Woman in MSME Part III

The Woman in the MSME

The Hijras of India are probably

the most well known and popu-

lous third sex type in the modern

world – Mumbai-based commu-

nity health organisation The

Humsafar Trust estimates that

there are between 5 and 6 million

hijras in India. In different areas

they are known as Aravani or

Jogappa, Often misleadingly

called eunuchs in English, they

may be born intersex or appar-

ently male, dress in feminine

clothes and generally see them-

selves as neither men nor women.

Only eight percent of hijras visit-

ing Humsafar clinics are nirwan

(castrated). Indian photographer. The South Indian transgender Hijras or

Dayanita Singh writes about her Aravanis – ritually marry the Hindu god
friendship with a Hijra, Mona Aravan and then mourn his ritual death
Ahmed, and their two different in a 18-day festival in Koovagam, India.

societies’ beliefs about gender.

"When I once asked her if she would like to go to Singapore for a sex

change operation, she told me, 'You really do not understand. I am the third

sex, not a man trying to be a woman. It is your society's problem that you

only recognise two sexes.' (Singh, 2001) Hijra social movements have cam-

paigned for recognition as a third sex, and in 2005, Indian passport applica-

tion forms were updated with three gender options: M, F, and E (for male,

female, and eunuch, respectively). Some Indian languages such as Sanskrit

have three gender options. They were legally granted voting rights in India

as a third sex in 1994. In November 2009, India agreed to list eunuchs and

transgender people as "others", distinct from males and females, in voting

220

She Climbs to Conquer

that term... Around 50 percent [of non-
transgender Thais] see them as males
with the mistaken minds, but the other
half see them as either women born into
the wrong body (around 15 percent) or
as a third sex/gender (35 per-
cent)."(Winter, 2003)

In 2004, the Chiang Mai Technology
School allocated a separate restroom for
kathoeys, with an intertwined male and
female symbol on the door. The 15
kathoey students were required to wear
male clothing at school but were allowed
to sport feminine hairdos. The restroom
featured four stalls, but no urinals.
(Associated Press, 2004)

Although Kathoeys are still not fully re-

spected, they are gradually gaining ac-

Lord Shiva as Ardhanarisvara, ceptance and have made themselves a

with a dual male and female very distinct part of the Thai society.
nature, the right side being This is especially true in the entertain-
male and left side female. ment, business, and fashion industries,
where the Kathoeys play significant
(Sculpture in the Elephanta

Caves in Aurangabad near

Mumbai.) roles in leadership and management po-

sitions. They are much sought after as

salespeople. In many job posts, it is common to see companies state that

second-category-women are preferred as their sales force because they are

generally seen as more charismatic and expressive individuals. (Kang, 2012)

The conditions are similar in the Asian countries and were not much differ-
ent in western societies either. Australia allowed citizens to mark their gen-

221

The Woman in the MSME

Box No. 12.01
Empowerment of the Transgenders
As part of efforts to empower members of the transgender commu-
nity and help them earn a livelihood, the NGO One Indian Road Safety
Organisation (OIRSO), is training transgenders in traffic management.
Since many transgenders do not have jobs, they resort to begging at
traffic signals. Getting them to direct the traffic will be a major morale
booster. To help them interact with the general public on a daily basis,
they will also be given lessons in etiquette and personality develop-
ment. The training will also include defensive or precautionary driving,
first aid and lessons on traffic rules and violations. The training will be
carried out in phases, with the first phase accounting for 15 trans-
genders. By the end of the year, at least 100 persons would have gone
through the programme. They will also qualify for driving licences.
Following the training, transgenders will assist traffic police personnel
for four hours a day, six days a week, for a salary of Rs. 6,000 per
month.

OIRSO is supported in the project by Sahodari Foundation, a voluntary
group that seeks to empower transgenders, and the Institute of Driver
Training, a private enterprise. Kalki Subramaniam, founder of Sahodari
Foundation, said the job would be a shot in the arm for the trans-
gender community, which is under-educated. She added that it would
help counter social stigma and would hopefully give them the respect
they wanted from the larger community. Minister for social welfare,
B. Valarmathi, has welcomed the initiative. She said it would further
the government’s goal of helping the transgender community.

There are around 1,500 transgenders in Chennai city.

der on a passport as X since 2011. New Zealand followed suit last year. Ac-
tivists in both countries say the legislation has helped curb discrimination

222

She Climbs to Conquer

rolls and voter identity cards. In addition to the feminine role of hijras, which is
widespread across the subcontinent, a few occurrences of institutionalized
"female masculinity" have been noted in modern India. Among the Gaddhi in
the foothills of the Himalayas, some girls adopt a role as a sadhwin, renouncing
marriage, and dressing and working as men, but retaining female names and
pronouns. Fawcett, a late-nineteenth century anthropologist, noted the existence
of a similar role in Tamilnadu, that of the basivi. (Fawcett,1891) Historian Wal-
ter Penrose (2001) concludes that in both cases "their status is perhaps more
'transgendered' than 'third-gendered.' In ancient India it was referred to as
Trithiya prakirthi.(Wilhem, 2004)

In India, Hijras face heavy employment discrimination due to their transgender
status, and thus frequently earn their income through sex work, for which they
are criminalized due to the illegality of kerb-crawling, soliciting in a public
place, etc. Because of the legal ambiguity of the procedure, Indian transgender
individuals do not have access to safe medical facilities for Sex Reassignment
Surgery (SRS). According to a report by the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme, in India, hijras have a high prevalence of HIV, and have low socioeco-
nomic status and literacy levels, posing barriers to seeking health care.

Nepal and Pakistan which share traditions with India were fast to follow suit.
Nepalese official documents provided three gender options- male, female and
others-following the December 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal
mandating that the government scrap all laws that discriminated based on sex-
ual orientation and/or gender identity and establish a committee to study same-
sex marriage policy. It also ordered the government to issue citizenship ID
cards that allowed "third-gender" or "other" to be listed. The court took the
unique approach of establishing a third-gender category that may include peo-
ple who present or perform as a gender that is different from the one that was
assigned to them at birth. Nepal's 2011 census was the first national census in
the world to allow people to register as a gender other than male or female.

223

The Woman in the MSME

In June 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered a census of hijras.
Since December 2009, the National Database and Registration Author-
ity issues national identity cards to members of the community showing
their "distinct" gender. "It's the first time in the 62-year history of Pakistan
that such steps are being taken for our welfare", Almas Bobby, a hijra asso-
ciation's president, said to Reuters. "It's a major step towards giving us re-
spect and identity in society. We are slowly getting respect in society. Now
people recognise that we are also human beings.".(Haider, 2009). In Paki-
stan the hijras live in groups (generally 4-12 members) headed by a Guru,
normally the oldest. The group earns livelihood by performing/dancing/
singing in family functions e.g. birthdays, marriages or child births. It is
obligatory for hosts to pay Hijra in money, grain or other things. In central
Punjab (Pakistan), hijra groups divide areas among themselves and one
group may not interfere with another's territory as it is considered unethical.

Thailand provides an interesting contrast. Commonly referred to as a third
sex are the kathoeys (or "ladyboys") of Thailand. Basically, they are males
that dress and carry out their identities as women. While a significant num-
ber of Thais perceive kathoeys as belonging to a third gender others see
them as second category women. Although born genetically as male, katho-
eys claim to possess a female heart which is the gender they truly belong to.
Males undergoing sex-change operations are not uncommon occurrences
but they are still regarded as men on their identification documents. Despite
this, the Thai society shows one of the world's most tolerant attitudes to-
wards kathoeys or the third gender. Researcher Sam Winter writes: “We
asked our 190 [kathoeys] to say whether they thought of themselves as men,
women, sao praphet song ["a second kind of woman"] or kathoey. None
thought of themselves as male, and only 11 percent saw themselves as
kathoey (i.e. ‘non-male’). By contrast 45 percent thought of themselves as
women, with another 36 percent as sao praphet song... Unfortunately we did
not include the category phet tee sam (third sex/gender); conceivably if we
had done so there may have been many respondents who would have chosen

224

She Climbs to Conquer

against transsexuals and those of indeterminate gender, whether they have
had gender reassignment surgery or not. In 2013 November, Germany per-
mitted the new borns to be marked as third gender if the child is intersexual,
also known as hermaphrodites, that is to say born with both male and female
physical attributes. The German Law does not apply to transsexuals, those
without any identifiable sex attributes or to those who change or mutilate
their sex by surgical procedure.

Adult passports currently require people to state their gender, partly to avoid
potential problems when travelling abroad. The ‘third gender’ designation
will also have an effect on marriage laws. As of now, only men and women
are allowed to legally marry in the country. Homosexual couples can enter
into a civil partnership, and no provisions are made for unions between other
genders. Germany is the first European country to implement such legisla-
tion

Sex Discrimination in the UK

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate
on the ground of sex in employment, education and the provision of housing,
goods, facilities and services. The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassign-
ment) Regulations 1999 extended the Sex Discrimination Act to make it
unlawful to discriminate on grounds of gender reassignment, but only in the
areas of employment and vocational training. An amendment in April 2008
extended the application of these Regulations to discrimination in education
and in the provision of housing, goods, facilities and services. In employ-
ment and vocational training, the Sex Discrimination Act protects people
who are discriminated against because they intend to undergo gender reas-
signment, are currently undergoing gender reassignment, or have already
undergone gender reassignment.

