Women Entrepreneurship: Boon or Bane

Abstract

India’s growth story has resulted in improvements in social parameters; however, has it translated into economic inclusion and development of women? The demographic dividend combined with educated population can help transform social and economic development. Entrepreneurship among women is a critical requirement to this. Today India has 13.5 – 15.7 Million women-owned enterprises, representing 20% of all enterprises. A large number of this reported as women-owned are not infact owned or run by women. It is on paper for financial and other reasons, with women having little or no role to play. The comparison with global yardsticks reflects that India needs to accelerate overall female entrepreneurship, with a vision of 30 million women owned enterprises by 2030.Achieving such vision and realistic goals require deep understanding of barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in India. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by examining the factors that enable women entrepreneurship and the corresponding challenges that women entrepreneurs face in small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in India. The paper integrates both boon and bane perspectives of women entrepreneurship as a holistic and interdependent system.