CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Transcription

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY 1.1 BACKGROUND The status of women in Indian society has changed from time to time and the present position of women in society is the index to the standard of social organization. Women s position in modern Indian society is equal to that of men socially, economically, educationally, politically and legally. In modern India, as a result of their newly gained freedom, women have occupied positions in various spheres of life being a politician, orator, lawyer, doctor, engineer, administrator, diplomat, business woman, entrepreneur, etc,. The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of countries all over the world. Tamil Nadu has a glorious tradition of recognizing the importance of empowering women over several centuries now. The Government of India has made empowerment of women as one of the principal objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan ( ) and also declared 2001 as the year of 'Women's Empowerment 1.' 1. Our constitution has conferred and guaranteed equality before law, universal adult franchise and equal opportunities for men and women as fundamental rights. The imperative of gender partnership in matters of development has been recognized. In order to give a fillup to empowerment of women, appropriate institutional mechanisms and interventions have been consciously built into the development design. The launching of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Indira Mahila Yojana, Mahila Samridhi Yojana, reserving of one third of the number of seats in Panchayat 1 Shobha, K. and Vinitha, V, Inclusion & Female Labour Force in Mernrega, Southern Economist, May 1,2001, p.59

2 and the local bodies are programmes launched with a view to improving and empowering women socially, economically and in political frontiers. In order to get economic empowerment, entrepreneurship is a tool. Moreover the Indian Government has been launching a number of developmental activities for the welfare of women entrepreneurs. The Indian Government having realized the importance of the role to be played by women in the development of the nation, has incorporated in the Sixth Plan a special chapter on women s development which explains in detail, the plan of action for integration of women s participation in national development 22. A separate programme for training of women entrepreneurs was started in The programmes are being operated through the network of Small Industries Services Institute and other institutions like District Industries Centres, State Financial Corporations, State Small Industries Corporations and Commercial Banks In the 1980 women have started looking up at entrepreneurship as an economic and gainful option. The new industrial policy 1980 has emphasized the need for implementing the entrepreneurship programme for women in rural and urban areas to uplift their status in the economic and social field. Product and process courses were framed to train the women group for their participation in industries and business. Besides financial institutions and banks, a number of non financial and voluntary bodies are also engaged in this field. At the state level, the State Technical Consultancy Organisation and District Industrial Centre conduct entrepreneurship development progammes for women. The Ladies Association of Federation of Indian 22 Rani, C, Potential Women Entrepreneurs A Study, Women in Enterprises and Profession (C. Kalbagh-Editor) Discovery, Ravindran Nair, G. A Glimmer of Hope for Self Employed Women, Commerce, 3-9, September,, 1988,p.48.

3 Chamber of Commerce and Industry provides on the job training to women in addition to entrepreneurship development programmes. Indian Council of Women Entrepreneurs (ICWE) and National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board also offer training programmes to interested women. The interest and involvement of the Government of India in the growth of entrepreneurship is evident from the steps taken by it. In spite of all the efforts, entrepreneurs have been in short supply due to the fact that entrepreneurial talents prevailing in all classes male and female have not been properly identified and tapped. Since the advent of factory system and subsequent industrial revolution man has become the key entrepreneurial force in the process of industrialization 4 4. The enterprising ability of women has not been properly and effectively utilized. Entrepreneurship is not totally a new concept for women. Women have long been getting things done in household activities. Her traditional role as a supervisor of household activities will no doubt enable her to run a business efficiently and successfully. The steps taken by the Government to foster the growth of women entrepreneurship and the growth of industrialization, urbanization and a change in the educational pattern has led to change in the custom bound society of India. More women are coming forward to take up self-enterprise. It is evidenced by the response shown to the entrepreneurship development programmes for women conducted by various institutions 55. The entrepreneurial opportunities available to women depend on their education, skills aptitude and economic level and employment opportunities in the region. Rural women play an active role in small industries like doll making, pottery, 4 4 Sudarshan Sahoo, Development of Women Entrepreneurship, Khadi Gramodyog the Journal of Rural Economy, Vol.38, No.2, Nov.91, p The Hindu, News item, 18 th September, 1987.

