Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the transition of midlife women from employment in organizations to self-employment. It examines how midlife women account for their transition from ...organizations to self-employment; why they opted for self-employment rather than simply changing organizations and their experience of self-employment.Design methodology approach - This paper is based on semi-structured interviews (n=100), with women between the ages of 46 and 60 who have moved into self-employment from organizational employment.Findings - Two themes emerged from the study. The first was the negative organizational experience of some of the women which had caused dissatisfaction and disenchantment and therefore self-employment was seen as the only next step. The second theme was changes triggered by a positive proactive choice to move into self-employment.Research limitations implications - There are limitations to using individual perceptions and anecdotes. It cannot be assumed that the women in this study represent the views of all midlife women.Practical implications - Silence about midlife women leaving organizations perpetuates high costs for both the organization and the individual involved. Organizations need to address the negative and discriminatory perceptions about midlife women and recognize the trend towards more, not fewer, older women in the workplace and value the experience, skills and knowledge they bring.Originality value - The paper is original in that the focus is on women in midlife, which is unique, as previous research about women in organizations has rarely encompassed the experiences of this group of women moving into self-employment.
Informal economy is a quasi-permanent off-shoot of the rapid urbanization. It is omnipresent in every one’s life, in every day’s event. Moreover, this type of economy is capable of challenging the ...formal economy and political structure of the nation. The trend of involuntary entry of migrant women for domestic help - caring children, cleaning home, doing shopping, or cooking- in the apartment based urban nuclear family is almost a normal practice with a certain level of legitimacy. So, this study aims to relate socioeconomic trends and issues of legitimacy concerning women employed in the informal sector in Delhi. From data collected, it was intended to assess the motivating factors behind migration and employment in the informal sector. The study, though conducted on a small-scale, alludes to the structure of informal economy in Delhi. Besides, it gives a picture of the interplay of socioeconomic and cultural factors in these women’s life.
This article begins with a look at women employment over the years and the historical place of women entrepreneurship in today’s economy. It continues by analyzing data statistically on women ...entrepreneurs in the United States across racial lines, with a particular focus on Hispanic women entrepreneurs. The article ends by examining the critical issues that are important for women entrepreneurs in today’s environment as well as the future implications of these issues.
This study delineates the picture of the nature of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia. This study is important for policy makers and scholars because it offers classical and contemporary evidence of ...women entrepreneurs which contributes significantly to the success of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia. This research sheds light on the issues of women’s entrepreneurial activities and perceptions: their willingness to take the risk of entrepreneur, participation in enhancing local economy, self-efficacy, perceived opportunity, role model and fear of failure. Besides providing interesting facts about the perspectives of women entrepreneurs, this study also helps us to gain insight into the potential of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia. The dataset from Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring (GEM) Indonesia has been employed to outline a number of societal issues. Data were collected from 5,620 respondents from each province and also from rural and urban areas in Indonesia. To give a better view of women’s entrepreneurial circumstances, the data were explored using the descriptive analysis method equipped with pictures and facts. The results of the study will allow policy makers to understand how the Indonesian women entrepreneurs are functioning. Policy makers at the national and local levels are suggested to notice the situation of women entrepreneurs by making an injunction related to empowering women in small and medium-sized enterprises.