Gender reassignment is defined in the regulations as “a process which is un-
dertaken under medical supervision for the purpose of reassigning a person's
sex by changing physiological or other characteristics of sex, and includes

225

The Woman in the MSME

any part of such a process”. This means that an individual does not need to
have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to be protected by the law.
It is the process that matters. The employment provi\ sion of the SDA cover
recruitment, transfer, training and promotion, access to work-related benefits,
facilities and services, dismissal, and any other detriment. It is also unlawful
for an employer to instruct someone else to do something discriminatory –
for instance, telling an employment agency not to hire a transsexual person.
Pressure to discriminate is also unlawful – for example, employees threaten-
ing not to work unless their employer dismisses someone who is undergoing
gender reassignment.

Employers can be held responsible for discriminatory acts by their employ-

ees, unless the employer can show

that he or she had taken such steps as

were reasonably practical, to stop the

employee from doing the particular

act or acts of that kind. Employees

remain individually liable for their

own discriminatory acts, even where

the organisation is also potentially

liable. Box 12.02
International Women’s Day
Technically the regulations only ap-
ply to people who are planning to un- “Sadly The International Women’s Day
dergo, are undergoing or have under- Does Not Include Hijras”, laments Fi-
gone gender reassignment as in the roze Shakir. (2016) “Alisha, the andro-
previous section. However, service gyne, is she a man or a trapped woman
providers are much less likely than beneath the skin the demarcation line of
employers to know whether an indi- her gender precariously thin.. cosmically
vidual is transsexual or transgender. born to suffer in a homophobic world her
Some people may also be mistakenly kind cannot win sexually abused rotting in
perceived to be trans. To ask would fetid brothels ..forever held in ...no for-
warding ..address buried standing up ….
no kith or kin,..no chance of resurrection
from the recycling bin!!

constitute harassment. Therefore it is

226

She Climbs to Conquer

best practice to treat all customers equally and respectfully, regardless of
how they look or any perceived ambiguity in their gender.

The Equality Act 2006 introduced the Gender Equality Duty, which places
an obligation on public bodies to pay due regard to the need to address and
eliminate the unlawful discrimination and harassment of transsexual people
in employment, related fields and vocational training (including further and
higher education) and in the provision of goods, facilities and services.

Though the various Acts provide protection only to transsexual persons, the
Equality and Human Rights Commission recommends as good practice
that public bodies apply any provisions for transsexual people to those who
define as transgender as well. Under Gender Recognition Act 2004 the
transsexuals are entitled to have all certificates and documents reissued with
their acquired gender indication without specifying their former gender.

Government of India Schemes for Transgender Persons

According to the Twelfth Five Year Plan “Identification will be provided for
transgendered persons in all Government and non-Government records by
introducing a separate column to include the third gender. The Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment along with the Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation will determine the number of transgendered
persons in India, map their socio-economic status in order to create a law to
protect interests of the community and improve their living conditions.”

Recommendations of the Expert Committee

An expert committee constituted by the government of India to make an in-
depth study of the problems faced by transgender persons. The Committee
submitted its report in January 2014.

One of the major recommendations of the Expert Committee was regarding
the definition of the term transgender viz.
“Transgender persons: All persons whose own sense of gender does not
match with the gender assigned to them at birth. They will include trans-

227

The Woman in the MSME

men & trans-women (whether or not they have undergone sex reassignment
surgery or hormonal treatment or laser therapy, etc.), genderqueers and a
number of socio cultural identities, such as kinnars, hijras, aravanis, jogtas,
etc. The term ‘transgender’ shall be construed accordingly.”

Other recommendations included,

1. A compilation of all known transgender socio-cultural groups should be
prepared & circulated for guidance of all concerned, with a disclaimer
that the said compilation is “suggestive and not exhaustive and all such
persons who qualify as transgender as per the generic definition above
and pass the mandatory psycho social assessment (see paragraph 5 of
Chapter Four) should be categorized as transgender persons.” The crite-
rion/test for qualifying as a transgender person will apply on individual
basis and the fact such a person belongs to a known transgender socio-
cultural group will act a corroborative evidence and not conclusive.

2. Transgender should be declared as the third gender, and a Transgender
person should have the option to identify as ‘man’, ‘woman’ or
‘transgender’ as well as have the right to choose any of the options in-
dependent of surgery/hormones. Only the nomenclature ‘transgender’
should be used and nomenclatures like ‘other’ or ‘others’ should not be
used.

3. Certificate that a person is a transgender person should be issued by a
state level authority duly designated or constituted by the respective
State/UT on the lines of Tamil Nadu Aravanis Welfare Board, on the
recommendation of a District level Screening Committee headed by the
Collector/District Magistrate and comprising District Social Welfare
Officer, psychologist, psychiatrist, a social worker and two representa-
tives of transgender community and such other person or official as the
State Govt/UT Administration deems appropriate. The certificate so
issued should be acceptable to all authorities for indicating the gender
on official documents like ration card, passport, birth certificate, aad-
haar card, etc.

228

She Climbs to Conquer

4. Inclusive approach should be the bedrock of Government’s strategy to
mainstream the transgender Community. The Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment should take up with all concerned Ministries/Departments
of Government of India and State Governments to include development of
transgender community in their policies, programmes and schemes.

5. Various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India are imple-
menting a number of schemes which target a variety of beneficiaries. In
most of such schemes, special emphasis is given to cover the weaker sec-
tions of the society and other disadvantaged groups. These schemes could
be effectively utilized for providing benefits to such transgender persons
who are eligible under those schemes. Some of such schemes/

–

6. The legal and law-enforcement systems need to be sensitized on issues of
transgender people and be empowered to take actions such as: (i) Crimi-
nal and disciplinary action against delinquent police official in cases of
violations of human rights of transgender persons. (ii) Taking action
against parents who neglect or abuse their gender non-conforming or
transgender children and against doctors who practice electro-shock or
other kinds of unethical “conversion” therapy. (iii) Making free legal aid
available to transgender individuals seeking redress against discrimination
and violence. (iv) Where transgender individuals need to be incarcerated,
care must be taken to ensure they are not in circumstances where they are
vulnerable to sexual assault. (v) Sexual assault, sexual harassment and
domestic violence laws must be made transgender-inclusive. Presently,
Section 375 of IPC, as amended doesn’t cover the transgender persons as
victims of sexual assault (only cis women can be the victims of sexual

229

The Woman in the MSME

assault). Alongside Section 375, another section should be included to
cover the cases of sexual assault on transgender persons. (vi) Slurs based
on real or perceived gender identity may be included in Section 153A of
the Indian Penal Code

7. Create opportunities for

 Information and counseling,

 Establish Helpline for Career Guidance,
 Promotion and online Placement Support,
 Capacity Building and Entrepreneurship Development,
 Liberal credit facilities and other needed support for economic ac-

tivities,
 Provision of social entitlement to the community, Convergence with

existing schemes of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
(MSJE): MSJE may explore the possibility of widening the mandate
of one of the Corporations for providing economic support to trans-
gender community.
 Vocational Skill Building: Design customized vocational training
programmes for the transgender community as per their needs and
interest and establish effective linkages with vocational training
centers run by private and government agencies.
 Create a supportive Environment: The efforts should be made to
sensitize all stakeholders like government officials in relevant de-
partments, banks, private employers, corporate, community leaders
like Gurus.
 Convergence with existing schemes: Mention of transgender com-
munity across all existing schemes specially centrally sponsored
schemes like National Livelihood Mission, NREGA, NFDC will
help in giving them due recognition.
 Adopt good model/intervention: There are some good models like
Transgender Welfare Board in Tamil Nadu which helps through
Self-Help Groups for economic security of this community. The

230

She Climbs to Conquer

Board provides 25% subsidy to such SHGs for starting self employ-
ment. The proven models can be adopted by other States also.

A National Council for Transgender Persons may also be considered on similar
lines as that of the National Council for Senior Citizens. 38. With a view to as-
certain a quick estimate of the population of transgender persons in the country
as also their socio-economic condition; the Ministry may, in collaboration with
the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, carry out a survey.
This may also Page | 99 help the concerned Ministries in preparing appropriate
schemes for improvement of their socio-economic status. This is also men-
tioned in the Twelfth Five Year plan document. 39. To begin with, the Ministry
may consider launching an Umbrella Scheme for the benefit of transgender per-
sons with following components: (i) Scholarship for transgender persons on the
lines of similar scholarship schemes for SC students; (ii) Loan with 25% sub-
sidy for transgender persons to enable them to take up self-employment ven-
tures; (iii) A pension scheme for transgender persons above 40 years up to 60
years, who for some reasons cannot be assisted under any scheme of economic
empowerment, for ensuring financial security; and (iv) Grant-in-aid to Volun-
tary and other Organizations working for Empowerment of Transgender People,
particularly for providing them vocational training.

Other recommendations included awareness creation among parents, education
institutions, fellow students, fellow workers, bureaucrats including police offi-
cers, employers and general public about the problems of transgender people,
education, health social welfare, child abandonment and law enforcement etc.

Based on the above mentioned recommendations the Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment has formulated an umbrella programme with the following
elements, in November 2014.
 A central scheme for financial support to the parents of transgender chil-

dren and
 Four centrally sponsored schemes with central share of 75% and State

contribution of 25%
a. Pre-metric scholarship for transgender students in class VII to X

231

The Woman in the MSME

b. Post-metric scholarship for transgender students in Class XI and
above

c. Assistance in skill development training for transgender persons
d. National Pension Scheme for 5,000 transgender persons aged be-

tween 40 and 60 years. The scheme envisages a monthly pension
of Rs. 1,000 per person to be remitted into their accounts with
post offices or commercial banks.
There is no policy indication as to whether they will be considered as men or
women for poverty alleviation and other support schemes. So far they have
not been clubbed with any other handicapped persons either. In the absence
of clarity on their proper categorization in the policy documents, they will
continue to be excluded, except where the schemes are gender neutral.

