Performance of Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Sikkim

Transcription

1 Performance of Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Sikkim Bikash Sharma Ph.D Scholar in Economics, Department Of Economics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 0 00, Tamil Nadu, India & Dr.T. Sezhiyan Assistant Professor, Economics Wing, Directorate Of Distance Education, Annamalai Nagar 0 00, Tamil Nadu, India Introduction and Background Women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economy of almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the society. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge into business ventures. Women Entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become economically independent. A desire to do something is a positive inbuilt quality of women, who is capable of contributing values in both family and social life. It has always been understood that, the rural women are incredibly homemakers and are not a part of the active financial and working life of the rural India, inspite of the proven fact that, they are hardworking, farsighted and logical individuals. Seethalakshmi and Shanthi (199) have emphasized the need for fostering selfemployment for women through collective endeavor in forming groups especially the poorer women. They have pointed out that the difference between the betteroff and the down trodden women by comparing better opportunity for better off women to venture into business. Rajeswari and Sumangala (1999) have exposed that the quest for economic independence and better social status and sometimes sheer need for the family s survival, force women into self employment and entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurship has been recognized during the last decade as an important and it is a untapped source of economic growth. Women entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others. They also stated that the society with different solutions to management, organization and business problems as well as to the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. Women in entrepreneurship has been largely neglected both in society in general and in the social sciences. Training for rural women and advisory services on managerial and technical skills could be solving production problems. The main challenges of women is to face in less educational and work background, balancing their time share between work and family, problems of raising startup capital, difficulty in borrowing fund, problems of availing rawmaterials access to export market without intermediaries, as well as an overall psychological barrier on the part of banks, suppliers, and customers. It is in this contexts study conducted in one Panchayat unit of west Sikkim and it highlighted the problem faced by the women handicraft entrepreneurs. Further it is clear that entrepreneurial activity in rural areas, which is an approach of entrepreneurial development in rural areas in the study region. Review of literature Women in India reveal that empowerment of women and development of women entrepreneurs to bring actual reality through constitutional goal of equality. (Leelamma Devasia, 1990) and Lalitha Iyer s study (1991) on Women Entrepreneurs Challenges and Strategies analyses major constraints faced by women entrepreneurs and reflects upon specific policies and programmes for women entrepreneurship development. Women entrepreneurs often feel that they are victims of discrimination. One of the most interesting issues with regard to women entrepreneurship is the different ways women are discriminated against in concealed ways (Orhan, 1999). According to Kuratko and Welsch (199), women entrepreneurs have long felt that they have been victims of discrimination. Various studies examined the types of discrimination and some have been attempted to document them. Challenges to women entrepreneurs cover a wide spectrum, including level of education, interrole conflicts emanating from greater parenting responsibilities, a dearth of financial assistance and sociocultural > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page

2 constraints (Ghosh and Cheruvalath, 007). Although men and women both experience personal problems, women recorded more difficulties. This is especially true with regard to a lack of selfconfidence and not being taken seriously by providers of funds when applying for funds (Bridge et al., 003). Kamala Singh s study (199) on Women Entrepreneurs has made an attempt to diagnose the women entrepreneurs profile and has identified dominating entrepreneurial traits, their motivational forces and performance both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. This work aimed at understanding the entrepreneurial development among women is a unique attempt for highlighting their existing status and contribution in the national economy. Anil Kumar (007) throws light to the fact that the problem of unemployment, regional imbalances, inequality in the distribution of income and wealth can be sorted out by providing training to the people of the country for self employment. S. Santha (00) stated that any strategy aimed at economic development will be lopsided without involving women who constitute half the world population. Objectives 1. To study the Concept of rural women entrepreneur and entrepreneurship development in Sikkim state. To analyze the Challenges faced by rural women handicraft entrepreneurs. Methodology Study Area: The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Regarding primary data the present study was undertaken in West district of Sikkim state. The west district has divided into two subdivisions, 9 constituencies, 11 revenue blocks and 51 Panchayat units. Out of which, one Panchayat unit i.e. Pelling were selected for a study area. Research and sample Design: The present research has adopted descriptive analysis. Well structured questionnaire was used to get the information for the sample respondents. The total sample respondents comprised of 0 rural women of whom 0 were women handicraft entrepreneurs (WHE) and rest 0 women were non entrepreneurs (NEW those who were not running their handicraft entrepreneurs but involving in other entrepreneurial activities) was selected and using random sampling method was employed. The structured questionnaire was developed by the researchers, in order to get information from the respondents. The whole study is based on primary data collected through structured questionnaire from the sample of 0 entrepreneurs. Frequency distribution and Simple percentage analysis is adopted for analyses the data. Results and Discussion The socioeconomic status of rural women entrepreneurs, pre intervention scenario is inferior. Though the majority of poor rural women were participating in the economic activities such as Agriculture, livestock and husbandry, their contributions were seldom. The information of the rural women entrepreneur has been discussed about the different aspects of economic factors like land, type of house, livestock and source of income Table 1: shows the general information about Rural Women Entrepreneur Sl.No Variables WHE Percentage (%) NEW Percentage (%) 1 Land Landless 1 acre 3 acre Above 5 acre Type of house Kachaha house Pucca house > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page 7

