In Indian society, entrepreneurship for women is not a luxury. As an organisation, that has economic empowerment as one of its foundational pillars, AWAG has seen generations of women struggling to achieve this right – the right to earn a living and to break the stereotype that only men can bring home the bacon.
Social empowerment is the key to financial stability
AWAG considers that being socially empowered is the first step towards economic empowerment. Therefore in our training and shibirs with rural women and those from the lower socio-economic strata, we try to instill the seeds of gender equality and social rights followed by livelihood skills.
Eons back when AWAG was at its nascent stage, we had to pursue women to try and learn new skills, urging them to unfold their capabilities. But this, like all other aspects of society, also changed.
Young Women Social Empowerment Program
In 2013, when AWAG initiated a program called, ‘The Young Women Social Empowerment’ with British Council, we witnessed women from all different walks of life (urban women from lower socio-economic background) signing up eagerly and looking forward to learning new skill-sets. The program motivated women to kickstart their own business – small and medium-sized and seek out help from other women of their likes. It focussed on training them for banking and loan, trading and marketing and more. Towards the end of the program we concluded that over the years, there has been a considerable change in how women perceive themselves and their capabilities.
The case study of Khairun Nisha (name changed)
Khairun Nisha, a mother of a 13-year-old boy, suffers from impaired vision. She belongs to a small village in Kerala. When her husband lost the job as a rickshaw driver, she and her family could hardly survive hand to mouth.
For Khairun Nisha, her entrepreneur journey began by selling homemade Appams. In the initial days, she would make some appams and give them to her husband to sell outside the temple as prashad. In due course of time, all her appams were sold by the end of the day. As demand for her appams grew, Khairun Nisha made more and more. In her little house, she also hired a part-time worker to help her knead, roll and fry. Also, because she was specially-abled, she needed her family’s support and external help.
Today, Khairun Nisha is the entrepreneur of a medium-sized enterprise that is based on the concept of social empowerment. She has appointed more than 70 women in her factory just outside the outskirts of the village and is supporting them financially. Her husband and her son also help her in running the business. Khairun Nisha’s business which is named after her son, now not only sells appams but also other traditional snacks.
Her business is one of the most talked about and discussed topics in the IIM course for entrepreneurship.
The challenge continues
There exists a general notion in society that just being a woman gives them an added advantage over their male counterparts, especially in terms of growing opportunities and minimising risks. Unfortunately, this is too good to be true.
Well, the number of women in business today is much more than the olden days and thanks to the slight advantage of additional lending sources available to them. However, bankers, customers and society do not view ‘women-owned businesses’ any differently.
Moreover, in the business world, the issue of the gender pay gap still exists. Even though both genders have the same professional aspiration, the playing field is far from being equal. Also, women have to make many more sacrifices such as delaying their marriage/ family planning, etc.
Conclusion
As grim as these facts might seem, for women who have decided to turn into entrepreneurs – there is no stopping. As women, we all know that we have to work twice as hard for half the recognition and pay, but by consistently supporting and empowering each other and putting out a singular voice, we have a phenomenal role to play in the modern world of business.