The scheme makes a good beginning by providing for skill training although
no special measures for entrepreneurship development have been initiated.
Moved by an MP from Tamilnadu, Rajya Sabha, in April 2015, approved a
bill supported by all political parties, for transgender people to ensure they
get benefits akin to reserved communities like SC/STs and is taking steps to
see that they get enrolment in schools and jobs in government besides protec-
tion from sexual harassment.

Initiatives by the State Governments

Tamilnadu

The Tamil Nadu was the first state to introduce a transgender (hijra/ aravani)
welfare policy. According to the transgender welfare policy transgender peo-
ple can access free Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) in the Government Hos-
pital (only for transfeminine people); free housing program; various citizen-
ship documents; admission in government colleges with full scholarship for
higher studies; alternative sources of livelihood through formation of self-
help groups (for savings) and initiating income-generation programmes
(IGP). Tamil Nadu was also the first state to form a Transgender Welfare
Board, in 2008, with representatives from the transgender community. This
effort is touted to be the first in India and even in the world. The government

232

She Climbs to Conquer

has also started issuing separate food ration cards for transgender people. Even
though the transgender welfare board solely started focusing only on the devel-
opment of Trans women in recent days the rights of Trans men and gender vari-
ants are being discussed. A third gender categorization was recognized on ad-
mission to government colleges.

The Tamilnadu Model was adopted by the Committee as the basis for its recom-
mendations.

Orissa

The government of Orissa implemented the five sub schemes in 2015 through a
newly created department of social security and empowerment of persons with
disabilities (SSEPD). The following are the benefits offered.

The department has drafted a proposal for recognition of transgenders and sub-
sequently providing them certificates as third gender.

 The parents of every transgender will get a financial assistance of Rs
1,000 per month.

 For pre-matric scholarship (Class VIII to X) the day scholar will get Rs
150 and the hostelers Rs 350 for 10 months in a year. Similarly, the trans-
gender students will get monthly post-matric scholarship (XI and above)
of Rs 550 for day scholar and Rs 1,200 for hosteler for 10 months and
there is reimbursement of compulsory refundable fees during higher
study, an official said.

 For their skill development, Rs 15,000 will be given per transgender
trainee for 200 hours of the course. There will be 30 trainees in one batch.
The trainee will get stipend amounting to Rs 1,000 per month. They will
get subsidy linked to loan at a maximum Rs 5 lakh to be an entrepreneur.

 The pension scheme is also being implemented.(PTI, September 22,
2015)

233

The Woman in the MSME

Chapter XIII
Women Migration

Meaning and Characteristics of Migration
Migration is not a new phenomenon in any part of the world. Ever since the
world existed, people have been and are still migrating. Nearly half of the
world’s migrants are women. Increasingly, migration provides them with op-
portunities to find better jobs. However, many still accept lower skilled jobs for
higher pay and some may even become victims of exploitation and abuse.

The United Nations (UN) defined migration as a form of geographical or spatial
mobility between one geographical unit and another. It involves a change in
residence from the place of origin or departure to the place of destination or ar-
rival. Further, National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) (2008) defined
migration as “A household member whose last Usual Place of Residence (UPR)
any time in the past was different from the present place of enumeration was
considered as a migrant member in a household.” While, population studies de-
fine: “migration implies a permanent or at least a semi-permanent change in the
place of residence of an individual from one location to another.” Moreover,
Census of India (2001) considered “A person is considered as a migrant by
place of last residence, if the place in which he is enumerated during the census
is other than his place of immediate last residence.” On the basis of these defini-
tions we can say that migration is related to long term phenomenon and is dif-
ferent from the mobility of populations. Thus, the term population mobility is
broader than migration, because, in measurement of mobility, both (i.e., short
and long) time period is considered, while migration is related to only long term
mobility of the population or individual. In a nutshell, permanent or semi-
permanent change in the place of residence of an individual is a basic character-
istic of migration.

234

She Climbs to Conquer

Migration and its Patterns
Migration can be seen in various perspectives – Rural to Rural, Rural to Ur-
ban, Urban to Urban, Urban to Rural, inter-regional and international. Rural
to Urban migration is most significant in the context of national economy. It
has acquired significance because of the labour mobility. The National Sam-
ple Survey 2008 found the migration rate in the urban areas higher than the
migration rate in the rural areas, 35% against 26%. In rural areas nearly 48%
of the females were migrants while the male migration rate was only 5%. In
the urban areas, the male migration rate was nearly 26% compared to female
migration rate of 46% (NSSO, 2008). The reason for more female migration
than male is crucially linked with the ‘associational migration’ which in-
cludes marriage and migration of earning members. Some people migrate in
order to improve their socio-economic condition while others migrate due to
socio- economic compulsions. Primarily, economic factors determine or
force people to migrate for work. Migration is not only a single discrete
event but it has social, cultural and economic aspects.

Table 13.01:

Trends of Women Migration in India

(Women Migration per 1000 persons)

Round Year Women Men Total
64th Rural Urban
55th Rural Urban Rural Urban
49th 531 715
43rd (July 2007 to 477 456 54 259
38th 495 675
January 2008)
Average 466 621
(July 1999 to 426 418 69 257
472 664
January 2000)
423 636
(January to 401 382 65 239
476 699
June 1993) 0.85 0.47

(July 1987 to 398 396 74 268

June 1988)

(January to 351 366 72 270

December

1983)

410 403 66 296

Average Compound 1.23 0.88 -1.14 -0.17
Growth Rate (ACGR) %

235

The Woman in the MSME

Table 13.02

Migration Streams (Direction of Flow) of Women Internal Migration

in India (figures in millions)

R-R—Rural to Rural; R-U—Rural to Urban, U-R—Urban to Rural,

U-U —Urban to Urban U-R U-U

R -R R-U

1961-1971 42.49 10.98 5.33 9.01

1991-2001 53.30 21.74 6.58 15.16

ACGR 0.57 1.57 0.38 1.16

1999-2000 % 70.30 14.40 5.20 10.10
Male 32.30 34.40 10.70 22.60
2007-2008 % 70.00 14.80 10/30
Male 27.20 39.00 4.90 24.80
Net Migration in 1991-2001 8.90

Gains Losses -0.30
Gujarat 1.70 Andhra -0.70
Haryana 4.10 Assam -2.70
Karnataka 0.30 Bihar -0.60
Maharashtra 3.00 Kerala -0.04
Punjab 1.70 M.Pradesh -0.70
W. Bengal 0.40 Odisha -0.60
-0.70
Rajasthan -2.00
Tamilnadu
Uttarpradesh

236

She Climbs to Conquer

BOX NO. 13.01
Abandoning Hope and Homeland- An Egyptian case

Feeling defeated by the latest tragic turn toward growing violence,
repression and civil strife after the military ousted President Mo-
hamed Morsi, most Egyptians want to emigrate. (The Hindu, Hy-
derabad, October 24,2013)
Egypt has surrendered citizens to more prosperous countries for genera-
tions, unable to provide much hope or opportunity at home. There is no
statistical evidence that more people are emigrating, and the notion re-
mains far from the reach of most Egyptians, reserved for those with quali-
fications or connections to find opportunities abroad. In interviews over
several days, though, people said their conversations had turned more fre-
quently, and urgently, to leaving; those who considered travel possible
were just deciding when.
Hashem, a book publisher, announced his decision to leave as the night-
mare of exile would become a reality for him. “I will refuse, fiercely and
until I die, to chose between the bitterness of the military or manipulators
of religion” he wrote. “I will emigrate, because I don’t find that which
expresses the spirit of the great revolution between those conflicting inter-
ests…I am lost, I am very, very lost.”

Women were no exception to this. Fearing that the future is already writ-
ten, Sarah Radwan, 33, a graphic designer, was waiting to receive her con-
tract to work in Qatar, having few regrets about leaving Egypt behind. Ms.
Radwan said, she had been disappointed by Morsi’s year as President and
was now worried about the return of the military. Frustration over the last
two and a half years has led her, as it had others, to damning conclusions
about her society’s capacity to change – or say things that were unthink-
able just two years ago. Like generations of Egyptians, her father had
worked abroad, in Saudi Arabia, and warned about the loneliness of self-
exile. She thought, she would never leave; in the past she had considered
moving only as far as the coast, to Alexandria on the Mediterranean or
Hurghada on the Red Sea. She said, ”I love this country, I want the peo-
ple to calm down”.
The desperation cuts across ideological lines and threatens to sustain the
brain drain that stunted Egypt’s development for decades.

(Excerpts from New York Times News Service, quoted by the Hindu)

237

The Woman in the MSME

Table 13.03 Migrants by Social Groups

WOMEN MEN

SC ST OBC Others SC ST OBC Others
810
1999-00 357 434 428 443 560 640 650 680
2007-08
ACGR 440 482 468 506 470 490 510

2.65 1.32 1.12 1.68

Table 13.04 Percentage of Women Migrants
by Motives / Purpose

Reason RURAL URBAN

NSS Round 49 55 64 49 55 64

Employment 8.30 10.00 7.00 4.90 3.00 2.70

Studies 11.00 4.00 5.00 7.00 1.30 2.20

Marriage 51.70 76.20 80.40 31.70 58.50 60.80

Movement of parents or 23.70 6.30 4.4 49.50 31.00 29.40
earning members

Others 5.30 3.50 3.20 6.90 6.20 4.90

100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

The International Context

Migration is always challenging as it exposes the migrant into a new environ-
ment, puts her into strange situations and queer circumstances. It forces her to
fit into the newer situations, which are, in most of the cases, distressing due
to the unfamiliarity of the situation. Migration brings forth many challenges
and issues both in macro and micro contexts involving economic and social
issues.

