Constraints on Women Entrepreneurship Development in Kerala: An ...

derstandable were urgent. They all agreed that government help is essential to promote
women’s industry, particularly in ensuring them adequate market access.
A view that came up for serious discussion was that a major cause for marketing difficulties
faced by women entrepreneurs was the nature of the products. For example, enterprises
producing non-conventional products and services needed only mild marketing efforts (e.g.:
computer software). Unfortunately, women enterprises are few in this line. Risk-aversion is
a bane of women entrepreneurs. Their outlook needed urgent change.
Women entrepreneurs had to show better awareness of available support programmes and
make earnest and persistent efforts to securing the benefits.
Travelling to long distances, particularly to places outside the State, for processing raw materials,
was a real problem which most entrepreneurs faced; traditions, opposition from own
families, lack of exposure to the world outside were all parts of the constraints women faced.
In consequence, several women entrepreneurs make do with local sources for inputs and
local markets for sale of products or services.
Household responsibilities constituted another serious drag on their energy and time. Public
criticism, harassment, and sexual assaults were also problems, which women entrepreneurs
often encountered.
Access to information in areas of business was low for women. Consequently, they seldom
venture into new and challenging areas of business. Some entrepreneurs felt ill-equipped to
compete with men in a man’s world.
Personnel management was another problem area. Finding skilled labour of the requisite type
is a tedious task. Skilled workers had a tendency to change jobs frequently seeking better
fortunes. Management of ‘expert’ workers is a difficult job. Experts rarely respect a woman
as boss and seldom relish the idea of taking orders from her. Thus women entrepreneurs
often end up with non-competent and unsteady labour. They find negotiating with the government
a difficult job; officials seldom co-operate; even after repeated visits, subsidy and
other benefits of SSI registration remain beyond reach. Officials indulge in giving evasive
answers and false promises. Obtaining licences and grants too were more problematic for
women than for men. Women found it difficult to probe why grants were denied to them and
why there was no response even to their written complaints.
Bank managers were another difficult lot. They usually refuse to get convinced about the
bona fides of the requests for loans made by women entrepreneurs. Some rules and regulations
make the situation more difficult. For example, the stipulation that PMRY loan cannot be
given if the annual income of the applicants is more than Rs 24,000, has wrought havoc in
many cases. Ninety-five percent of the participants found government formalities vexing and
time-consuming.
Sales tax exemption was another problem they shared in common. Even though in theory
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