A humdrum will stir with any mention of feminism today, tomorrow or even the day before. The maintenance of women suppressing traditions remains an affluent theme within the transitioning times. In spaces like these, women entering businesses dawn a crown of ‘breaking taboos’. With her work taken less, her achievements adorned when with the name of male subordinate, paid less for equal work we see the passive effects of patriarchy, gnawing at the roots of an autonomy that the world pressures women to ensue for now they are a ‘businesswoman’.
“A recent study showed that in India, measures to close the gender gap could lead to a 6.8 per cent gain in GDP. Another study estimated that advancing women’s equality in India could boost its GDP by $0.7 trillion in 2025 or 16 per cent as compared to the ‘business as usual’ scenario” (Korreck, 2019). Such staggering numbers not only discover the importance of women overlooking business but also the impedances as to how and why they have been amiss from the sector. “Across a broad spectrum of industries and occupations, women are segregated in the low-paid, low-prestige positions that men do not want” (Loscocco, Karyn A. & Robinson, Joyce,1991). Even immigration to small businesses is indebted with barriers. This is because the managerial and business skills that are fundamental to the sector require work experience which is absent to many of the women in society.
On an individual level, some women have strong entrepreneurial ambitions. Interestingly, several of the interview partners mentioned that they got inspired by male role models such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or that they were introduced to the “startup world” by their male friends who are entrepreneurs. On an institutional level, the government has launched several schemes to augment the entrepreneurial motivations of women and there is a more noticeable political will to empower them. But however, looking beyond high individual and political aspirations and investigating the statistics of how many women actually own businesses shows a rather dismal scenario. The data from the Sixth Economic Census, which was conducted between January 2013 and April 2014, shows that out of 58.5 million businesses counted by that census, 8.05 million were owned by women, which corresponds to a rate of 13.76 per cent of women among the total number of entrepreneurs in India.
But now with the passage of time, women’s life has undergone a major transformation in recent times. The modern woman is no longer confined to the four walls of the house. Women are now realizing their worth in every way and are breaking the glass barrier in almost every field, be it technology, space, sports or armed forces. Almost every fifth woman is an entrepreneur – both in urban and rural areas.
Examples of famous businesswomen can include the name of the Co-founder of Menstrupedia: Aditi Gupta. She is one of the Indian women entrepreneurs who is an author and the co-founder of the comic Menstrupedia. Tired of the myths and misinformation that surrounded Menstruation she took it upon herself to make a change. She and her husband co-founded the comic in 2012. In 2014 she was listed on the Forbes India 30 under 30 list for Breaking Barriers: Women in Business her work towards breaking the taboo. Today, Menstrupedia has been used in more than 6,000 schools and has benefited more than 10,00,000 girls in over 14 languages. Aditi is a social woman entrepreneur in India working towards raising awareness about menstruation. She is a Ted Talk speaker and her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC and BBC.
Another example can include the name of Ashwini, the co-founded a cloud-based platform Mad Street Den. She has experience leading the mobile innovation team at Intel’s Interaction and Experience Research Lab in Silicon Valley. She has more than a decade’s worth of experience in Silicon Valley. This led to her interest in artificial intelligence. Thus, by utilizing the full potential of women, entrepreneurs can promote innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Overcoming these barriers is a matter of grit and passion of individual women themselves, as well as tackling structural factors in the external environment, which they alone have limited control over.
-by
Prabhneet Kaur
Shreya Rawat
Members, WiB
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