In an era of globalization migration is on the rise. International migrants con-
stitute 3.5% of the population worldwide, about half of them are women.(EU
Institute, 2011) People migrate out of desire for a better life, to escape from

238

She Climbs to Conquer

poverty, because of Box No. 13.02
political persecution Major Causes
and due to social of Voluntary Migration
and/or family pres- • Basic Amenities in the Destination Towns
sures. Gender has a • Cost of Migration
strong bearing on the • Easy Accessibility to Job
decision making • State of Agriculture Performance
process and the im- • Urban Informal Labour Market
pacts of migration • Lesser Employment in Rural Area
on the person of the • Literacy Rate
migrants, as well as • Urban Poverty
on the sending and • Rural Poverty and
receiving econo-
mies, besides modi- • Family Decision

fying their gender role, and status. Barring the few gulf countries where most
of the women migrate as wage earning service providers, other destinations,
particularly Europe and North America offer opportunities for self employ-
ment and as entrepreneurs. No doubt, they are not free from constraints. The
social and cultural barriers appropriate to the host economies do pose hurdles.
Women make up more than 50% of all new immigrants to OECD countries
and their migration pattern and effects on home and host countries differ from
those of male immigrants. International migration has contributed to the eco-
nomic growth of the host countries by alleviating their labour shortages either
due to declining fertility rates or non-availability of skills. To the sending
countries it acts as a two way device; contributing to their economy and wel-
fare by way of remittances on one hand and depleting skilled stock because of
repatriation. However labour and social policies of both the home and host
countries need a gender perspective to fully realize the positive benefits of mi-
gration for both men and women and those left behind (OECD, 2008). Finan-
cial systems in the OECD countries often make it difficult for migrants, par-
ticularly women, to send and receive remittances due to high fees charged for
these services.

239

The Woman in the MSME

Box no. 13.03
The Raid and Rescue Protocol
Human trafficking, according to the law, refers to recruitment, transporta-
tion, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by use of threat, force or co-
ercion for the purpose of exploitation. “The law enforcing agencies look at
trafficking only in the context of sex workers and blindly go about the ‘raid
and rescue’ protocol. There is hardly any case where persons involved in
actually exploiting women and children (male and female) or bigwigs be-
hind the scene were brought” observed Charu Wali Khanna, Member Na-
tional Commission for Women. (The Hindu, Hyderabad, October 25, 2013).
After raids and rescue of women and children, what was required was a
great deal of counseling and support for their livelihood, especially in the
case of women forced into prostitution for a variety of reasons. The so called
rehabilitation by the authorities did not work for them, she added. According
to 2012 statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau, crimes against
women numbered 10.2 % (2,44,270 against total crimes 23,87,188). The
figure included 1,06,527 cases pertaining to dowry harassment and 38,262
cases of kidnapping and abduction.

According to ILO migration Specialist Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin
“for many the migration experience seems to play a role in modifying gender
roles and women’s status and in enhancing gender equality. Women who find
employment abroad gain access to financial resources that permits them to
influence how funds are used in the household. They can also experience
more autonomy over household decisions. Though migration may be empow-
ering for many women migrants, such empowerment cannot be deemed auto-
matic. A significant number of women experience downward occupational
mobility, deskilling and a re-orientation away from paid work and towards
domestic sphere. Further more too many women migrants still today experi-
ence extreme exploitation and abuse in situations of trafficking, bondage and
slavery.”

240

She Climbs to Conquer

ILO estimates indicate that women and girls make up the overwhelming ma-
jority of those trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, 98
percent. (ILO a, 2008). With regard to forced economic exploitation, while
women and girls represent 56 percent of victims, men and boys account for 44
percent. Since a larger number of women than men resort to the services of th
would be traffickers and end up in abusive and exploitative situations, experts
in the field have called for anti-trafficking interventions to be gender respon-
sive and to address trafficking as a development issue at national and local
levels.

Women migrant workers are usually employed in jobs that are not covered or
are inadequately covered by labour legislation or other social security or wel-
fare provisions - even more so than those jobs occupied by their male counter-
parts. Domestic work is a typical example. In a majority of the countries do-
mestic workers are excluded from the scope of labour –protection laws. In
general, violence, abuses and labour exploitation in male dominated sectors
are well documented, more exposed and remedies secured, as men usually
work in groups in the construction industry and agriculture. On the other
hand , violence, abuses and exploitation against women workers ar less known
because they occur in more invisible labour markets such as entertainment in-
dustry and domestic services.

Immigrant women play essential roles in the labour market and make valuable
contribution to the economies and societies of the host countries. Significantly,
they provide human resources in jobs that national women do not want to en-
gage themselves in but are essential for the country to maintain its global com-
petitiveness; they also play a key role in the care and welfare sectors of the
host economy in terms of domestic services, care of dependent children, the
elderly, the infirm and the disabled as ayahs, nurses and general domestic help,
thereby freeing other women to take up jobs with higher status and better
emoluments. Recent reports indicate that the share of skilled women migrants
from most third world countries to almost all industrialized and affluent coun-
tries increased phenomenally. The growth rate of skilled women migrants has

241

The Woman in the MSME

BOX No.13.04

The Migrentrepreneur Women Initiative (MWI)
A venture by migrant women for migrant women on route to eco-
nomic sustainability through establishing their own businesses and
reinventing themselves professionally. As migrants, they are po-
tential economic contributors through new skills and competencies
that fill the gaps in the market, through innovations in products
and services, through initiative in areas that are at risk of economic
decline or through the expansion of foreign trade through transna-
tional contacts and knowledge of other markets (OECD 2010).

However, the resourcefulness and capacities often remain under-
utilized in the European labour market. And while entrepreneur-
ship could serve as a way to bringing to self-realization and to be-
coming active contributors to the new homes, there are a number
of barriers to be faced: difficulties in accessing and understanding
information on administrative and legal concerns; discrimination;
the challenge of building new networks; the task of acquiring the
relevant business know-how regarding management and marketing
in an unfamiliar context.
Through this initiative, MWI aims to address these issues in col-
laboration with organizations and institutions working with mi-
grant women in Europe.

been higher than that of unskilled women and even skilled men. Migration rate
of highly skilled women, especially those with tertiary level of education is
greater than that of their male counterparts. Chammartin observes a worrying
issue is the fact that most of these and highly skilled women are leaving to find
better paid jobs abroad but end up occupations below their qualifications. She
suggests that as a very significant starting point policy makers need to recog-
nize the importance of integrating and main streaming labour migration issues

242

She Climbs to Conquer

in national employment, ender equality, labour market and development poli-
cies as key in maximizing opportunities and minimizing risks for the benefit of
both origin and destination countries and for women and men migrants them-
selves. (ILO, 2008 b). It must also be recognized that such initiatives will also
have the effect of encouraging entrepreneurship developments at home in pref-
erence to a paid job abroad. The initiatives required include work in the coun-
tries of origin on such policies and measures as (1) facilitating orderly migra-
tion, but always ensuring migrant workers’ protection abroad, as well as equal
treatment and opportunities; (2) signing and implementing bilateral agree-
ments on recognition of diplomas, skills and competencies; (3)signin and im-
plementing ender sensitive social security agreements, and finally, monitorin
recruitment to promote and enforce ethical recruitment practices, at the same
time ensuring that migration policies and measures in countries of destination
are gender responsive and can ensure greater ender equality and benefits for
development.

Migration and the Labour Market

It is an acknowledged fact that more sophisticated theoretical and analytical
tools are needed to properly understand the specifics of women migrants dy-
namics. Women migrants play essential roles not only in the labour markets of
the host economies but also in the initiation and development of formal and
informal enterprises. Women migrants often were the first to explore alterna-
tive economies and become self employed. GEM Report 2004 UK reckons
that women migrant entrepreneurs are the fastest growing group of business
owners (Pearce, 2005; Baycan Levent et.al. 2006).

The tendency for women to become entrepreneurs is positively correlated with
their level of disadvantage in the labour market. For the migrant women this
correlation is naturally stronger than for the already resident women and leads
to a sort of survivalist entrepreneurship where despite a paucity of resources,
migrant women intensely desire to become self-employed, out of necessity.
The notion of "double disadvantage" of being a foreigner belonging to a differ-

243

The Woman in the MSME

ent race and a woman, erects many barriers in the labour market. Due to this
"double discrimination" women often face resource constraints. Light and
Rosenstein (1995) distinguish between 'labor market disadvantage' resulting
from racial, gender or nativity discrimination not necessarily related to the
productivity of the group on the demand side and 'resource disadvantage' on
the supply side. Resource disadvantage occurs when a group attempts to enter
the labor market with fewer resources in terms of human capital, networks,
self-confidence, etc. (Light & Rosenstein 1995). Groups or individuals that
face both these disadvantages are most likely to become entrepreneurs in mar-
ginal enterprises, particularly in the informal economy. Occasionally, those
pushed into self-employment due to significant disadvantages end up in more
informal, sometimes "illegal", forms of entrepreneurship. Heilman et al.
(2003) suggest that this form of "self-employment often means sole proprietor-
ships and low-income, low equity, small and slow growing enterprises"

Influence of the Local Environment

When people engage in entrepreneurial behavior in regional contexts, features
of the region itself have an impact upon their intentions, motivations and the
barriers they encounter when launching the undertaking. Entrepreneurs also
have a significant impact upon local communities resulting in job creation and
improving local economy. The economic and social role of entrepreneurship
varies in accordance with and depending upon values that local cultures place
on entrepreneurial activities. The local culture also determines to a large de-
gree the social and material rewards that the entrepreneur expects to receive
(Baumol, 1990). Thus, the entrepreneurial process should be sensitive not only
to the gender dimension but also to local social and cultural conditions.

