DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA: TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE

Entrepreneurship as an area of discussion in academics has gained a lot of attention in the present time. Even though women constitute nearly half of the total population, their participation in entrepreneurial activities is still very limited. Since women are considered as an important catalyst for economic development of a country, encouraging more participation from them in entrepreneurship will prove to be a significant step for the development of the economy. Entrepreneurship is not merely an act of money making. For women, entrepreneurship is essentially a journey out of poverty and of self-realization towards equality. In the recent times, rural women entrepreneurship has drawn a lot of attention the government, various nongovernment organizations and researchers in the last few decades. Increasing number of women entrepreneurs in the rural areas has necessitated the active participation of women in the economy. Rural women entrepreneurs engaged in small scale enterprises have capacitated the process of empowerment in the rural areas and the all round socio-economic development of these women. Keeping in mind the increasing number of rural women entrepreneurs, this paper is an attempt to understand the prospect of women entrepreneurship in India in general and in rural areas in particular. Moreover, this paper also looks at the issues that the women entrepreneurs are facing in the rural areas and how the government has helped them in this process.