Factors that Facilitate and Inhibit Entrepreneurship in Indian Women

Abstract

Indian society has always treated women as an epicenter of Shakti (power).Many other civilizations have also acknowledged that the hands that cradle can also change the world. At the higher end of the society, women entrepreneurs were not a rare phenomenon, but this is now even percolating to lower strata of the society. Recent success stories of micro financing and corporate ventures like Project Shakti of HUL have proven that women at lower strata also do have the power to better their economic and social conditions by embracing entrepreneurship. They have not only improved their economic conditions but have also fuelled viable business models for corporate. However this is only one small segment of women in Indian society. There are many other segments of women in Indian society which are still deprived of these opportunities. There are various reasons for this other than economic only. Many segments put a lot of dogma and stigma around working women. This paper proposes to explore these areas in details. We propose to study what are the factors that facilitate and inhibit entrepreneurship in Indian women. The findings of the study can be used by Government, NGOs and Corporates who intend to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in Indian women