme is to increase the income generating power of family who are below the poverty line to alleviate the poverty. They impart technical & entrepreneurial skills & raise the income level of the poor. Some of the major employment & anti poverty programme area) IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme):- and its allied programmes
i. TRYSEM (Training Rural Youth for Self Employment) DWCRA (Development of women and Children in Rural Areas.)

entrepreneurs in economic development is inevitable. The following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneuri. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk & from Govt. Part. ii. Training Programme on management skill should be provided to women community. iii. Counselling through the aid of committed NGOS, Psychologists, managerial experts & technical personnel should be provided. iv. Making provisions of marketing & sales assistance from Govt. part. v. Making provisions of micro credit system & enterprise credit system to the women entrepreneurs at local level. vi. A women entrepreneurs guidance cell set up to handle the various problems of women entrepreneurs all over the state. vii. Training entrepreneurial attitudes should be given at the High School level through well designed course. IV. CONCLUSION Rural women are not so aware and literate as to handle all the legal and other formalities involving in loan taking and establishing an Industrial Unit. They also lack confidence in their ability to run the entrepreneurship. They need capacity building and training in functional areas such as finance, literacy skills, marketing, production and managerial skills. The only urgent need is to create a favourable atmosphere to increase self employment for women and over all developments of the country. Thus, there are bright prospects for rural women entrepreneurship in India. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Women entrepreneurship in India vol. 2 No.- 1 Jan. to June. The Indian Journal of Commerce Vol. 59, No.- 2 April to June 2006. Kurukshetra Vol. 59, No.- 1 Sep. 2011. Women in management review Vol. 90, No.- 3 PP164-173. Kurukshetra, June 1998. Bursh. C. G. and Hisrich. R. 1999 Women- owned Business. Dubhashi M. 2003 Women entrepreneurship in Asia-Ventures of Enterprising Asia women. Renzulli. L. Aldrich H & Molly J. 2000. UNIDO 1995, P1

ii.

b) JRY (Jawahar Rozgar Yojna):- It is wage Employment programme. Implemented by Panchayats at Village, Block & District level in the ratio. 70:15:15 etc. 2. Regional Rural Development Centres. 3. Technology for Bank. 4. Fund for Rural Innovation. 5. Social Rural entrepreneurship 6. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India. III. SUGGESTION Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs. Role of rural women
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International Conference on Humanities, Geography and Economics (ICHGE'2011) Pattaya Dec. 2011

EXAMPLES OF SOME RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

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