Maintaining an infrastructure providing economic and business opportunities
is critical for the vitality of the local community; the vitality, in turn, also de-
pends upon the ability of the entrepreneur to develop networks by establishing
local cooperation and fostering local passion and motivation (Cavaye, 2001).
Local passion and motivation is a function of community culture and may be

244

She Climbs to Conquer

enhanced by entrepreneurial behavior of community members who thereby
increase social and economic stability. Assimilation of the immigrant into the
community is a significant attitudinal issue which should be viewed from the
context of isolation into ethnic groups experienced by the Asian, African and
Hispanic migrants.

Immigrants become entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons. Some come with
the intention of entering the business sector while others become entrepreneurs
after they have worked at other jobs and professions and find they are not sat-
isfied. Whatever the reason for their entry into business, immigrants face
unique challenges on their road to achieving success. Immigrants who arrive
in developed economies with an entrepreneurial intention often arrive with the
necessary financial resources or an entrepreneurial background or a high level
of education. They come seeking a new life, but primarily new economic op-
portunities. This group of immigrant entrepreneurs, who retain strong eco-
nomic ties with their home country and a high level of entrepreneurial drive,
are more likely to discover business opportunities in sectors that they know
well and turn their business ideas into a reality. Unlike the previous generation
of immigrants, the new generation is looking to integrate into the wider host
economy. In contrast, other immigrants who become entrepreneurs, after being
present in the host country, do so because they face high barriers to entering or
staying in the labour force. They start businesses because they face a lack of
employment opportunities or because they are dissatisfied with their current
employment. To them, becoming an entrepreneur is mostly a survival exercise.

Challenges to New Immigrant Entrepreneurs

One of the barriers faced by newcomer entrepreneurs is an inability to access
financing and start-up capital. Most financial institutions require a good lo-
cally verifiable credit history and proof of income to qualify for financing. It is
often difficult for newcomers to meet these requirements. Their credit history
from their country of origin will be of no avail and it can take years to build a
credit history in the host country. Many newcomers feel that business loans are

245

The Woman in the MSME

difficult to acquire and require extensive paperwork. Consequently, even
though some may be eligible to receive business loans, they choose to use per-
sonal loans, home equity loans or borrow from family and friends instead of
going through the business lending process. All business owners face chal-
lenges, but women entrepreneurs often have additional challenges and obsta-
cles that their male peers are less likely to encounter. Women entrepreneurs
who have children wear many hats – caretaker, wife, mother, business owner,
etc. Along with family responsibilities, these additional roles can be very de-
manding. Many women face dual pressure from their family and work respon-
sibilities. With such great demands on their time, energy and resources, they
struggle to balance family life and work. Thus, entrepreneurship within the
newcomer community, therefore, is still a primarily male-dominated field in
most of the developed economies.

Social Inclusion

Empirical evidence demonstrates that in many countries a large majority of
migrants are successfully socially included and have a satisfactory access and
use of financial services. There is, however, a part of this population that
shows characteristics and attitudes typical of other socially excluded groups,
such as low income, low skills levels, a lack of language knowledge, and psy-
chological barriers such as lack of confidence and mistrust of financial ser-
vices suppliers. Immigrant groups also differ, under certain conditions, from
other socially excluded groups. Migrants’ financial behaviours depend on their
levels of integration in the host country as well as the type of banking system
existing in the country of origin; migrants are a complex universe, made up of
various ethnic groups which differ widely; migrant social and financial exclu-
sion differs according to geographical context: some countries, such as the
United Kingdom, France and Germany, have experienced migration flows for
many decades, and their “integration problems” are different from those ex-
perienced by countries with recent and more varied migration flows, such as
Italy and Spain where there are many different nationalities of immigrants
whereas non-Arab migrants in Arab countries have no intention or opportunity

246

She Climbs to Conquer

Box 13.05
UN WOMEN : Migrant Rights
To better protect women migrant workers, UNWOMEN has helped Cambo-
dia’s Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training devise a standard job place-
ment contract guaranteeing workers’ rights. New safeguards are bein negoti-
ated with Malaysia – a major destination country. In three provinces Womens’
Migrant Network has been formed, providing a platform for returned migrants
to share experience and advocate for safe migration. In 2012, members spoke at
a parliamentary forum that agreed on revisinf laws to better uphold the rights of
women migrants, in line with the Convention on the Elimination of All forms
of Discrimination against Women Migrants.

to socially integrate with the host society; migrants’ attitudes to financial inclu-
sion, that is their demand of financial services, is an evolving process related to
migration phases each which present different priorities and financial needs.

In the first phase - of the “initial settlement” - basic needs relate to labour, hous-
ing and language. In this phase, financial needs relate mainly to the use of
money for survival. Illegal entry is, furthermore, often associated with incurring
large debts to finance the journey. It is practically impossible for immigrants to
save money during this economically unstable first phase.

In the second phase, financial needs consist mostly in saving and transferring
money abroad through remittances. Frequency and magnitude of remittance de-
pends on how important individuals’ help is for the survival of their family in
their country of origin and on how much they manage to save, given low sala-
ries and high expenses. Other financial needs may include personal loans or
consumer credit to buy furniture or household appliances, or, micro-credit for
the self-employed to purchase equipment for business. Sometimes, the demand
remains only latent due to a failure to meet the banks’ stipulations.

The third phase of “stable settlement” involves a greater degree of integration in
the host country; saving is characterized by more medium-term goals, and im-
migrants look for basic savings products. As far as credit is concerned, demand

247

The Woman in the MSME

will focus on micro or consumer credit, mortgages for house purchase, and
business loans.

The fourth and final phase could be either the consolidation of a transit
model where the aim is to work abroad for a certain period of time, to save
money for the family in the country of origin, to buy, build, or refurbish a
house and then return home or of a model of “final settlement and succeed-
ing generations”, the financial needs will become more sophisticated, and
resemble those of people in the host country with similar characteristics.

The theoretical debates between culture and structure, individual and group,
institutional framework and biographical experience, institutions and agen-
cies and gender show that female migrant entrepreneurship is a multi-layer
phenomenon. Structures and institution in different countries and localities
may hinder or foster these women, and the ability to deal with structures and
institutions depends also on their personal biographies. The intersection of
class, gender, ethnicity, migration backgrounds and minority status and its
meanings vary for different groups in different places.

Following are a few areas of concern for the women entrepreneurs in gen-
eral, but deserving special emphasis for the migrant women entrepreneurs::

 Innovation processes and practices of female migrant entrepreneurs
 Identities of female migrant entrepreneurs;
 Empowerment and work-family conflict of female migrant entrepre-

neurs;
 Institutional framework, conditions and barriers for female migrant

entrepreneurship;
 Female migrant entrepreneurs in changing gender relations.
Ethnicity and Gender

Entrepreneurial activities are often treated from the perspective of native
born men. The entrepreneur is pictured as a self made and successful man
who is the polar opposite of what is described as female (Ahl, 2006). When
an ethnic dimension is added gender issues tend to be avoided as well
(Dallalfar 1994, Schrover et al ,2007). Only a few attempts have been made

248

She Climbs to Conquer

to analyze the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the entrepreneurial proc-
ess. Labour markets in welfare states , however, are structured along the axes
of both gender and ethnicity which are highly relevant to entrepreneurial ac-
tivities (Wright and Ellis, 2000). Similar and complementary divisions of la-
bour tie the notions of ethnicity and gender together. Such as mechanisms of
networking horizontal segregation and discrimination (Schrover et al, 2007).

Sweden—A case Study

Status of Women immigrant Entrepreneurs

The Swedish government has highlighted ethnic entrepreneurship as one of
the three main ways to reduce exclusion of immigrants from the Swedish la-
bour market (Skr. 2008-09:24, 2008). In this document female immigrant en-
trepreneurs are described as ‘established in approximately the same sectors’
as native-born Swedish women, which is why they are not treated as a sepa-
rate category. Several researchers, however, point out to the difficulties
faced by entrepreneurship in overcoming the income disparity between native
-born and immigrant populations. Immigrant entrepreneurs are particularly
negatively placed in their entrepreneurship as opposed to employees and even
people outside the labour market. Female immigrants are subjected to both
ender and ethnic structures, where they –within the female—marked, low
paid sectors—perform the least desirable jobs.(Wright and Ellis, 2000). Im-
migrant women have historically been seen as immigrants rather than as
women.

The dual Character of Labour Market

Whereas ethnic literature tends to use the concept of segmentation, referring
back to the schematic division of the dual labour market into primary and
secondary sectors, gendered literature tends to describe the horizontal divi-
sion of labour as segregation in the labour market. More over literature on
female entrepreneurship generally avoids stressing on differences and ine-
qualities in order not to treat women as subordinate (Ahl, 2006). It is even
argued that occupational segregation can be economically beneficial for

249

The Woman in the MSME

women. But literature on ethnic minorities, often stresses on inequalities and
differences in the labour market in favour of the native-born population
(Hedberg, 2009).

