Socio-Economic Impact of Women Entrepreneurship with Special Reference to Kashmir

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1 Scholarly Journal of Scientific Research and Essay (SJSRE) Vol. 3(10), pp , December 2014 Available online at ISSN Scholarly-Journals Full Length Research Paper Socio-Economic Impact of Women Entrepreneurship with Special Reference to Kashmir Nilofer Khan Institute of Home Science and Dean Students Welfare University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar, India. Accepted 8 December, 2014 The present study was conducted to assess the socio-economic impact of women Entrepreneurship in Kashmir. In order to find out the problems faced by them while establishing their units. Questionnaire method was selected to obtain the described information. The sample for the present study was 51 entrepreneurship unit holders from Kashmir division. The study revealed that the women entrepreneurship was a very positive impact on their socio-economic status. Key words: Socio-economic, Women Entrepreneurship, Kashmir. INTRODUCTION Women are gifted with equal mental capacities as men. A women is the foundation stone of the family in particular and the society in general, so the deviated position of women is to be maintained properly for the continuance of the human race and its healthy development. J.L Nehru rightly observed, to awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the whole family moves, the village moves and the nation moves. True development of nation means individual, social, and economic development of women i.e. increased skills and capability, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material well being of women. In Jammu and Kashmir State, marriage is the only carrier for most of the women. Professionally they have confined their activities to such areas as teaching, office work, medical profession which have almost reached to a level of saturation. Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop awareness in the minds of women about the profitability of entrepreneurship. A separate wing headed by a lady officer has been created in the directorate of industries and commerce. These sections develop awareness among women about the entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurs who had in past been confined to traditional areas of handicrafts started establishing units engaged in different lines of production as food processing, fashion designing, mineral industry etc women started taking initiatives in the establishments of their units in all the districts of the state. Entrepreneurship refers to the act of setting a business or reviving an existing business so as to take advantages from new opportunities. Thus entrepreneurs shape the economy by creating new wealth and new jobs and by inventing new products and services. An entrepreneur is someone who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. He/she is an agent of change. Also, entrepreneurs are individual who recognize opportunities where others see chaos or confusion it is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources. Women entrepreneurship may be defined as women with intelligence, initiatives, innovations, experience, managerial, efficiency, qualities of leadership, vision, skill, capability to take decision, risk. According to the policy of industries reforms (1997), amended in 1999, women entrepreneurs means, a small scale industrial unit/industry related service or business enterprise managed by one or more women entrepreneurs. Socio and economic impact of women entrepreneurship have share capital of not less than 5 percent as partners/shareholders/directors of private limited company/ members of cooperative society. Involvement of women in the field of industries is a recent development. With the spread of education among females and increase in the number of women working outside homes especially in urban area, the thinking and role of women has altogether changed. The democratic nature of constitution and steps taken in various five year plans for the empowerment of women contributed a lot towards the change in the position of women in India. Factors like political consciousness, spread of formal and informal education, development in the field of transport, roads, communication, socio-cultural awakening created

2 Scholarly J. Sci. Res. and Essay 128 an environment. The women folk coming forward as industrialists, economists, politicians, social reformers, scientists, pilots, engineers etc. Efforts put in by the government agencies to organize entrepreneurial development programmes to develop awareness among women regarding the potentialities of various industries in the local area added a lot towards women entrepreneurship. Social Entrepreneurship as innovating social impacts. In this perspective, attention is focused on innovations and social arrangement that have consequences for social problems, often with relatively little attention to economic viability by ordinary business criteria. social entrepreneurs are focused on social problems. They create innovative initiatives, build new social arrangements, and mobilize resources in response to those problems, rather than in response to the dictates of the market or commercial criteria. Social Entrepreneurship as a way to catalyze social transformation well beyond the solutions of the social problems that are the initial focus of concern. From this perspective, social Entrepreneurship at its best produces small changes in the short term that reverberate through existing systems to catalyze large changes in the longer term. Social entrepreneurs in this tradition need to understand not only immediate problems but also the larger social system and its interdepencies; this understanding allows for the introduction of new paradigms at critical average points that can lead to cascades of mutually-reinforcing changes that create and sustain transformed social arrangements. Sustainable social transformation includes both the innovations for social impacts and the concern for ongoing streams of resources that characterize the other two perspectives on social entrepreneurship. They also lead to major shifts in the social context within which the original problem is embedded and sustained. Social factors can go a long way in encouraging entrepreneurship. In fact it was a highly helpful society that made the industrial revolution a glorious success in Europe. Entrepreneur plays a vital role in the Economic development of a country. He generates employments, income production and contributes towards the overall development of economy. The modern economy is closely related to an entrepreneur. He contributes towards the economy by coordinating other factors of production, taking risk and by innovation. Modern economists observe that an entrepreneur has to perform multiple functions for successful operation of an enterprise. It is an initiative, dedication, skill, tolerance, confidence, courage, enthusiasm, sense of responsibility, honesty which makes one a successful entrepreneur. Women Entrepreneurship in economic development of any nation has been documented for its significant contribution. This means that the neglect of women in the development process constitutes a women waste. The increased role of women in economic development had spurred the government in developing policies on women development. However, several studies had discovered that women performance was still low specifically in the small and micro-scale industries. Problems like low productivity, high rates of business failures, and no access to credit among others had hindered their growth. In light if this, the study examined the policy implementation of the two programs created to mobilize women on entrepreneurship development. It attempted to determine if the programs have succeeded in empowering women economically. It also aimed to uncover the possible implementation gap problems and determine the extent of which these gaps have affected the effectiveness of the policy implementation. The role of women in social and economic development specifically in the small and microenterprises was found to be primal in the economic development of their communities. Their potentials have spurred the Government in devising policies to stimulate the industrial sector specifically in the development of indigenous technology. Accordingly, the Government has developed trade and industrial policies that will foster industrial development and increase production of manufactured goods in the country. Majority of these policies were created for the informal sector. For instance, the government has formulated policies introducing the better life program (BLP) to improve the conditions of the rural women and the family support program (FSP) to improve the fortune of the family and the conditions of women in general. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS The operational definitions for the present study were: a.) Entrepreneur: Entrepreneur is the agent who buys factors of production at certain prices in order to combine them into a product with a view to selling it at uncertain prices in future b). Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the purposeful activity of an individual or a group of associated individuals, undertaken to initiate, maintain or organize a profit-oriented business unit for the production or distribution of economic goods and services. c). Women Entrepreneurship: Any women or group of women which innovates, imitates or adapts an economic activity may be called women entrepreneurship. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was undertaken to find the socioeconomic impact of women entrepreneurship. The information for the study was gathered from women who are engaged with her women entrepreneurship in Kashmir (JandK). The data for the present study was

