PROBLEMS FACED BY RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN

KANCHIPURAM DISTRICT - A STUDY

I.

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION
In the advanced countries of the world, there is a phenomenal increase in the number of self
employed Women after the Second World War. In the Indian context, participation of Women as
Entrepreneurs commenced from 1970s onwards. Earlier, Women were associated with 3 Ks
Kitchen, Kids and Knitting. Then came 3 Ps Powder, Papad and Pickles. In india urban
Women, Entrepreneurs are found in 4 Es- Electricity, Electronics, Energy and Engineering.
However, Women in Rural India have confined themselves to petty business and tiny cottage
industries. Majorities of Rural Women Entrepreneurs are concentrated in low-paid, low skilled,
low-technology and low-productivity jobs. They have basic indigenous knowledge, skill and
potential to establish and manage enterprise. Government of India (1984) has defined Woman
Entrepreneur as an enterprise owned and controlled by a Women having a minimum financial
interest of 51 percent of the capital and giving at least 51 percent of employment generated in the
enterprise to Women. This definition does not suit to Rural Women Entrepreneurs in India. Any
Rural woman or a group of Rural Women which innovates, imitates or adapts an economic
activity may be referred as a Rural woman Entrepreneur. Secondly, Rural woman Entrepreneur
could be defined as `an adult Rural woman who creates, owns, and runs an enterprise in Rural
area. Rural Women Entrepreneurship can be viewed as Rural Women indivisible process which
flourishes when the inter-linked dimensions of individual psychological Entrepreneurial traits,
social encouragement and business opportunities coverage towards the common goal of
opportunity creation and exploitation. From this point of view, Rural Women Entrepreneurship is
a frame of mind and a continuous forward societal process. Indian Women are in no way inferior
to men in all walks of life and they can be as good Entrepreneurs as men in the country.
Therefore, it is essential to exploit the potentials of Indian Women. Womens participation in
trade, industry and commerce, requiring Entrepreneurship, is still poor mainly because of the

problems associated with their gender roles. Therefore, promotion of Entrepreneurship and
economic empowerment of Women poses a challenge to the government, funding agencies and
nongovernment organizations. It is important for these people to focus on the limitations faced
by the Women and to plan supporting systems to enhance the Women Entrepreneurship in India.

An Entrepreneur is a person who operates a new venture and also inherits some risks and is able
to look at the environment, The great ones are ready to criticize in the beginning because they
can see their path ahead and are too busy working towards their dream, True Entrepreneurs are
resourceful, highly motivated and driven to succeed and Improve their Entrepreneurial skill. The
term Entrepreneurship comes from the French verb entreprendre and the German word
unternehmen, both means to undertake. Grave and Hofer in 1891 defined the
Entrepreneurial process as involving all the functions, activities, and actions associated with
perceiving of opportunities and creation of organizations to pursue them. Women Entrepreneur,
in a larger sense is a Woman who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and
become economically self-sufficient. A Woman faces numerous problems to reach her familial
needs. At last, a Women Entrepreneur becomes economically self-sufficient after facing
challenges. By identifying herself a successful Entrepreneur, she shines in the two faces of her
life i.e. society and family. Entrepreneurship of Women development is an essential part of
human resource. Development of Women Entrepreneurship compared to other countries is very
low in India, especially in the Rural areas. Rural woman constitutes the family, which leads to
society and Nation. Social and economic development of Women is necessary for overall
economic development of any society or a country.

Entrepreneurship plays an eminent function in creating an avenue for employability for Rural
communities, providing self-employment for those who have started-up a business of their own
and enhancing the economic status of the Rural sector as well. Entrepreneurship has transformed
many Entrepreneurs into successful business persons and generated income for Rural
communities. Entrepreneurs in Rural area have transformed their vicinity into trading hubs thus
enabling them to become urbanized areas.

Women almost constitute 50 per cent of the world population and have been making substantial
contribution to socio-economic development. But, unfortunately their contribution largely
remains unrecognized and unnoticed in most developing and least developed countries. Besides,
society gives little chance to Women to enter into the fields of various economic activities. It has
been observed that though Women are burdened with family and house-hold responsibilities,
they, particularly in semi-urban and Rural areas, have been actively participating in economic
activities in the unorganized sector. Yet, the overall socio-economic environment discriminates
against them.