Schrover et al (2007) identify 7 points where literature on ethnicity and gen-
der in entrepreneurship intersects. (1) Both women and immigrants are sup-
posed to have networks that differ from male / native-born contexts; (2)
Both immigrants and women arguably make choices that lead to inequalities
in the labour market, such as education, part-time work and ‘working with
your own kind’; (3)Immirants and women are both mentioned as subjects of
discrimination; (4) They are often seen as being a temporary labour force
that can be used at times of labour scarcity in the labour market; (5) their
wages tend to be lower than those of men / native-born populations; (6)
Both women and immigrants have physical and innate differences com-
pared with the norm, native-born men, which is why they are perceived as
unskilled workers; (7) Immigrants and women tend to monopolize certain
sectors through the processes of ethnicization and feminization. Associa-
tions develop between a certain group and a certain sector, which enables
further employment of this group in the sector: this is known as niching,
which also contributes to degradation of jobs in that sector.

The Self Employment Alternative

Disadvantaged groups, according to language, discrimination etc. will be
pushed into self-employment in order to become employed. In support of
this theory several researchers have found that immigrants have a higher
entrepreneurial activity than native-born individuals. This was the case for
female immigrants in Britain, irrespective of their countries of origin. In
Sweden as well, immigrants were over-represented among the self em-
ployed; entrepreneurial was low among the large group of Nordic immi-
grants, but other western immigrants had high proportion of entrepreneurs
while immigrants from regions with entrepreneurial traditions, such as Iran
and Vietnam had higher rates. Hammerstedt (2001) finds variations accord-
ing to immigrants’ time of residence in Sweden. Newer immigrant groups

250

She Climbs to Conquer

had lower self employment rates than older immigrant groups and native-
born Swedes. In Sweden low incomes were evident among immigrants from
all parts of the world, but they were lowest amongst immigrants from West
Asia (Iran, Iraq and Turkey) and Africa.

The economic returns among immigrants from self-employment were not
only substantially lower than from bin employed; they were also not an eco-
nomically beneficial alternative to being outside the labour market leading to
the conclusion that ethnic entrepreneurship is not a sustainable tool to reduce
inequalities in the labour market.

Self-employed immigrant women encounter double obstacles, by being both
women and immigrant and thus they present a dual contrast to the norm of
white male entrepreneur. In general, gender rather than ethnicity tends to di-
vide the labour market because of differences regarding sectors and income
from work (Wright and Ellis, 2000). Also, among entrepreneurs gender is
argued to pattern the labour market more strongly than ethnicity (Baycan
Levent et al, 2003). Non-immigrant women, both foreign-born and native-
born, are self-employed, mostly in service sectors, and are better educated.
Immigrant women have more professional experience before they become
self employed. Than both native-born women and men, in general. A case
study of Iranian women in Los Angeles concluded that gender differences
were significant and that ender strongly influenced the entrepreneurial activ-
ity where work and social activities could be combined (Dallalfar, 1994).

Entrepreneurship Motivation

The issue of entrepreneurship as a means of inclusion in the host country
adds complexity in any discussion on what successful entrepreneurship im-
plies. Several studies find that immigrant women define their success differ-
ently from the white, male norm and in less economic terms. For Afro-
American women in the United States, achievement is a process of
‘overcoming racism and sexism in the market place’ while facing the ‘double
minority challenge’. Moroccan and Turkish women in Netherlands ap-

251

The Woman in the MSME

proached entrepreneurship as a way of bridging differences, both gender and
ethnicity. As entrepreneurs they could be seen as ‘intermediaries’ and posi-
tive representations of immigrant women in contrast with other stereotypes
of immigrants. They incorporated ‘the best of both cultures’ into their busi-
ness. Immigrant women entrepreneurs in Sweden agree that entrepreneur-
ship contributed to their inclusion in the host society (Abbasian, 2003). The
two motives of becoming self employed out of necessity such as finding a
job, and owing to their wish to fulfil themselves and establish their own en-
trepreneurial idea were equally common in their responses.

The Earnings Gap

Female and immigrant groups tend to have the lowest incomes in the labour
market and female immigrants tend to have lowest incomes among them
(Schrover 2007). Moreover, immigrant entrepreneurs tend to have lower
revenues than native-born entrepreneurs. When income from work of the
total labour force in Sweden (2004) is divided into quartiles, the majority of
the female entrepreneurs as well as immigrant male entrepreneurs belong to
the low income group. In particular, a large proportion of female immigrant
entrepreneurs had low incomes and the proportion was almost double that of
native-born male entrepreneurs. Further, immigrant women had the lowest
proportion of high income earners in the high income section of the econ-
omy. The gap between employed and self employed workers was particu-
larly wide in respect of female immigrants. The proportion of low income
women was almost double among entrepreneurs compared with employed
women. A small advantage was noticed among entrepreneurs compared
with employed workers in he high income segment among both immigrant
and native born women showing that there are sectors in the economy where
female entrepreneurs can gain a higher income as entrepreneurs than by
being employed. Within the immigrant group, the main concentration is the
low–income section comprised of women from Western Asia, followed by
entrepreneurs from East Asia and Africa. North American and West Euro-
pean immigrants, on the other hand, had similar income levels to native-

252

She Climbs to Conquer

Table 12.05
Entrepreneurial Activity in Sweden (2004)

Immigrant Women Immigrant Men
Region of origin Employed % Entrepreneur
Employed % Entrepreneur
% %

West Europe 94.9 5.1 88.9 11.1

East Europe 95.7 4.3 92.0 8.0

West Asia 92.8 7.2 80.1 19.9

East Asia 95.5 4.5 91.3 8.7

Africa 98.0 2.0 93.8 6.2

North America 91.6 8.4 88.9 11.1

South America 97.6 2.4 96.2 3.8

Total 95.1 4.9 88.7 11.3

Native Born Women Men

Sweden 95.6 4.4 88.4 11.6

born women, proving that ethnic compatibility is a factor conducive to as-
similation. Almost the entire population of the immigrant entrepreneurs in
this section belonged to either the low or lower-middle segment of the econ-
omy (Hedberg, 2009)

Entrepreneurship Vs Gender

Table 12.05 illustrates the ethnic and gender variations in immigrant entre-
preneurship in Sweden, 2004 as gathered by Hedberg (2009). The study indi-
cates that native-born and immigrant women entrepreneurs are similar in
many respects. The tradition of entrepreneurship is lower among women
than men and the entrepreneurial rate among native-born and foreign-born
women was equally low. In this sense, entrepreneurship was gender related
rather than immigration status related. The most obvious difference among
entrepreneurs was the hotel / restaurant sector which was dominant among
both immigrant men and women, although with a noticeable over-

253

The Woman in the MSME

representation of men. Other typical businesses for immigrant entrepreneurs
were cleaning, and for men, having a taxi firm. Female-marked professions,
on the other hand, were hair dressing and health car ventures, while men
were self employed within transportation and technical consultancy. In gen-
eral the sectors where native-born men performed their entrepreneurship led
to higher incomes than typically female or immigrant sectors. Immigrant
women belonged to the least advantaged groups, whereas immigrant men
and native-born women belonged to the same income groups. Particularly
high incomes were those of immigrant women entrepreneurs in the health
care sector. At first glance, a gender perspective on ethnic entrepreneurship
acknowledges persistent inequalities in low income niches as having a res-
taurant or being a hair dresser. Analyses of entrepreneurship within other
niches, such as health care sector, however, might bring a more nuanced en-
trepreneurial landscape into view. Increased entrepreneurial activity within
the health care sector is an example of a sector where self employment
could lead to increased inclusion of immigrant women in the labour market
(Hedberg, 2009).

Importance of the Swedish Case Study

In the absence of comprehensive studies on immigrant entrepreneurship in a
global context the light the Swedish Study throws is significant. The au-
thor’s personal experience with the Indian diaspora in various countries in
the west and in Africa supports the various findings of the case study. For
example the Indian women entrepreneurs in the UK and USA are mostly
engaged in micro trading as grocery or textile shop owners and of late in IT
related enterprises, not withstanding the fact that some are well established
in the sector, but they are far and few. Women of Indian origin in Africa are
mostly in textile trading and in small joints, not worthy to be called restau-
rants, catering to the poorer section of the native and immigrant population.
They belong, more or less exclusively, to the Gujarati, Sindhi, Ismaili and
Memon communities most of which migrated decades before independence
and a few as a consequence of conflicts following India’s independence.

254

She Climbs to Conquer

Chapter 14

Conclusions, Recommendations and

The Way Forward

At a time when there is a sharp focus on diversity and women are being en-
couraged to break through unseen glass ceilings, turning entrepreneur is
proving to be a good way to get more women into the workforce. Apart
from a few management development programmes, the potential of women
entrepreneurs doesn’t appear to have been tapped or even properly assessed.
However, the increasing attendance of women at these programmes (30-
50%, according to various estimates) is an indication that there is a sharply
growing interest in entrepreneurship among women, being emboldened with
the success of start ups in India and abroad and the easing of societal embar-
gos. “Start-ups may provide a new way for more women to enter and stay in
the workforce. At a time when established companies are turning cartwheels
to meet their diversity targets (women being a key metric in this), the lure of
the unknown and the thrill of entrepreneurship may be a bigger draw than
the stability of a routine job”. (Satchidanand, 2014) According to various
estimates, women account for 25-35% of employees at start-ups and the
number is increasing. Yet this development is not free from criticism as Sa-
sha Mirchandani, founder of Kae Capital, an early-stage investor observes,
"There has been a noticeable increase in the quality and quantity of propos-
als we receive from women entrepreneurs...but it is nowhere close to where
it should be ideally."

