Entrepreneurial Role Stress among Women Entrepreneurs: Strategic Study with reference to Women Entrepreneurs of Kudumbasree Movement in Kerala

Abstract

It is generally an accepted aspect that in a place where the access to several resources and participation in various activities are rather low especially among women, the participation of these section of people in the respective work also would be low when compared to other areas. Over the years, entrepreneurial activities among women has developed as a major concept which paves the way for all round empowerment of women especially entrepreneurs. With the entry of a large number of women into entrepreneurial ventures, their living standards have witnessed drastic improvement as well as their living standards have also gone up the ladder especially after the advent of the Self Help Groups (popularly called ayalkoottam in Kerala). These SHGs have remained and are still remaining as an important agency in providing employment opportunities for women especially under the Micro credit activities. The success of such organisations has been of great help in providing large level of economic independence to women. In this research paper, an attempt is made in a humble way to understand the level of stress which is experienced by the entrepreneurs from among women who have been depending on the Kudumbasree movement in Kerala. This research has been conducted among 30 entrepreneurs in the Calicut (Kozhikode) district of North Kerala. Thirty respondents were selected randomly from three types of enterprises, which were Health drink , Stitching and womens tailoring units category. It was found out that the stress experienced by women entrepreneurs was comparatively less in the micro enterprises. An attempt was also made to examine the relation between social and demographic variables as well as the assistance received for women who were facing role stress.