3 3 Livestock Milch animals Above 15 Other animals Source of income Agriculture Livestock Wages Business Enterprise With regard to ownership of land holding in table 1 reveals that the NEW respondents had more land than the WHE respondents. Data regarding the type of houses shows that the (70%) WHE respondents had Kachaha houses where as in the NEW respondents (0%) had Pucca house. The house indicates the economical status of the family. In the case of livestock, data reveals that the NEW had more Milch animals than the WHE, where as the WHE had more (0%) other animals than the NEW had (10%). Livestock plays various roles in providing power for farm manure for crops, and energy for cooking food for household consumption as well as marketing. In term of entrepreneurship they were used for milk, meat production and marketing. The table 1 shows the source of income also where the NEW had more income from agriculture (5%) then the WHE (15%) only because WHE respondents had less agriculture land than the NEW. In case of enterprises WHE respondents had more income (0 %) then the NEW (15 %) The occupation, possession of land, house and live stock possession indicate stability of the families. The woman from rural areas always aims at raising standard of living through entrepreneurship. The ownership also creates a positive atmosphere for entrepreneurship and gives courage to bear risks. The source of income shows that the women on both the categories were involved in some or the other income generating activity and thus entrepreneurial activity was their need, but still the NEW preferred other income generating activities in comparison to entrepreneurial activities. Rural women handicraft entrepreneurs faced variety of problems for the running of their enterprises. Rural women handicraft entrepreneurs performance is not as much progressive as desired due to various challenges faced by them such as, Personal challenges, Social challenges, financial challenges, Marketing challenges, technological challenges, competition challenges, lack of mobility challenges, Educational challenges, lack of knowledge and other challenges. Some problems which can be classified social problems, financial problems, marketing problems and entrepreneurial problems were short listed for present study. The combination of the words women and entrepreneur seems to be socially odd in India, especially in the rural context. Apart from the problems common to all entrepreneurs; women also encounter various social problems. Men have negative attitude towards women, therefore gender discrimination is prevailing. Due to family responsibilities rural women entrepreneurs have less time compared to men they have to look after both their family and business activity. Women entrepreneurs in rural areas have to face not only resistance from men but also from elderly women who are imprisoned in the attitude of inequality. The ability and different types of skills posed by the rural women entrepreneurs is not recognized by the society, because of the society s lack of confidence in women s ability. The women entrepreneurs in rural areas are facing stiff competition from their male counterparts in terms of production and marketing of their products and services. Such social problem faced by the rural women entrepreneur in the region. > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page