The Female Management Style

While more women have been able to get (and stay in) a job, turning entre-
preneur comes with its own set of challenges. Women have proven leader-

255

The Woman in the MSME

ship skills and a demonstrated capacity to contribute in a significant manner to
the prosperity of humanity. Women entrepreneurs in the developed world have
become important players in creating enterprises, jobs and wealth. In the devel-
oping world they are considered as the best hope for lifting their families out of
poverty. As women develop and acquire experience and as the artificial barriers
to their full participation in the economic life fall integration of feminine values
into the workspace should create a humane and balanced work environment.
Because of women’s particular leadership style which reflects feminine values
and women’s developmental characteristics, women run enterprises generally
provide a caring, cooperative work environment with a marked potential for
individual growth and development. Globalization of markets and competition,
new technologies and instantaneous communication have brought with them
unprecedented change. This is forcing traditional firms to re-invent themselves
in order to adopt a new model of management that shares some of its features
with the leadership traits of women entrepreneurs.

Household and child rearing chores are often invisible except to those who bear
the burden. A woman is expected to accommodate family obligations as well
when she enters upon independent business ownership. This is possible if she
chooses the right time, the riht business, and the right partner! It is for the
woman herself to anticipate the demands of business ownership so that she can
embark on entrepreneurship with realistic expectations and requisite skills, and
acknowledge the support system that she will need in order to succeed in busi-
ness. A vast majority of women enterprises are started with unrealistic expecta-
tions, in volatile service or retail businesses, with inadequate finance and man-
agement training. It is no wonder if they fail. Embarking on any business or
profession without relevant experience or training necessarily creates hardships.
But a suitable system of training or education, and for that matter any support,
can be provided only if there is a clear understanding of the critical variables
that affect the business-creation, decision making, and the roles that family
structure and spousal and societal support play in the development and growth
of the business.

256

She Climbs to Conquer

Adverse Behavioural issues

Addressing the strategic and practical needs of women entrepreneurs is essen-
tial for the sustainable promotion and development of women entrepreneurship.
This, in turn, needs a focus on the important areas where female entrepreneurial
behaviour has been found to have worked against enterprise growth and expan-
sion. Women’s dual role and early socialization have conditioned women to
look for home –centred ventures in preference to market-centred ones. Studies
have identified resultant anti-entrepreneurial behaviour of women in the areas
of new business creation, recruitment, choice of activity, growth strategies and
re-investment of profits. Any intervention should aim at tackling the imbalance
in practices in these areas and must be capable of influencing their investment
patterns, choice of the subsector, recruitment practices, disposal of income and
growth strategies with a view to enabling them move onto businesses with high
value addition and growth potential. The solution lies in the creation of a sup-
port structure and an enabling legal environment that would facilitate women’s
access to resources, increase their productivity and competitiveness besides en-
couraging them to reinvest part of the business gains in the business to ensure
sustainability and growth. One suggestion is that the beneficiary should under-
take to set apart a certain amount equal to or as a multiple of the total benefits
received from public funds, over a time period of say 3 to 5 years from the year
the business starts making profits, for reinvestment in business, as a basic obli-
gation and requirement for its sustainability and growth and to refund the entire
benefit with interest in case of default; and this should be subject to monitoring
and enforcement. This will have twin effects of (1) ensuring that assistance is
sought and given to establish viable businesses and that appropriate studies,
evaluations and other preparatory tasks are undertaken before a business is ven-
tured into and (2) proper financial discipline and accounting is adhered to.

Family Support

A conducive social and family support structure is necessary to re-orient
women’s entrepreneurial behaviour from their current preoccupation in low
profitability ventures to high growth ventures. Primarily this support should

257

The Woman in the MSME

come from the family to ensure redistribution of domestic responsibilities. In an
environment characterized by nuclear families with minimal interference by the
in-laws and relatives this should not be a major problem. However, the spousal
opposition is cited by many women interviewed as reinforcing the negative so-
cietal outlook. While the negative attitudes need to be countered by appropriate
awareness and counseling programmes, the government and NGOs can play a
major role by establishing day care and rehabilitation centres, for children and
the elderly, to substantially relieve women entrepreneurs of their multiple roles.
The aim should be to shift some of the traditional domestic burden of women to
the society or community to enhance women’s participation in the economy full
time and to ensure that these services are socialized and provided on a sustain-
able basis. This needs to be supplemented with gender sensitization that incul-
cates a new attitude especially towards redistribution of responsibilities at fam-
ily and social levels. The media should be mobilized to portray the entrepreneu-
rial role of women and eventually supporting a redefinition of societal and fam-
ily gender roles.(Rutashobya, 2011).

Women entrepreneurs’ voice needs to be heard and taken seriously for their
business development – enabling access to capital, access to education and
training and access to networks and markets. Internationally, women entrepre-
neurs’ key business concerns are a blend of day-to-day business management
issues – maintaining profits, finding good employees, managing cash flow and
external factors such as the economy, the government, legal changes and access
to capital and technology. It is recognized that there is no single remedy or
“magic bullet” that will adequately address the complex mix of factors of exclu-
sion that keep women entrepreneurs behind men and unless and until the eco-
nomic policies and legal structures recognize the barriers and biases, women
owned enterprises will continue to fight an uphill battle for survival and the so-
cial biases will remain.

While there is a strong need for the women themselves to redefine their role in
the economy, it will take more than the determination of enterprising women to
break the barriers to success. Biologically women and men are nor equal and

258

She Climbs to Conquer

they suffer inequality from legislative and social stereotypes. When women try
to excel in business without relief their families suffer and when they act pri-
marily as care givers their businesses suffer. Joan Winn (2005, 2012) rightly
observes: “Legislators and policy makers must be cognizant of the tax struc-
tures and social policies that, despite good intentions, work against women who
wish to achieve financial independence. Women who desire self-actualization
and economic advancement can succeed through independent business owner-
ship, but not without great personal cost. Proactive policy changes are needed in
order to erode gender-biased attitudes and practices so that women can choose a
career path that doesn’t require sacrificing their dreams, depriving their fami-
lies, jeopardizing their health, or selling their souls.”

Women empowerment and economic development are closely inter-related.
“Equity between men and women is only likely to be achieved by continuing
policy actions that favour women at the expense of men, possibly for a very
long time”.(Duflo, 2011,p.1076). In other words it is necessary to temper ex-
pectations of the impact of women entrepreneurship promotion as the new en-
gine for growth to bring gender equality, social change and economic develop-
ment for both men and women. Vossenberg(2013) has a more positive outlook :
“The efforts of public and private institutions to promote or develop women’s
entrepreneurship in developing countries will continue to benefit individual
women entrepreneurs. But, as long as the gender bias in the context in which
entrepreneurship is embedded is left intact, our efforts may remain in vain and
without any significant macroeconomic and social impact. With all the money
in the world, combined with an accumulation of ‘good intentions’ and ‘great
ambitions’ perhaps not much will change as long as those that enjoy the powers
and privileges of the gender biased context will either step aside, make room
and engage in this endeavour for social change. Here, taking on a feminist per-
spective is promising due to its ‘political’ nature in the sense that it intrinsically
calls for change and alternatives. Because like poverty, the gender bias in entre-
preneurship is not inevitable: people have created it and thus can be overcome.”

Role of the Governments

259

The Woman in the MSME

Several policy initiatives have been taken by the Central and State Governments
over the past many decades, in terms of regulatory, promotional and representa-
tional policies for entrepreneurship development and more specifically aimed at
MSME development. The policies have mostly been gender neutral and very
few of them addressed women entrepreneurs in particular. There is already a
felt need for a comprehensive document on Women Entrepreneurship Develop-
ment Policy, incorporating both gender neutral policies and schemes applicable
to women and the specific ones addressed to women entrepreneurship. In this
context the efforts of the National Institute for MSME in bringing out the com-
pilation of MSME Schemes is commendable. While it is very comprehensive,
in content, it needs strenuous effort to sift through it to locate schemes of par-
ticular interest to women. The suggested compilation should have the contents
arranged in the order of subjects, rather than ministries and departments, high-
lighting provisions relating to women entrepreneurs. A similar compilation is
also called for in respect of the state funded schemes, fully or partially with cen-
tral share.

A large number of departmental and PSU websites remain without being up-
dated for long periods of time, in some cases extending to over five years. A
concerted action to ensure that the websites are kept updated on a monthly or
quarterly basis would serve the purpose for which they have been created or at
least refrain from misleading the viewers. Already there are data constraints and
inconsistencies in data provided by different sources, the stale data on the un-
updated websites only help aggravate the issue.

Following the promulgation of the National Policy for the Empowerment of
Women in 2001, various schemes meant to encourage women entrepreneurship
were launched, including the latest prescription to create a women component
of 10% in all public spending. The general consensus is, however, that their full
implementation is lagging. There is an immediate need to assess the impact of
these policies on the development of women entrepreneurship, how far the poli-
cies have percolated to reach the targeted strata of women entrepreneurs and the
extent to which they have taken the advantage of such policies.

