Problems and Prospects of Woman Entrepreneurship – A Review of Literature

Any nation, to grow today in the world of intense competition, requires entrepreneurs at the core of the economic development. Entrepreneurial activities and entrepreneurship has been dominated by males since ages. However, in the era of information technology, the women have become more aware and better educational facilities have enabled them to venture into this male dominated space. The women today have emerged as a key player in economic development of the nations. However this transformation of society is far from over and the women entrepreneurs not only face difficulties while starting up an enterprise but also during the running phase. Globally, they have become a key player in sustaining both social development and economic growth. However, in a country like India where almost 50% of population is made up of women, the number of enterprises run by women entrepreneurs is only 7.36% or out of 361.76 Lakh enterprises in the MSME sector, only 26.61 Lakh have women at the top. There are a number of socio-economic hurdles faced by the women while they attempt to venture into setting up and running their own enterprises. Hence, the paper discusses the status of the Women Entrepreneurs and their importance. Also, an attempt is made to identify the challenges faced by these women entrepreneurs, by reviewing various literatures and provide some suggestion for overcoming these obstacles.