4 handloom weaving, broom making, basket making, bee keeping and sericulture. They are also engaged in a host of non-farm activities like palm-gur and cane-gur processing, processing of cereals, goat and sheep rearing, daring needle work, embroidering, tailoring etc. Now-a-days elite women in cities are making a landmark in the non-conventional fields such as consultancy, marketing, advertising, manufacturing, electronics, garment exporting, interior decoration and designing, beauty clinics handicrafts, textile printing, food processing etc., Under the scheme of National Awards to outstanding small scale entrepreneurs started in 1983, 10 awards out of a total of 104 had been won by women on their own merit until March The total number of industrial units in the small scale sector financed by the State Bank of India was about 12 lakhs. Out of this about one lakh was constituted by women entrepreneurs thus representing about eight per cent of the total 66. As the number of women entrepreneurs have steadily increased, they have attracted the attention of the Government as well as the development agencies. National conventions, International Conventions, Seminars and a number of workshops have been held on women entrepreneurs. But there has been no census carried out on women entrepreneurs in the country. The Department of Industries has on record a number of applications made in the name of women. But this does not provide any indication as to whether these enterprises are operated and controlled by women. Not only the number of women entrepreneurs is less in India, but also the women entrepreneurs enterprise is small in traditional manufacturing activities with low investment, low turnover, minimum number of employees and with no professional assistance. In India, the traditional business activities of women 6 Sinha, K.C, Proceedings of Eighth national convention Entrepreneurs, New Delhi. 1990, p.13.

5 entrepreneurs are popularly identified as pickles, pappads, powder, garments and block printing, etc., This reflects the feminine psyche, social and economic, educational, financial and legal limiting factors that contribute to the gender status in industry today. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A few decades back women were married at an early age and their focus was centered around their family. The majority were uneducated and ignorant of the conditions prevailing in the country. The post-independent period has witnessed a significant improvement in women s education in India. As per the Tamil Nadu Government census data of 2011, the female literacy rate in Tamil Nadu has increased in rural and urban areas to percentage and percentage respectively 7. In Tamil Nadu literacy level among the female population has gone up over the decades, a little faster than that of the menfolk, as more and more women were educated and they turned up to seek employment. In course of time, they have started giving stiff competition to men in different fields like education, employment, etc., Tirunelveli district is highly dependent on agriculture for employment generation. There is no heavy industries here when compared to other cities like Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirupur. Moreover, agriculture is highly dependent on the monsoon and therefore the agricultural related works are seasonal in nature. For the rest of the non-agricultural period there is no employment. Due to acute shortage of job opportunities, emergence of nucleus family, non-availability of workers and stiff competition prevailing all around, more and more women have opted for entrepreneurship and have set up their own ventures. 7 Directors of Census operations, Tamilnadu, 2001

6 The Government has been giving a helping hand to women entrepreneurs especially in rural villages, by launching different schemes. In the Five Year s Plans, women entrepreneurs in the state are given concessional rate of loan, subsidy for women entrepreneur who set up small scale industrial units are provided capital subsidy in backward area and marketing services too. As a result, women have more opportunities to start a business. Today the position of women in society is slowly becoming equal to that of men socially, economically, educationally, politically and legally. Changing social attitudes and community practices make women work in all fields. They are entering into the organized work place in larger and larger numbers, including male dominated areas like entrepreneurship. For women to be empowered they should be financially, socially, educationally, professionally, politically, and legally, independent. Among the above variables, economic empowerment is the basis of all other variables in order to enhance their financial stability either by seeking job or doing self-employment or becoming an entrepreneur. In this context the researcher has raised two pertinent questions: whether women have become empowered or not. Does entrepreneurship help women to become empowered? In this context, it is proposed to undertake a study on women empowerment through entrepreneurship in Tirunelveli District and to examine the impact of various factors, namely, personal, rural and urban, governmental, professional, economic, social, legal and political responsible for the empowerment of women.

7 1.3 OBJECTIVES (i) To study the socio-economic characteristics of women entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli district. (ii) To examine the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and entrepreneurial skills among women. (iii)to examine the effectiveness of government schemes and training programmes on empowerment of women entrepreneurs. (iv) To examine the relationship between entrepreneurship and empowerment among women in Tirunelveli district. (v) To offer viable suggestions to promote women entrepreneurship and thereby empowerment of women in Tirunelveli district. 1.4 HYPOTHESES The following hypotheses were framed for testing the relationship between the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and socio-economic variables Personal variable does not influence women empowerment (Age, Religion, Education, Family Type, Marital Status) Economic variable does not influence women entrepreneurs empowerment. (Monthly income and Occupation) Social variable does not influence women entrepreneurs empowerment. (Community, Mummer ship in Self Help Group) Business variable does not influence women entrepreneurs empowerment. (Year of Experience, Nature of Business, Type of Organization) Training does not influence women entrepreneur s empowerment.

8 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study has been conducted to know whether real empowerment comes from entrepreneurship. Since Tirunelveli district is dependent on agro-economic climate conditions for agriculture and formal activities and non-formal activities like handicrafts, rope-making, embroidery, catering services, repair shops, soft drinks, stalls, petty shops, mat making, pot making etc, all of them give immense scope for women to earn their livelihood when they do not have income through agricultural activities. It also concentrated on identifying the extent to which the rural women are aware of the various schemes offered by the government and the extent of utilizing the facilities for the betterment of their life. This study may help women take up entrepreneurship and empower themselves by improving their economic strength. Moreover the findings and recommendation of the study would be much useful for the government and other administrators to formulate plans and policy for empowerment of women s sectors. 1.6 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS Woman The term woman in this context has been defined as one who starts her entrepreneurship either running her own business or by getting register under District Industrial Centre or by a member of Self Help Group Women entrepreneurs For the purpose of our study, women entrepreneurs refers to women who are doing any business industry or running any trade, manufacturing and services, whether they are registered or not.