3 Khan 129 Table 1: No. of Women entrepreneur in J and K. Region Kashmir J and K State Districts No. of units run by Total No. of women entrepreneur functional units Srinagar Budgam Anantnag Pulwama Kupwara Total (A) Jammu Udhampur Kathua Rajouri Doda Poonch Total (B) Leh Kargil Total (C) % of unit Estb. by women to total units run by women entrepreneur 25.39% 64.91% 9.70% Total (A,B,C) , % Source: Industrial Census of Small Scale Industries (1998), Directorate of Industries Table 2: No. of employees in the unit. Members No. of respondents Percentage or above N0ne collected through a survey with self constructed questionnaire cum interview schedule for eliciting information for the present study. DATA SOURCE: The data has been collected from two sources: a). Primary source b). Secondary source. Sampling: The sample for the present study consists of 51 entrepreneurship unit holders from Kashmir. Tools Used: Questionnaire cum interview schedule as the main tool for collecting the data. The questionnaire was framed in simple language so that the respondents could understand it quickly and answer them easily. The respondents were requested to be friendly and not to hesitate while replying questions. Structure of Questionnaire: The three different parts of questionnaire: Section A: General Information:- The selection was pertaining to the background of the respondents and including age, educational qualification, type of family, marital status, discipline, etc. Section B: This section includes name of the unit, location of the unit, year of establishment etc. Section C: This section includes type of entrepreneur unit, source of capital, saving account, monthly earning, monetary loss etc. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1 shows 25.39% of units run by women Entrepreneur in Srinagar % units run by women Entrepreneur in Jammu. 9.70% units run by women Entrepreneur in Leh Kargi. The table 2 depicts that majority 31.3% of the respondents were having four employees. 25.4% were

4 Scholarly J. Sci. Res. and Essay 130 Table 3: Reasons of setting business entrepreneurship. Own choice By luck Table 4: Type of entrepreneur unit. Type of investment No. of respondents Percentage Cutting and tailoring Parlour Boutique house Any other Table 5: Source of inspiration. Inspiration No. of respondents Percentage Self Parents Brother / sister Husband Others Total Table 6: Initial investment. Investment No. of respondents Percentage Less than 10, ,000-40, ,000-80, ,000 or above Total having three employees.23.5% were having two employees and 9.9% had no employee in their unit. The table 3 depicts that majority 64.8% had their own choice and 35.2% by their luck for setting business entrepreneurship. Table 4 depicts most women entrepreneur represents were engaged in traditional business (like tailoring, beauty care, boutique house etc). Majority of women Entrepreneur 21.56% were engaged in cutting and tailoring. On the other hand 43.1% of the women were engaged in boutique house. Very few of the women 3.92% were engaged in other business. Table 5 shows that majority of the women entrepreneurs 56.8%started their business from their own liking. on the other hand 21.5%got inspiration from their parents 9.8%, from their husband and the remaining 1.96% women got inspiration from their relatives or friends. so it can be said that most of the women entrepreneurs had their own liking as they realized their own potential to become self- reliant. Table 6 shows that majority of women 50.9% stared their business by initial investment of 40,000-80,000 and 29.4% started by 10,000-40, % started their business by less than 10, % started by 80,000 or above. Capital is very important to start any business either small or big in terms of women entrepreneurship. The table 7 reveals that majority of respondents capital investment 49.0% got their money from parents.33.3% were own saving.3.9%from their husband.9.8% from their friends/relatives. Table 8 depicts that majority 88.2% of the respondents were having saving account while 11.8% were not having saving account. Table 9 shows majority of women 39.21% utilize their income in family purpose which means they are

