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When we say basic, we mean basic as it is a shame indeed those women are fighting this battle for centuries now. While America saw the rise of its first female entrepreneur in the 1700s and India saw its first woman entrepreneur centuries later in 1960, it has still been decades that women are trying to make space for themselves in this man denominated world.
No entrepreneurial journey is complete without “hustle”. Many believe, it is the magic ingredient to growth. But it is not as great as it sounds. In the real world, you need to be a fierce, mentally strong and agile person to overcome stressful and testing times on the field.
Many leaders who have struggled or are struggling would say, “Every entrepreneur struggle, what’s special about a women’s struggle in the entrepreneurial world.” “Is there even a difference comes between a man’s struggle and a women’s struggle?”
According to research, women’s share in the MSMEs in India is 20% while men own 80% of all micro, small and medium businesses across India in the financial year 2021. So, indeed this huge number exists because of certain factors.
SEXISM:
There is indeed no debate that the very basic problem for women entrepreneurs in India is sexism. The deep-rooted social roles instilled in the minds of parents makes girls at an early age restrict to home. Even if the family steps ahead and educates a girl and motivates her to work. It is still a “man-dominated” world. In the professional world, it creates hurdles for women in places where men seem to easily move ahead.
For example: Getting work done by male workers and labourers is still a task for women. Their leadership and patience are both tested each time. This is a classic example of psychological barriers and bias against women entrepreneurs across the world.
SHORTAGE OF FUNDING:
Funding is an issue for every entrepreneur as it is a big gamble to invest in something that is novel and essentially never existed. From a women’s lens, this problem has a finance gap added to it. Yes, seems like women not only battle financial disparity at work in terms of pay but are also subjected to social stratification in the entrepreneurial world.
Investors across the world are more likely to give money to males than to females. Intentionally or not, this choice makes only a small fragment to women who choose to live their dreams get finance for the same. On one hand, generally, women do not hold property or collaterals in their name and have to resort to external sources. On the other hand, banks also consider women less creditworthy.
STIFF COMPETITION AND STRUGGLING TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY:
Once a women entrepreneur enters the market, due to limited money, she does not have money to pump into marketing and hence, she has to face stiff competition. Adding to this hustle is the struggle to be taken seriously in the male-dominated industry. This is a basic problem of women entrepreneurs in India which makes sense why we see a huge gap in numbers.
LIMITED MOBILITY:
It is painful to see the reality of today where minorities and women, both faces raised eyebrows if they are trying to find a room to stay into work remotely. Yes, it is a cumbersome process in various such areas while safety is a concern on one hand and humiliating behaviour from people is on the other hand. Many women entrepreneurs get discouraged from the same idea which does not let them propel towards growth.
Conclusion: One Word At A Time
After discussing the basic problems women entrepreneurs face, let us come back to where we started. Today, women are confidently raising their voices and calling out tags like “women entrepreneurs”, “women leader”, “female CEO”. When we are talking about equality in language, well, we have to mention the words that were created centuries ago by men.
“Man-made” is an example of a phrase that displays how men’s role in the world translated into language. “Why is it not ‘people made or ‘human-made’?” No, this is not my question. It is the question of a 6-year-old to his mother and the world. Yes, a 6-year-old Teresa manimal's Mother shared his curious questions calling out sexism in a recent trending video online.
The amazing fact is that we now have a chance to change the world, with actions and language, one step at a time, one word at a time.
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