The proclivity of women with university education towards employment in government and private organizations is an undeniable trend. However, a notable phenomenon that deserves further exploration ...is the growing interest and enthusiasm of some women in entrepreneurship and establishing their own businesses. This study employed a qualitative and interpretive phenomenological approach, utilizing semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 female university graduate entrepreneurs, to investigate the importance of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship as a crucial platform for effective policy-making in the field of women and to restore their socio-economic role. This type of research is vital due to the pressing need to promote women's social participation and decrease the unemployment rate of university-educated women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to comprehend the reasons behind the inclination of university-educated women towards small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and to listen to their narratives. The research findings reveal four major themes that have emerged from the interviews, namely “feminine creativity flourishing,” “entrepreneurship as a connecting bond of multiple identities of women,” “dwindling of women's confidence and creativity,” and “entrepreneurship as a win-win game.” These themes reflect the lived experiences of female entrepreneurs and the challenges they confront in entrepreneurship. Overall, the findings indicate that the lack of social structures supporting women and their low official employment rates have driven them to create new self-made social structures, such as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has the potential to define the field of activity and the role of women in expressing their abilities and skills, as well as their socio-economic participation. Based on this, policymakers are urged to take entrepreneurship among women seriously, as it can play a crucial role in empowering and enabling women to participate effectively in society and the economy.Keywords Entrepreneurship, Women Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Action, Socio-Economic RoleIntroductionIn today's world, a noticeable trend among women worldwide is the pursuit of employment based on their own desires and interests. This tangible phenomenon reflects the changes and developments that have occurred in modern times. Despite the many challenges and obstacles that women face in male-dominated job markets, there has been a growing interest in entrepreneurship and non-governmental professions. Entrepreneurship not only provides women with the potential to reduce poverty and generate income, but also offers the advantages of flexible working hours, which can greatly reduce conflicts between work and family responsibilities (Shahabadi et al., 2019: 62). The information provided suggests that exploring the topic of educated women's entrepreneurship and understanding its dimensions, particularly by listening to their experiences and narratives as they navigate entrepreneurship and reclaim their socio-economic roles through small and medium-sized businesses, is crucial in creating effective policies for women. The significance of conducting this study is to uncover the obscure and unexplored aspects of the experiences of female university entrepreneurs. These women have utilized their knowledge, passion, and creativity to establish opportunities for employment and income not only for themselves but also for others, thus contributing to an increase in female participation in different societal spheres. By tackling the pressing social issue of unemployment among female university graduates, they are paving the way for educated women to experience joy and contentment (Azizi et al., 2019: 577-579), and ultimately, for the realization of socio-economic progress in society. The primary objective of this research is to answer the question of how small and medium-sized entrepreneurship can contribute to the recovery of the socio-economic role of female university students and encourage them to take action in this area.MethodologyThis study employed qualitative and interpretive phenomenological methods to investigate the experiences of female graduates aged 20 to 50 who had less than 10 years of entrepreneurship experience. The research collected data using semi-structured interviews and focused on small and medium-sized entrepreneurship that employed a maximum of 20 people, including the business owner. Interviewees were selected using targeted and snowball sampling methods based on their shared entrepreneurship experiences and university education. In total, 14 interviewees were selected, with data saturation achieved in the twelfth interview. To ensure the credibility of the research, two additional interviewees were included. Throughout the research, the interview questions were designed to elicit a clear understanding of the interviewees' statements and to ensure consensus and accuracy. The aim was to gain a comprehensive and credible understanding of the experiences of these female entrepreneurs. FindingsThe findings of this study, obtained through qualitative data analysis and in-depth interviews, are presented in the form of four primary themes: "feminine creativity flourishing", "entrepreneurship as a connecting bond of multiple identities of women", "dwindling of women's confidence and creativity", and "entrepreneurship as a win-win game". These themes are further divided into sub-themes, including "joy for production", "entrepreneurship as a maternal fertility", "preservation of femininity and maternal identity", "recovery of socio-economic identity", "male-dominated policy structures", "distrust of government structures", "satisfying the sense of altruism and social networking", and "achieving capability and independence". Data analysis indicates that women who have received education engage in entrepreneurship for various reasons, including both material and spiritual benefits, not only for themselves but also for their colleagues, target communities, and society at large. One notable observation is that women entrepreneurs frequently experience identity confusion due to a lack of suitable social platforms. On the one hand, they actively participate in various socio-economic fields, while on the other hand, societal gender division expects them to fulfill traditional roles, which can be challenging to balance. As a result, many women use entrepreneurial activities as a means of connecting their identities to multiple roles, reducing role conflicts, and creating new opportunities and structures for themselves. Despite the prevalence of male-dominated structures in policymaking and political institutions, which may lead to a dwindling of women's confidence and creativity, research shows that these factors do not deter women's motivations to enter small and medium-sized entrepreneurship. The study demonstrates that while material and spiritual benefits serve as driving forces for interviewees to embark on their entrepreneurial journey, their enthusiasm and passion for unleashing their talents and creativity play a crucial role in motivating them to pursue their dreams.ResultIn summary, this study shows that women are increasingly drawn to entrepreneurship because it allows them to effectively balance their social, economic, personal, and family responsibilities, while also nurturing their creativity. A university education has been instrumental in helping women develop the skills necessary for success in this field, despite potential challenges posed by societal and economic structures. However, it is worth noting that individual and family factors, particularly the support of spouses, also play a critical role in these women's achievements. Despite these significant findings, further research is needed to fully understand these factors and their impact on women's success in entrepreneurship. Therefore, future studies should aim to delve deeper into these issues.