4 Table : show the social problem of Rural Women Entrepreneur Sl.No Variables WHE Percentage (%) NEW Percentage (%) 1 Family problem Social discrimination (a) Due to caste (b) Due to gender Due to education 3 Lack of support from other enterprises Problem of working with man worker Table exhibits the detail of various social problems face by the women enterprises. More than threefourth of the total women of both the categories had problem with family matters. Social discrimination due to caste, gender and education level among more than twothird of the total respondents. Due to these discrimination problems like, caste were faced by as high as (50%) among the WHE respondent and around (0%) among the NEW respondents. The data reveals that the (70%) of WHE respondents and around (0%) NEW respondent were not getting any support from the other enterprises. The women also reported that the working with men worker is a major problem for them, around (90%) of WHE respondents and (100%) of NEW respondent had problem with men worker. The finances are the key stone of any enterprise, without finance, best machines, human resource, sound technology, positive environment, market etc. all are insignificant. The financial problems in the rural women entrepreneurship were major problem for the women enterprises. It is considered as a key issue to women. Accessing credit, particularly for starting an enterprise, is one of the major constraints faced by women entrepreneurs. Women often have fewer opportunities than men to gain access to credit for various reasons, including lack of collateral, unwillingness to accept household assets as collateral and negative perceptions of female entrepreneurs by loan officers. Most of the entrepreneurs rely on family finance or at the maximum on partners and friends. Lack of access to capital has been a primary obstacle for women entrepreneurs. Table 3: shows the financial problem of Rural Women Entrepreneur Sl.no Variables WHE Percentage NEW Percentage (%) (%) 1 Lack of finance Lack of knowledge about bank finance 3 Money lender High rate of interest The table 3 gives the details of various financial problems, which are faced by the both entrepreneurial women. The major problem reported that (70%) of WHE respondents and (0%) of NEW respondents were not having proper finance to run their enterprises. Around threefourth of respondent of both the categories was lack of knowledge about the bank finance. Around (5%) of NEW respondents face the pressure of money lenders. Cent percent respondent s women entrepreneurs form both the enterprises were being depressed by the high rate of interest. > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page 9

5 The ability to tap into new markets requires expertise, knowledge and contacts. Women often lack access to training and experience in on how to participate in the market place and are therefore unable to market goods and services strategically. Thus, rural women entrepreneur are often unable to take on both the production and marketing of their goods. Production and marketing efficiency are important determinants of entrepreneurial success. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs cannot ensure their marketing efficiency due to their poor managerial, fear of middle man and technical skills. Some of the women entrepreneurs suffered from operational inefficiency in rural areas due to the raw materials and traditional production process. Consequently they created a problem in the marketing of goods. Rural areas women are bounded by our societal norms that retrain them from involving market contacts. Table : shows the marketing problem of Rural Women Entrepreneur Sl.No Variables WHE Percentage (%) NEW 1 Fear of middle man Lack of market knowledge Competition from other enterprises Improper marketing channel Percentage (%) Women entrepreneur face several problems in marketing. In view of shortage of financial resources and small scale of operation; advertising publicity cannot be undertaken by artisans. The fear of middle man were prevailed in most of the rural women enterprises, table show that around (5%) of WHE respondents and almost (75%) of NEW respondents had problem with the middle man. The data shows that around (0%) of respondents from both the entrepreneurs having lack of marketing knowledge and face tough competition from other enterprises. Threefourth of Women entrepreneurs had problem with improper functioning of marketing channels in the region. Women entrepreneurship development is an essential part of human resource development. Entrepreneurship amongst women has been a recent concern. The development of women entrepreneurship is very low, especially in the rural areas. Women have become aware of their existence their rights and their work situation. Women Entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become economically independent. Women entrepreneurs are motivated by internal factors such as the family background, education background, and the desire to do something independently. The emergence of rural women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the national economy is quite visible. Rural women entrepreneurs are those entrepreneurs who actually reside in rural areas and mobilize human resources requirements from those areas in which they live. Rural woman entrepreneurs faced some problem for the establishment of their enterprise. Table 5 shows the entrepreneurial problem of rural women entrepreneur Sl. Variables WHE Percentage (%) NEW Percentage (%) No 1 Problem of raw materials Low production Earn less money Lack of skills and training Lack of experiences > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page 10