Last ten years of Indian economy make it evident that the structure of ownership in the
industrial sector, in agriculture, in the trade and commerce sectors has changed. Many Women
entered the world of business, of trade commerce and they have become successful
Entrepreneurs in various business activities. However, the rate of participation or rate of their
inclusion in the business world is very low, in spite of its increase during the last ten years. This
growth rate of Womens participation in economic activities is much lower than the expected
rate. If we look at the developed countries we see that Women are actively participative in the
business and trade activities, including agriculture, without any social or other restrictions. But in
India, there are still many social and cultural restrictions on Women. Hence, Women
participation in Entrepreneurial activities is less than the requirement of the fast growth of India.

The educated Women do not want to limit their lives in the four walls of the house. They
demand equal respect from their partners. However, Indian Women have to go a long way to
achieve equal rights and position because traditions are deep rooted in Indian society where the
sociological set up has been a male dominated one. Women are considered as weaker one and
always made to depend on men folk in their family and outside, throughout their life. The Indian
culture made them only subordinates and executors of the decisions made by other male
members, in the basic family structure. While at least half the brainpower on earth belongs to
Women, Women remain perhaps the worlds most underutilized resource. Despite all the social
hurdles, India is brimming with the success stories of Women. They stand tall from the rest of the
crowd and are applauded for their achievements in their respective field. The transformation

social fabric of the Indian society, in terms of increased educational status of Women and varied
aspirations for better living, necessitated a change in the life style of Indian Women. She has
competed with man and successfully stood up with him in every walk of life and business is no
exception for this. These Women leaders are assertive, persuasive and willing to take risks. They
managed to survive and succeed in this cut throat competition with their hard work, diligence
and perseverance. Ability to learn quickly from her abilities, her persuasiveness, open style of
problem solving, willingness to take risks and chances, ability to motivate people, knowing how
to win and lose gracefully are the strengths of the Indian Women Entrepreneurs.
A role of modern Women is not confined to the traditional role as a mother and housewife; it has
and is undergoing changes. As woman gets educated she begins to think of herself as an
independent person, she becomes aware of her own identity, potentials and decision making
capabilities. Interested Women with creative and innovative ideas are coming forward to start the
small and medium sized enterprises.
It is a common assumption that majority of Women in India are economically non-productive as
they are not involved in activities that are financially remunerative. But this trend is gradually
changing. Todays Women are taking more and more professional and technical degrees to cope
up with market need and are flourishing as designers, interior decorators, exporters, publishers,
garment manufacturers and still exploring new avenues of economic participation. It is perhaps
for these reasons that Government Bodies, NGOs, Social Scientists, Researchers, and
International Agencies have started showing interest in the issues related to Entrepreneurship
among Women in India.
At the same time, it is also recognized that their challenges are immense and complex. For
Women Entrepreneurs, starting and operating a business involves considerable risks and
difficulties, because in the Indian social environment Women has always lived as subordinate to
men. There have been noticeable changes in the socio-psycho-cultural and economic norms of
our society due to liberalized policy of the government of India, increase in the education levels
of Women and increased social awareness in respect of the role Women plays in the society. It
has now been recognized that to promote self-employment and to reduce the incidence of

poverty, some drastic efforts have to be made to accelerate self employment of Women in various
sectors.

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something new with value, devoting the necessary
time and effort assuming the risk and reward. People who perform these activities are called
Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs assemble resources including innovations, finance and business
acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods.
Women Entrepreneurship is the function of establishing Women enterprises by the Women
Entrepreneurs. In this dynamic world, Women Entrepreneurs are an important part of the global
sustained economic development and social progress. With the development of education among
Women it gave rise to the Women employment. As a result of which steps were taken to enhance
the capabilities of Women to be Entrepreneurs.
According to International Labour Organization (ILO) 1980 :Women constitute the 50% of
worlds population, do the two third of worlds work hours, receive 10% of worlds income and
own less than 1% of the total property. Indian was reported to be the second most
Entrepreneurial country after Thailand.