260

She Climbs to Conquer

Women’s access to finance may be constrained by both supply and demand
side issues. To be effective the policy response would have to include along
with enabling financial sector policies, programs and initiatives that address
women’s non-financial as well as contextual or social constraints through
access to finance, enterprise development services, social intermediation,
financial literacy etc. Furthermore, as women entrepreneurs may be engaged
in activities ranging from managing a few chickens to factories with a large
number of employees their needs and the response would vary accordingly.
(Sushma Narain, Ud)

Policies must ideally originate from below as they should be need based so-
lutions. This should be a continuous exercise where feedback is sought from
beneficiaries. Before any new policy formulation is taken up suggestions
must be specifically invited. Draft development policies should be given
wider publicity and opportunity to women entrepreneurs to comment and
suggest modifications. The effect of the entire process would be (1) the poli-
cies will be better known to the beneficiary women, and understood by them
(2) the government will get timely feedback on the likely effects of the pol-
icy and the need for supplementary or corrective action and (3) the policy
would receive greater acceptability as the women find a participatory own-
ership of the policy rather than considering it an onerous gift from the gov-
ernment, besides effective articulation on relevant issues.

Lack of awareness about the policies has been a major hurdle in the devel-
opment process. Awareness creation and motivation exercises need to be
taken at village and block level through the local women’s associations and
SHGs. Womens’ colleges and Girls’ schools could be made avenues for dis-
sipation of information. These programmes should also be used to publicize
entrepreneurial achievements of women in various regions and neighbour-
hoods, to act as a tool to encourage young women to ponder over business
opportunities and to critically look at the businesses around in order that
they get motivated towards innovation.

Interactions with women in business should be made a mandatory exercise

261

The Woman in the MSME

for the DICs where they should organize seminars, discussion groups and
open fora periodically to gather the responses of the local women entrepre-
neurs to the efficacy or suitability of the various schemes for the sustenance,
growth and development of business in the area in general and their busi-
nesses in particular. Such meetings may be arranged with the involvement of
the LSGs concerned and the women-NGOs, women associations and the like.
The data gathered should be appropriately codified as to be useful for new
policy development or upgradation or modification of the existing ones. It is
learnt that some of the DICs in Kerala have organized such meetings, but
how far they have been instrumental in policy formulation is not known.

Women do participate in various government sponsored trade fairs, expos,
conferences etc, although in a limited number and without much interaction
with their counter parts on one to one basis. Government should consider
holding B2B meets between women entrepreneurs locally as well as abroad,
either in exclusive missions or as a substantial component of general mis-
sions.

Better facilitation measures need to be evolved considering the time and mo-
bility constraints women are subject to. It would be beneficial if a woman
officer is designated in every DIC and LSG to deal with the issues of women
entrepreneurs and to act as a coordinator with other agencies on their behalf.
There is already a directive to this effect but not being mandatory it doesn’t
appear to have been effectively implemented. The directive needs to be made
mandatory both at DIC and LSG concerned. Creation of government offices
of ‘Women's Enterprise Development’ is one other way to facilitate this.
Such offices could have programme responsibilities such as providing
women's business centres, organising information seminars and meetings
and/or providing web-based information to those wanting to start and grow a
business.

A beginning has been made by the government of India by mandating simpli-
fication of UID registration process for women. There are numerous other
procedures which are cumbersome and make the entrepreneurs run from pil-

262

She Climbs to Conquer

lar to post in complying with them. It is suggested that single window sys-
tems should be evolved for each set of relevant procedures where more than
one officer in the same or different agencies are involved. An enumeration of
such procedures needs to be done as a first step and synchronized through an
on-line communication regime.

Chambers of Industry and Commerce and trade associations should be en-
couraged to reserve a proportionate number of seats on their boards and com-
mittees for women members, one such member being responsible for the de-
velopment of and assistance to women entrepreneurs and start ups.

Women are forced to sacrifice their domestic comforts and spend higher
amounts for their business related travels in view of relative insecurity and
societal restrictions. They have also to find secured care centres for the chil-
dren and elderly persons at home and this causes additional expenditure and
inconvenience. These personal expenses are not deductible for income tax
purposes. The tax structure needs to take into consideration these special cir-
cumstances of women entrepreneurs, as distinct from women in general who
enjoy an enhanced basic exemption, and provide for deduction of personal
expenses of travel and care, consequent of business, from the preparation
stage through startup and implementation.

It should be made mandatory for the new clusters to include provision for
child care and elderly care in the overall design and for the existing clusters
to provide alternate facilities elsewhere.

One other area which should receive consideration is the on-line provision
for the access to the abstracts of results and visual details of prototypes devel-
oped by research and development institutions. The R&D institutions both in
the public sector and under universities and other educational institutions
should be encouraged to create tie ups with Startup facilitation set up, for ex-
ample, the Kerala Start up Village, to commercialize the projects developed
by them.

It should be considered, in view of the fact that the R&D work in the public

263

The Woman in the MSME

institutions is carried with public funds, whether the MSMEs should be forced
to pay for them. The revenue generated by the R&D institutions by such sale
should be evaluated against the value to the economy and the society if the find-
ings are made free for use by the industry. Added to that, it should be made
mandatory for the institutions to assist the women entrepreneurs in project im-
plementation, troubleshooting and problem solving during and after implemen-
tation on a priority basis.

Ownership of fixed assets is still a criterion for bank loans. India’s 11th Plan
encourages ownership rights for women by offering incentives for ownership
of property in women's name. State and local governments have launched some
initiatives in this regard. For example, in 2002, the state of Delhi cut stamp duty
rates from 8% to 6% for women owners. In case of joint ownership by men and
women, the duty is 7%. (TOI, 22 Nov, 2006) This is a welcome step towards
women empowerment. Other states may be encouraged to make similar provi-
sions. It is note-worthy that MannDeshi Bank of Maharashtra advocated for
stamp duty reduction for joint property registration for its women borrowers;
The bank also honors and rewards husbands that undertake such joint registra-
tions! Incidentally it may also be noted that in view of the high registration ex-
penses, Jordan dropped the condition that for home improvement loans the
property must be in the name of the woman.

Role of Financial Institutions

Despite RBI directives to provide collateral free loans upto a crore of rupees to
MSMEs banks still insist on tangible collateral security. Many women lack ac-
cess to collateral but have high repayment rates, which fact led to the establish-
ment of Bangladesh Grameen Bank, widely copied in many developing coun-
tries. Establishment credit registries to track the credit performance of borrow-
ers has been suggested as tool for deciding on further loans. Extending this con-
cept, it is thought that Integrated Credit Registries that capture wide-ranging
repayment histories including microfinance repayments will particularly help
women who are current microfinance borrowers but do not have formal credit
histories. Though no example of positive credit history serving as collateral in

264

She Climbs to Conquer

India is readily available, theoretically it should be possible to do so as this
would address problems of information asymmetry and credit behaviour of the
prospective borrower; basically the banks are concerned about repayment rather
than a hold on the assets. As many banks may be constrained because of regula-
tions, this may require RBI intervention.

Moveable collateral registries can encourage banks to design products that look
beyond traditional collateral such as against account receivables. Recent litera-
ture, for example, shows that in countries with reformed laws governing collat-
eral, moveable property such as inventory, accounts receivable, livestock etc are
considered excellent collateral and result in better loan terms, increased access,
and a more competitive financial sector (Fleisig, et.al. 2006). These findings
though not sex-disaggregated can be particularly significant for women entre-
preneurs who lack immoveable assets.

Establishment Bharatiya Mahila Bank was welcomed by women entrepreneurs
with high hopes and enthusiasm. It was assumed that the Bank will come up
with products specific to women’s enterprise development. But the experience
has been that the bank was subjected to the same pattern of working as any gen-
der-neutral financial institution. To be true to the laudable intentions with which
it was established the bank should develop and implement women oriented
products, including financing of women-supportive institutions like care homes
and working women’s hostels. The bank should develop a pro-women attitude
and believe in their innate characteristics of honesty and genuineness of pur-
pose. The bank should endeavour to listen to their problems and extend a sym-
pathetic and helping hand to ensure their sustained functioning as growth ori-
ented entrepreneurs. RBI need to make enabling changes in lending norms and
offer better interest packages. Considering the delays in payments by clients,
especially in a context where women are constrained to be less aggressive in
chasing payments, the Working Capital and NPA norms for women entrepre-
neurs need to be more lenient.

There is a role for the insurance companies to play here. Start up failure is rec-

265

The Woman in the MSME

ognized as a normal feature. The propensity to fail is higher in the case of
women enterprises because of social pressures and double-duty jeopardy. Inci-
dence of bad debts can also be high due to interruptions in collection drive. In-
surance companies should, as promotional policy, device products which are,
on one hand, less expensive on premium and on the other hand provide larger
cover with smaller basic deduction, in order to encourage women entrepreneurs
seek appropriate cover.
Role of BDS Providers
BDS is virtually nonexistent in India, particularly in the Women Entrepreneur-
ship segment. Adhoc services are provided by Chartered accountants, retired
bank officials, equipment suppliers’ representatives and a host of self styled
consultants. BDS services as an institution is yet to take shape. Until such insti-
tutions of business advisory services are established DICs will have to act as
model BDS providers. This call for a redefinition of the duties and responsibili-
ties of the DICs and re-orientation of their role as knowledgeable business fa-
cilitators. In turn this needs appropriate training and exposure in various ser-
vices including preparation of business plans, acquisition of capital from
sources other than conventional banks, such as angel funds, venture capital,
public subscription through stock exchanges, sourcing of equipment, materials,
manpower and other inputs, domestic and overseas markets, their structure and
regulatory restrictions, besides assistance in legal and compliance requirements.
They should also be able to provide financial literacy and such other disciplines
as needed. Development of an extra departmental cadre of BDS providers can
also be considered for eventual privatization of the profession.

266