9 1.6.3 Empowerment The dictionary meaning of the term, empower is to give power or authority. Generally, the term empowerment is controversial as we cannot clearly define the term empowerment unless we define the term empowerment with the exact variable. The variables are personal, rural and urban, economical, social, professional, political, and legal and government Area Coverage Area coverage for the study purpose refers to area coverage means the Tirunelveli district only which covers only ninteen Development Blocks Capital Structure For the purpose of the study, women entrepreneurs who are doing business with the capital of Rs. 25,000 and above have been chosen Type of Business On the basis of ownership, business can be organized in various forms such as sole proprietorship, partnership, private-sector, co-operative society, Hindu undivided family, etc., For the purpose of This study covers only sole proprietorship and partnership and Hindu undivided family in order to assess women empowerment SHG (Self Help Group) 20,985 SHG Members and around 2500 micro women entrepreneurs are available in Tirunelveli district. Here SHG means a woman entrepreneur who has been doing tiny/cottage/micro level business in Tirunelveli district. 1.7 SAMPLING The present study attempts to measure the level of empowerment among women entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli district. So the sample respondents for the study were drawn from among the women entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli district. The list of

10 women entrepreneur were collected from the District Industrial Centre (DIC) in Tirunelveli district, who have registered their unit under the Unemployed Youth Employment Generation Programme scheme (UYEGP), EDC under PMRY (Prime Minister Rozkar Yojana) Scheme and the rest of the 110 women entrepreneurs were selected from Self Help Groups. Thus the number of women entrepreneurs selected for the study in the Tirunelveli district is listed below: Sl. No Table 1.1 Sample Women Entrepreneurs Selected for the study Name of the Block No of Women Entrepreneurs 1 Alangulam 10 2 Ambasamudram 10 3 Cheranmahadevi 10 4 Kadayanallur 10 5 Kadayam 10 6 Kalakad 10 7 Keezapavoor 10 8 Kuruvikulam 10 9 Melaneelithanallur Manur Nanguneri Palayamkottai Pappakudi Radhapuram Shencottai Sankarankovil Tenkasi Vallioor Vasudevanallur 10 No of SHG Members 110 Total 300

11 It is clear from Table 1.1 that 300 women entrepreneurs have been selected from 19 development blocks. The Table further shows that 10 women entrepreneurs have been were selected at random in every block. Thus, 190 women entrepreneurs have been selected from 19 blocks in Tirunelveli district and the remaining 110 women entrepreneurs, from Self Help Groups in Tirunelveli district. In Tirunelveli district, 20,985 SHG members are there as on January, From the group around 2500 members are micro women entrepreneurs. Among the micro women entrepreneurs, 110 have been selected on the basis of random sample one that is (2500) starting micro/tiny/cottage level business in Tirunelveli district. The researcher has chosen around 110 respondents for his research out of 2,500 women entrepreneurs. Thus, the study has a sample of 300 respondents from 19 blocks in Tirunelveli district. 1.8 GEOGRAPHICAL AREA The study covers empowerment of women in Tirunelveli District. Tirunelveli district is located on the southern part of Tamilnadu. Tirunelveli is the headquarters of the district. A unique feature of this district is that it consists of all five geographical traditions of Tamil Literature. Kurunji (mountains), Mullai (forest), Marudham (paddy fields), Neithal (coastal land) and Palai (desert). The district is surrounded by Virudhunagar district in the North, Western Ghats in the West, Kanniyakumari district in the South and Thoothukudi district in the East. It covers an area of 6,823 sq.km. and lies between 8.05 and 9.30 of the Northern latitude and and of Eastern longitude. It has a perennial river Tamirabarani and various other small seasonal rivers. This district is blessed with beautiful waterfalls and cascades. Its diverse features include sandy soil and fertile alluvium, a variety of flora, and fauna and protected wild life. To add to its beauty, it has inland and mountainous forests.