Time immemorial, Women are described as the better half of men. But in reality, the Women in
developing countries do not tally with this description. It is well known fact that Women have
played and continue to play a key role in conservation of basic life support systems such as land,
water, flora and fauna. Women have to play a dual role, as a housewife and as income earners.
Women have the burden of preparing food for the family, besides fulfilling their fundamental
role of nurturing and caring for the children and tending to elderly members of the household.
Even then they suffer from being economically and socially invisible. There is continued
inequality and vulnerability of Women in all fields like socio-economic, political, education,
health care, nutrition etc.

Women constitute nearly one half of the worlds population having enormous potential but being
underutilized or unutilized for the economic development of the nation. Indian situation is not an
exception for this. The 2001 census of India estimated 0.53 million females against a total
population of 1.02 million. In India, Women have remained as a neglected section of work force.
They were not considered on par with men. Women are lagging behind men mainly because of
the relative absence of economic opportunities and minimal participation in decision making
process. Womens access to land ownership is extremely limited. Educational backwardness is
another major reason why Women are lagging behind men. The latest census reports 2001
revealed that female literacy rate in India was 54 per cent, as compared to the male literacy rate
of 76 per cent. However, the life expectancy of female was 65 years in contrast to 64 years of
male.
All through small businesses owned by Women have traditionally focused on fashion , fond and
other services sector, but recently Women Entrepreneurs have been moving rapidly into
manufacturing, construction and other industrial filed. Women owned business are lightly
increasing in the economics of almost all countries. The hidden Entrepreneurial potential of
Women has gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status
in the society. It means Women have the potentials, skill, knowledge and adaptability to run a
business successfully.
The Government of India has defined a Women Entrepreneur is an enterprise owned and
controlled by a Women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at
least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to Women. Women Entrepreneur is a
person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal need and become economically
independent. There are economical, social, religious, cultural and other factors existing in the
society which responsible for the emergency of the Entrepreneurs. Women Entrepreneur refers
equally to someone who has started a one Women business to someone who is a principal in
family business or partnership or to someone who is shareholder in a public company which she
runs.
Women have been successful in breaking their confinement within the limits of their homes by
entering into varied kinds of professionals and services Women Entrepreneurs have proved to be

on par with their men counterparts in business acumen and are emerging as smart and dynamic
Entrepreneurs. There are many reasons for Women to enter into Entrepreneurial ventures in a
predominantly society. Entrepreneurship among Women is an important avenue through which
Women can overcome their subordination within the family and the family and the society as a
whole. Therefore, development of Entrepreneurship among Women has received special
attention of the policy makers. In this direction, a special character in the seventh plan has
converted into the integration of Women in economic development. The new industrial policy
has stressed the need for conducting special Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDPs)
for Women. Besides this, today, a network of institutions exists in the country to promote Women
Entrepreneurship. The commercial banks and the financial institution are an integral part of this
network. Many organizations and institutions and association promote and develop Women
Entrepreneurship by providing financial assistance at concessional rates of interest and also
organize industrial fairs and exhibitions. Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDPs) for
Women creates Entrepreneurial awareness among them.

Besides organizing short-term EDPs for Women, continues training in all management areas
should be given to them. Separate industrial estates may be set up for Women Entrepreneurs to
create altogether a special environment. At the national level and the state level, there is a need to
set up Women Industrial Development Bank in the existing banks and financial institutions, and
it is advisable to start a separate cell called Women Entrepreneurs Guidance Cell to promote
and guide the Women Entrepreneurs. More and more research is to be conducted to identify the
problems, which are faced by them. Organizing the implant visit of successful Women
Entrepreneurs may encourage the new entrants. Besides this, to promote and development the
Rural Women Entrepreneurship, efforts shall be made to get the achieve involvements of
Women organization by launching village adoption schemes.
In recent years, there has been s heightened global awareness regarding the contribution, which
Women can make for the process of economic development, although it is still in the growth
stage, there is unquestionably a business revolution in the works across the nation and Women
are major part of it. The efforts are on it to uplift the social and economical status of Women. The

development of Women as Entrepreneurs will generate multifaceted socio-economic benefits for