5 Khan 131 Table 7: Source of capital Source of capital No. of respondents Percentage Own saving From parents From husband From bank loan Friends / relatives Total Table 8: Possession of Saving account. Yes % No % Table 9: Utilization for income Utilization No. of respondents Percentage Expand in family purpose % Expand from self purpose % Reinvestment in the business % Table 10: Monthly profit from business. Monthly profit No. of respondents Percentage Rs Rs Rs Rs or above None Table 11:Attitude faced by family towards women entrepreneur. Attitude of family No. of respondents Percentage Encouraging Discouraging Neutral contributing their family to a large extent. 37.2% reinvest their income in their business. On the otherhand only 23.5% women entrepreneurs spend their income for their own self. Table 10 shows most of the women entrepreneurs 49.01% make monthly profits within the range of However, there were 23.5% who had monthly profits % respondents had monthly profit of more than and very few of them 1.96% respondents had no profit. Therefore the table clearly depicts women involved in entrepreneurship are able to save some money from their venture. Table 11 shows that majority (91%) respondent got encouragement from their families. On the other hand (3.9%) were discouraged and (5.8%) got no reactions from their families.

6 Scholarly J. Sci. Res. and Essay 132 Table 12: Women entrepreneurship helps to fight gender discrimination. Gender discrimination No. of respondents Percentage Highly agree Agree Highly disagree Disagree Neutral Table 13: Kind of changes occurred in family. Decision No. of respondents %age Contributing in family decision making Enjoy freedom in own decision making All of the above Table 14: Entrepreneurship has lifted their status in the society. Yes No Table 15: Able to make more worthy decisions in life. Yes No Table 16: Opportunities for unemployed women. Yes No The table 12 shows that most of the respondent 45.2% were highly agreed that women entrepreneurship helps to fight gender discrimination. 41.1%respondent were agreed. very few of the respondent 1.96% were highly disagree respondents disagree 7.84%got no reaction. Table 13 shows that most of the respondent 39.2% believe that now they can participate in all decision making of their family affairs and 31.3% also enjoy their freedom regarding their own decisions. Table 14 shows that majority of the respondents 90.1% agreed that entrepreneur has lifted their status in the society. While 9.9% stated that entrepreneurship has not been lifted their status in the society. Table 15 shows that majority 98.1% of the respondents that entrepreneurship makes them able to make more worthy decisions in life. While 1.96% were not able to make worthy decision in life. The table 16 depicts that majority (98.03%) women entrepreneurship opened employment opportunities. While 1.96% stated that entrepreneurship has not opened employment opportunities. Table 17 shows that majority of women 47.1 agreed that gender discrimination has been reduced when women

7 Khan 133 Table No. 17: Women entrepreneurship reduce gender discrimination. Yes No Table 18: Entrepreneurship has helped economically independent. Yes No Table 19: Satisfaction towards being an entrepreneur. Highly Satisfied Satisfied Little bit Satisfied started her own entrepreneur. very few of them are disagree that gender discrimination has not been reduced. The table 18 depicts that majority 94.1% of women had economically independent and self reliant. While few 5.9% stated that they were not economically independent. The table 19 depicts that majority 90.2% women were highly satisfied.7.9% were satisfied and very few of them 1.9% are little bit satisfied with what they are today. REFERENCES Baqal, G.M. (2008), Entrepreneurship development and small scale industries, Kitab Mehal, Delhi. Brush, C.G. (1992). Research on women business owners, past trends, a new perspective and future dimensions; Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice as in Fenwick T. Women Entrepreneurs: A critical review of literature. Census of India Report, Harinarayana, R. (1991). Promotion of Women Entrepreneurship: A Brief Comment, SEDME, 18(2): Jalbert, S.E. (2000). Women entrepreneurs in the global economy, education. edu/pdf/ pdf. Kumar, A. (2007). Women entrepreneurship in India, Guru Jambheshwar University of science and technology, Hisar, Haryana. Lall, M. and Sahai, S. (2008). Women in Family Business, presented at first Asian invitational conference on family business at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Nakkiran, M. (2012). Women entrepreneurship: problem and prospect, first edition, published by read books, Delhi. Nayyar, P., Sharma, A., Kishtwaria, J., Rana, A. and Vyas, N. (2007), causes and constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial process, J. Soc. Sci., 14(2): Punitha, M., Sangeetha, S. Padmavathi,(1999), women entrepreneurs :their problems and constraints. Indian J. labour Econ. 42(4): Rathore, B.S. and Chabra, R. (1991). Promotion of women entrepreneurship training strategies, SEDME. Vinze, M.D. (1987). Women entrepreneurs in India; A socio-economic study of Delhi. Mittal publication, Delhi. Watson (2003), failure rates for female in controlled Business. Are they any different journal of small business management, vol.41(3). Pp Watson, J. (2003). Failure Rates for Female-Controlled Businesses: Are They Any Different? J. Small Bus. Manage. 41(3): Available at SSRN: