Women social entrepreneurs: the fairer sex shine through dark times
Being a woman in India can be quite trying. The facts are well-known: rampant female infanticide, skewed male to female ratio, high incidents of rape, dowry deaths and so on. While these factors hurt our moral and social fabric, there are others that hurt the country economically. India does not utilize its women fully in the labor force, with only 39 per cent of its population employed, compared to 71 per cent in China. There’s also the problem of the glass ceiling. Against this backdrop, being a women entrepreneur in India is doubly difficult, with most them bogged down by the vagaries of domestic life or hindered by other factors.
So, there was no real shock last month, when Dell released the results of the world’s first gender-focused, global entrepreneurship index called the global entrepreneurship and development index (GEDI). India was positioned at the bottom of the pile, below countries like Morocco and Egypt and just above Uganda that was last. The 17-country pilot analysis studies the conditions that foster high potential female entrepreneurship based on individual aspirations, business environments and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Help maybe coming from many quarters, including the Indian government and other foreign governments like Japan; organizations like Asian Development Bank, the Indus Entreprenurs (TiE) and Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (FIWE); and companies like Google. More needs to be done. In spite of all these setbacks India does have a thriving women social entrepreneur ecosystem.
At SocialStory, we plan over the next month, to turn the spotlight on those women social entrepreneurs, who decided to throw down the gauntlet and battle their way to success. We will narrate stories of these women, who have fought the system, and their own inner demons to emerge triumphant.
The series will also feature expert views on the state of women entrepreneurship in the social enterprise space, challenges they face, factors for success and opinions from our own staff writers.
If you have any women social entrepreneurs that you would like to see profiled, have any suggestions for the series, or would like to write for us, drop us a line at [email protected] or [email protected]
We look forward to hear from you.
Photo credit: http://soilmag.com