The Women Social Entrepreneurship in India

Abstract

The women play a very small role in the field of entrepreneurship in India. Their role in social entrepreneurship there is even smaller. Several factors are responsible for this situation. These include, culture, biology, poverty, and lack of education, among others. However, some women are trying to improve this situation.The objectives of this paper include, defining entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship; providing examples of women social entrepreneurship in India; their challenges; and suggestions for dealing with those challenges Key words: Women social entrepreneurship in India, examples of women social entrepreneurs in India, their challenges, and suggestions to deal with those challenges. INTRODCUTION & OBJECTIVES IndiaIndia, with its more than a billion people, is the second largest populated country in the World, after China. India, the largest democracy in the world, is also facing numerous problems.It has an unemployment rate of 8.8% (2013). Only 32.6% of its people have access to improved sanitation facilities. According to the World Bank, while India's poverty rate has fallen from 37% in 2005 to 21.9% in 2012, the absolute number of its people living in poverty has actually increased due to the rising population. (Habitat for Humanity, UK, 2019)Millions of people in India, especially in its rural areas, don't have access to electricity. Instead they use fossil fuels (fire-wood, biomass, kerosene oil) for cooking and lighting. (IEA statistics, 2010, cited in Goyal, 2016.According to a census report, one in six people in Indian cities live in some 100,000 sprawling slums with conditions unfit for human habitation. (Johnson 2013) Indian WomenAccording to the United Nations Development Programme, human development reports 2017, India ranked 130 in a list of 189 countries on Gender Inequality Index (GII). The GII reflects on Indian women's reproductive health, empowerment, and labour. (UNDP, 2018).In terms of employment, only 39 percent of Indian women is formally employed, compared to 81 percent of Indian men and 71 percent of Chinese women. Furthermore, India came second to last in a Gender Female Entrepreneurship Index of women entrepreneurs in 17 countries. (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2015).Clearly, there is a need to promote women entrepreneurship in India. ObjectivesSeveral individuals (men and women) and organizations (local, national, and international) are trying to help solve India's plethora of problems. The primary purpose of this