Women and Development - A Case for Development of Women Entrepreneurship? With Special Reference to Indian Women

Economic independence is a pre-requisite for women's movement towards gender equality. It is high time that the planners realise that women are contributories in the development process and not mere beneficiaries- they do not need welfare schemes but income generation opportunities. Regardless of social taboos more and more women are being pushed towards paid employment because of economic hardships. Development of women entrepreneurship will serve the dual purpose of empowering women and speeding up the process of economic development. For governments and planners are increasingly realising that economic growth cannot be manufactured by fine tuning, tax and regulatory policies alone, for the existence of a basketball and a court does not guarantee the game and the players. It is the entrepreneur who acts as a spark plug and propels the economy to higher levels of growth and development. An effort to assess the role of women entrepreneurship, in emancipation of women and in the development of the nation is vital to the needs of our times. In accordance with the issues cited above, this paper is divided into four sections, section 1 tries to capture the relationship between women and development. Section 2 highlights the need for promoting entrepreneurship among women, section 3 outlines the profile of a women entrepreneur, her enterprise and the impediments faced by her whereas the last section contains the summary and suggestions.