Entrepreneurship – A New Female Frontier

The economic empowerment of women is a vital element of strong economic growth in any country. Entrepreneurship happens to be one of the best ways towards self-sufficiency and poverty alleviation for women in a country where employment is not guaranteed. Involvement of women in entrepreneurial activities would ensure effective utilization of labour, generation of income and hence improvement in quality of life. Women empowerment through entrepreneurship is a must for a modern developed economy. 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 women in India. In recent years the entrepreneurship has gained wide popularity on the whole globe. The rate of becoming entrepreneurs in women is more compared to men. In North America 38 percent & small businesses are owned by women. The growth rate in women owned enterprises in some of the developing countries are higher as compared to the developed countries. According to ILO Statistics the growth rate is 24% in Malaysia, 30% in Thailand & 36% in Philippines & 42% in Indonesia. The growth rate was highest in the Tamil Nadu state of India. It was 18% in 2001 and 23% in 2011. As such, women both in the rural and the urban sectors and especially those belonging to the middle class are turning to entrepreneurship to fulfil their aspirations both economically and socially. Though there are several factors contributing to the emergence of women as entrepreneurs, the sustained and coordinated effort from all dimensions would pave the way for the women moving into entrepreneurial activity thus contributing to the social and economic development of the members of the family and thereby gaining equality and equal importance for themselves