6 Entrepreneurial problems may lead to inability in earning sufficient incomes. The reasons as reported by the sample were lack of raw material and the low production. The data reveals that around (70%) of WHE respondents and around (0% to 90%) of NEW respondents were not starting their income generation activity due to inconvenience in procuring raw material and low production. Lack of skilled and training were mostly found in rural entrepreneurs, here data shows that (70%) of WHE respondents and around (0%) among the NEW respondents had lack of skills. At around (95%) of WHE respondents and around (5%) of NEW respondents were fighting with the problem of lack of experience Conclusion It is clean from the above analysis it can be concluded that rural women handicraft entrepreneur (WHE) and women in non entrepreneurs (NEW those who were not running their handicraft entrepreneurs but involving in other entrepreneurs) where facing a multiple problems to run their entrepreneur s. Almost all the problems the women entrepreneurs are facing social, financial, marketing, and entrepreneurial challenges. Of these, social challenge is the key problem followed by financial and marketing challenge. Detail analysis of social challenge shows around (0%) among the rural women entrepreneurs. The analysis shows the problems of finance, marketing and entrepreneurial at around (70% to 0%) among the both women entrepreneurs. If the women are to be successful entrepreneurs, they are to be educated, skilled and trained sufficiently and to be supported carefully by family and external environment to handle their entrepreneurial problems. Therefore, for the upliftment of the rural women entrepreneurial to suggest corrective measure, providing proper market facilities, raw materials, finance and skills based training facilities should be provided by the State Government. Suggestions 1. Most of the rural women entrepreneurs are of the belief that because of lack of training, they are not able to survive in the market. Hence, the government should conduct frequent training programmer with regard to new production techniques, sales techniques, etc, this training should be made compulsory for women entrepreneurs.. Finance is the first major problem for rural women entrepreneurs. Hence, the government can provide interest free loans to encourage women entrepreneurs. To attract more women entrepreneurs, the subsidy for loans should be increased. 3. Women entrepreneurs should be encouraged to start their entrepreneurs as joint stock companies rather than as a sole trade and partnership concerns to avail the advantages of large scale business.. Marketing product is one of the main problems for rural women entrepreneurs. Here, Women Cooperative Societies and Self Help Groups can be started to procure the products from women entrepreneurs. They will help them in selling their products at a reasonable price. 5. When women work outside their home, they face the problem of dual role and they are in a conflicting frame of mind whether to give priority to home or career. Hence, husbands and other family members should share the household s activities.. In the district, there is no association of women entrepreneurs. They can form an association and meet at a central place on a regular basis so as to discuss their needs, problems, experiences and achievements. 7. Husbands and men folk should be made to realize the significance of women entrepreneurship. Then, their attitude, role and expectation will change and they will provide the necessary capital, guidance and moral support needed by the rural women entrepreneurs. Reference 1. Anand N (003), Working women; issues and problems, Yojana, March, pp Aravinda C and Renuka S (001), Women Entrepreneurs: An exploratory study. SEDME Journal, September, (3) p > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page 11

7 3. Dhameja S K (00), Women Entrepreneurs: Opportunities, Performance and Problems, Deep Publisher (P) Ltd., New Delhi.. Mitra R (00), The growth pattern of women run enterprises: an empirical Study in India, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 7() August. 5. Mohamed H. S. (001), Problems of rural industries. Kisan World; (): 9.. Nazar Mohideen (005), Women Entrepreneurship and Small Scale Industries. New Delhi: Himalaya Publishing House. 7. Paul. E (199), Entrepreneurship Development. New Delhi: Himalaya Publishing House.. Rajendran N (003), Problems and Prospects of Women Entrepreneurs, SEDME, journal, 30(). 9. Shanthi K and K Seethalakshmi (199) Economic Empowerment through Self Employment K.Shanthi (Ed), Empowerment of Women (NWHE Delhi: Anmol). 10. Sharma T P, Borthakur S K, (010) Traditional Handloom and Handicraft of Sikkim, Indian journal of traditional Knowledge, 9() (010) Shrivastave AK (00), Surajkund: The Sikkim story, (Information and Public Relation Department, Government of Sikkim), Sikkim Statistical Profile Handbook (00910), Department of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Government of Sikkim. 13. Singh K (199), Women entrepreneurs, Ashish publishing house, New Delhi. 1. Sumangala. P & M. Rajeswari (1999) Women Entrepreneurs A Scan on their Problems and Prospects (NWHE Delhi: Kanishka). > RJEBS: Volume: 0, Number: 1, October013 Page 1