This study has been designed to reveal the issues that are unfavorable to both women entrepreneurs as well as financial institutions and lessen fund flow from financial institutions to women ...entrepreneurs. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used here. Responses from women entrepreneurs have been quantified by using four point likert scale and data have been collected through face-to-face interview. This study has revealed that collateral dispute and lengthy process, suspiciousness, preconception and conservative attitude of the employees and complicacy in loan processing limit women entrepreneurs' access to institutional finance. Whereas, collateral dispute with women entrepreneurs, high operating cost, misuse of disbursed loan, lack of business experience and proper documents and difficulty in assessing creditworthiness of the women entrepreneurs demotivate financial institutions to supply fund to women entrepreneurs. The findings of this study will facilitate Bangladesh and other developing countries (having same nature) to set appropriate policies to enhance fund flow to women entrepreneurs with a view to encouraging women entrepreneurship and ensuring economic progress and women empowerment.
Women Entrepreneurs of Gujarat Shastri, Durva; Rao, U.T.
Procedia economics and finance,
2014, 2014-00-00, Volume:
11
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The present research paper elaborates the women entrepreneurs of Gujarat. It states how these women started from a miniscule base and have expanded their domain to foreign land as well. It also ...mentions what are the Government efforts to boost up these women to take up entrepreneurship as their careers. Not only do these women earn profit and accomplish goals but at the same time they also indulge themselves or their organization for the society or to bring about a social change. In nutshell, they signify that women should be self-reliant.
Article focuses on the analysis of successful businesses in Ukraine started and operated by women-owners, focusing on personal experiences of women-entrepreneurs and their perceptions of drivers and ...barriers of their businesses/
Abstract
Female led-businesses are nowadays regarded as a vehicle for worldwide economic and social wellbeing. Seen as a mechanism for better social inclusion, empowerment, wide institutional change ...and local economic development, female entrepreneurship has been the focus of many scholarly pursuits. However, one field in which the interest in female-led businesses has been somewhat overlooked and overshadowed by other topics is the field of innovation studies. There are various national and international programs meant to increase the level of innovativeness of female-led businesses and there are reports presenting somewhat contradictory results in which women business owners are portrayed either as more innovative or at a disadvantage when it comes to the resources needed for innovation in comparison to their male counterparts. Thus, this study seeks to disentangle the various aspects which affect the landscape of innovation in female led-businesses by focusing on the way in which the national contexts creates opportunities or barriers for innovation. Based on the qualitative data provided by the GEM 2012 Adult Population Survey, we show that, in the case of the six countries included in the sample, the landscape is highly heterogeneous and that macrolevel indicators such as percentage of female entrepreneurs, public support for high growth female entrepreneurship and gender equality are not capable of fully explaining the innovation behavior of female-led businesses. The results presented here contribute to advancing the research on innovation and female entrepreneurship by opening up new avenues for research which will renounce the paradigm of an ideal type of female-led business, and start to seriously take into consideration the heterogeneity of these businesses and of the landscapes in which they operate.
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