the country.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Entrepreneurship is one of the important factors of industrialization; in the absence of
Entrepreneurship, industrialization cannot take place. Entrepreneurs are playing an important role in
the economic development of underdeveloped country. Womens skills and knowledge, their talents
and abilities in business and a compelling desire of wanting to do something positive are some of the
reasons for the Women Entrepreneurs to organize industries. According to World Bank, investing
more in business of Women rather in men leads to greater development of a nation. Empowering
Women in Entrepreneurship leads to break the inequalities and reduces the poverty. Entrepreneurship
plays an important role in developing society of a fast developing country like India. Nowadays it has
been realized that enterprising Women have cast Entrepreneurial talents which could be harnessed so
as to convert them from the position of Jobseekers to Job givers . The government has realized
the importance of Women Entrepreneurship. As a result, it offers a variety of programmers for
Women Entrepreneurs. The state of Tamilnadu is the industrially developing area in which some of
the Entrepreneurs excel in small scale industry. Even though the government organizes Women by
various associations, they are not ready to undertake the business. As compared to men, Women are
less motivated to start business units due to some unwanted fear, lack of motivation and kind of
activities. Thus, the study aims at undertaking the Entrepreneurial development among Rural
Womens and

relationship between socio-economic background of Women Entrepreneurs,

motivational factors and their existing Entrepreneurial traits.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study focuses on the Women Entrepreneurs in selected districts in Kanchipuram district,
Tamilnadu selected depends on growth has been phenomenal. The selected districts with its good
facility, offers sound prospects for developments. The scope of the study encompasses Women
Entrepreneurs in kanchipuram District and the problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs who are
engaged in stating a new enterprise.

OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the present status of Rural Women Entrepreneur in kanchipuram district.
2. To identify the problems of Rural Women Entrepreneur in kanchipuram district.
3. To measure the advantages of Rural Women Entrepreneur.
4. To suggest remedial measure to overcome the problems.
HYPOTHESIS
1. There is no significant difference between age and level of satisfaction among Women
Entrepreneur.
2. There is no significant difference between marital status and level of satisfaction among
Women Entrepreneur.
3. There is no significant difference between income earned and level of satisfaction among
Women Entrepreneur.
4. There is no significant difference between income earned and level of confidence among
Women Entrepreneur
5. There is no significant difference between encouragement and level of confidence

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research is an academic activity that involves identifying the research problems, formulating a
hypothesis, collecting and analyzing the data to reach the conclusion in the form of solution or
general theories
RESEARCH DESIGN

1. The research is based on both quantitative and qualitative

2. Emphrical research design has been used for this study.
SAMPLE DESIGN

The method of sampling used was random sampling. Random sampling from a finite population
refers to that method of sample selection which gives each possible sample combination an equal
probability of being picked up and each item in the entire population to have equal chance of
being included in the sample.
SAMPLE SIZE
The sample size considered of 100 Rural Women Entrepreneurs in kanchipuram district.
DATA COLLECTION
The following are the sources of data used by the researcher
1. Primary Data: The Primary data will be collected using survey as a mode of data collection.
To conduct surveys separate sets of structured interview schedule would be prepared for Rural
Women Entrepreneurs.
2. Secondary Data: The secondary data shall be collected from various Books, Journals,
Magazines and websites.
The study is based on secondary as well as primary data. An interview schedule was
administered in five villages (five Rural places. These five villages are from Kanchipuram
district. From each village 10 Entrepreneurs are selected. Retail stores, vegetable sellers, Tailors,
small eateries and beautiesions are the samples.
STATISTICAL TOOLS USED
For the purpose of the study convenience statistics were used for computing using Microsoft
excel software package in analyzing the data obtained from samples and the analysis is
computed.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1. The present study is mainly focused in Kancipuram Districts selected Rural areas.
2. It is not possible to study the entire universe due to lack of time and resources.

3. The study is based only on the information obtained from 100 respondents from Rural
areas.
4. All the respondents might not give the accurate information because there is lot of
difference in what they say and what they do.
CHAPTERIZATION
This project is being chaptered into introduction, review of literature, profile and analysis
of interpretations, findings, suggestions and conclusion.
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives the introduction of rural women entrepreneur and need and scope,
objectives, hypothesis, statistical tools and limitation of the study.
CHAPTER 2- REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter gives the detail about the previous research conducted and article written in
this regard.
CHAPTER 3- CONCEPT OF RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR
This chapter gives the entire profile about rural women entrepreneurs.
CHAPTER 4- ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter shows the analysis carried out from data collection and the interpretation of
the same.
CHAPTER 5- SUMMARY OF FINDINGS SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION
This chapter brings about the findings, suggestion and gives up the conclusion of the
study.