12 Source: Secondary Data.( METHODOLOGY Primary and secondary data have been collected from different sources and used for analysis. The secondary data were collected from the official records in DIC, EDC and SHG records at the district level and block level. Tirunelveli statistical department, books, journals Tirunelveli collectorate, Mahalir Thittam, SHG report, census report, university reports, articles and other published literature. Further the secondary data required for the study have been collected from the various publications and various reports of the Government of India. structured interview schedule prepared Primary data was collected through a well by the researcher in consultation with the experts in the field. The finalized interview schedule was pre-tested as to its contents and wordings through a pilot study. The pilot study was conducted with fifty respondents selected at random from the Tirunelveli district. The practical difficulties

13 experienced by the respondents in answering the questions were set right and the final draft interview schedule was finalized. The finalized interview schedule was used for collecting information from the selected respondents PRE-TEST Before collecting the primary data, the interview schedule was put into a trial run for the validity of the questionnaire whether the questions are really match with objective of the researcher s study or not. A few changes were made in the order of questions. The pre-test helped to finalize the schedule with certain modifications in constructing and arranging the order of questions and presenting the appropriate questionnaire and table MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES Both independent as well as dependent variables were used for the study. The following table shows the independent variables and dependent variables. TABLE 1.2 MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES S.No Independent variable S.No Dependent Variable (Empowerment) 1 Age 1 Personal variable 2 Religion 2 Rural / Urban Variable 3 Income 3 Government Variable 4 Community 4 Professional Variable 5 Marital Status 5 Economic Variable 6 Education 6 Social Variable 7 Family formaters 7 Legal Variable 8 Type of Occupation 8 Political Variable 9 Members in Self Help Group 9 Women Empowerment

14 1.12 STATISTICAL TOOLS Statistical tools like Percentages, ANOVA, and t test have been used for analysis in the study ANOVA ANOVA test is used by the researcher to find the significant differences existing among the three or more sample groups in relation to a variable. The total variance in a set of data is divided into variation within groups and variation between groups. The ANOVA technique is based on the concept of sum of squared deviations from a mean. Corresponding to the total variance and its two components, we have the total sum of squares (SS), between groups sum of squares (SS b ), within groups of squares (SS w ) is obtained by combining the sum squares i.e., the squared deviations of every raw score from its sample mean. The formula used is SS w n Where d = a deviation of every raw score of a category from its sample mean. The between groups sum of squares (SS b ) is obtained by calculating the difference between obtained each sample mean and the total mean. The squared difference is multiplied by the sample size in the concerned category and these quantities. The formula is SS b -x 1 ) 2 n] where, X = any sample mean X 1 = the total mean

15 n = the number of scores in any sample SS b = the between groups sum of squares The total sum of squares (SS 1 ) is equal to a sum of within and between groups sum of squares. SS 1 = SS b + SS w T Test t test is used to study the significant differences among two groups of samples with respect to a variable. It is also used to test the significance of a correlation coefficient calculated among two variables. In the study for the latter purpose t test is employed. Theoretical work on t-distribution was done by W.S. Gosset in the early The t-statistic is defined as: t = where, S = n-1 The t-distribution is derived mathematically under the assumption of a normal distribution as: f(t) = C where, t = C = a constant required to make the area under the curve equal to unity. v = n-1, the number of degrees of freedom.

16 To test the significance of the correlation coefficient the following formula is used: t = where, t is based on (n-2) degrees of freedom. If the calculated value of t exceeds for (n-2), d.f., the value of r is significant at 5% level. If t < the data are consistent with the hypothesis of an uncorrelated population DATA PROCESSING The researcher collected data from 300 women entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli district through interview schedule. The collected data is codified to facilitate further analysis through computers. Then by using SPSS through computers the required classification tables have been prepared. Those classification tables have been the base for further analysis CHAPTER SCHEME The report of the study has been presented in six chapters. The first chapter deals with the design of the study. This chapter has highlights the introduction, statement of the problem, significance of the study, objectives of the study, hypotheses, operational definitions, methodology and statistical tools, sampling design, the method of data processed, geographical coverage, limitations of the study and the chapter scheme. The various concepts related to review of literature, and profile of Tirunelveli district, entrepreneurial development in Tirunelveli and SHG details have been discussed in the second chapter. The third chapter presents the empowerment level with entrepreneurship. Introduction, the concept of women entrepreneur, overview of development of women

17 entrepreneur since independence, self-employment, women entrepreneurs through selfemployment, scheme for the professional skill of women entrepreneurs, different strategies adopted by Tamil Nadu Government, opportunities, problems/consulate faced by women entrepreneurs, spiral of entrepreneur status of women in global and Indian context, national policy for women empowerment, policy commitment for women, constitutional policies, future plan for women entrepreneurs and conclusion. The fourth chapter focuses the profile of women entrepreneur in Tirunelveli based on their age, religion, marital status, monthly income, occupation, education, year of experience, family type and membership of the SHG. The factors which influence the empowerment of women entrepreneurs have been analyzed extensively in the fifth chapter. The sixth chapter covers overall development of women entrepreneurs related to nature of type of business, economic empowerment, training program, motivational factors, problems of women entrepreneurs and solutions to the for problems. The seventh and final chapter discusses the summary of findings and offers suggestions for enhancing the women entrepreneur s empowerment.