Empowerment of women micro-entrepreneurs

Women Empowerment, women development, women emancipation, these are soothing but passionate buzzwords that have instilled hope in women all across the globe. These ideals have been promoted to demonstrate gender equality and protection of women from the bigoted who are not willing to accept the importance of women in today's challenging and changed environment.
These guiding principles are supposed to be preached and practiced in all spheres of society's activities, ranging from political, economic, social, religious, and even familial. However, countries have witnessed and accepted different measures for various countries or societies. In Pakistan, these principles have had to be introduced in phases keeping in mind the male-dominated mindset as well as the reluctance of society to bring forth stellar-standard changes.
Yes, it is true that inspite of the predominant male influence, women have made their mark and presence felt and acknowledged. From Benazir Bhutto, as twice-elected Prime Minister, to the present day speaker of the National Assembly, ruling over the National Assembly, trying to maintain peace and harmony in the contentious-prone House. From police officers to doctors in the army, to careers in various fields, the Pakistani woman has come a long way.
Even in trade and industry, many women entrepreneurs have managed to enter and have their voice heard, and it is crucial that these women entrepreneurs be given their due consideration now. Over the years, while there has been lot of talk and policymaking exercises to encourage women entrepreneurship, the stark fact is that the implementation at the ground level has left much to be desired.
There has always been an adverse environment in official and semi-official circles when it comes to alleviating the various problems and difficulties faced by women entrepreneurs and even then, there have been half-hearted facilitation efforts whenever the policies for women entrepreneurs are being deliberated, discussed, or finalised.
ROADBLOCKS FOR WOMEN MICRO ENTREPRENEURS: There are thousands of women who could be classified as micro entrepreneurs. These women are involved in myriad economic activities ranging from the traditional sectors such as education, textiles, gems and jewellery, furniture, household items, food catering, bakery products, etc.
These women have limited financial resources, work mostly from their home base, prefer outsourcing rather than having capital equipment, and market their goods services through a direct mechanism. Most of these women combine their business with their own responsibilities as homemakers.
Many of these women are single mothers, whether they are widowed, divorced, or have their husbands away for prolonged period. Generally, they do get logistical support as well as financial support from their families. The case of micro women entrepreneurs and the environment they have to work could be categorised into four dimensions:
LIMITATION: Empowerment in the true sense means a process of providing a practical opportunity for an individual to plan, control, and implement one's decisions or programmes in an independent mode and at the same time accepting responsibility for the actions taken in this regard.
The fundamental problem faced by women entrepreneurs is that there are many barriers in their way and that these obstacles have impeded and even discouraged women to settle themselves in the economic environment. They are seldom encouraged or facilitated in the same manner as their gender counterparts when it comes to financial resources, information dissemination, or marketing opportunities.
DISHARMONY: It has been observed that inspite of all efforts by women organisations, there is no real unity among the women entrepreneurs. There is resort to stinginess and pettiness, there is undue criticism of one another, there is very little information sharing, there is seldom a desire to work in an united manner to resolve problems or to lobby for their rights and needs, there is no concept of trying to organise under one common brand, and there is a very casual attitude towards character assassination and image destroying. All this have resulted in these women entrepreneurs not being able to lift themselves up to the next plateau.
DISCRIMINATION: There is obvious gender discrimination prevalent in the country and especially concerning women who are active in economic activities. At the same time, there is provincial and ethnic discrimination that has hurt women too. Moreover, many families and communities scorn the idea of their womenfolk engaging in business and there have been many cases of energetic and talented women closing their businesses due to these pressures.
However, the discriminatory attitude is very much prevalent within the government, within the business community, within the infrastructure providers, within financial institutions, within the legal fraternity, and within market players. This is the most disturbing factor impeding the progress of women entrepreneurs.
HARASSMENT: Women have all through been victims of many kinds of harassment. These are verbal, sexual, exploitative, and through discretionary use of authority and powers. Sexual harassment reflects the unequal power relations between persons in society. The entry of women in a male-dominated environment makes them vulnerable to the mindset of those who are in a position to take undue advantage of these women.
It is going to take a long time for the complete removal of the established mindset that working or career women are easy prey or that these women are bad, rotten, or evil because they are penetrating the male bastion. This writer has heard many women who have come seeking guidance and counselling for the trauma they suffered due to verbal and sexual harassment in pursuit of their careers or businesses. So much so, it is a personal experience which has resulted in losing valuable business deals because of the resistance to the ulterior motives of such men.
THE WAY FORWARD FOR WOMEN MICRO ENTREPRENEURS There is no doubt that women must obtain economic equality on a fast track, and one of the possibilities for attaining this is to establish easy facilities and channels for financing women's entrepreneurship. The number of organisations dealing with issues of economic empowerment of women has been increasing, and their importance will certainly grow with more and more women entering the job market and becoming career-oriented.
The formula for success consists of the creation of a literate workforce, together with motivated, quality labour, and enlightened management. Improving the participation of women has three dimensions: First - women as beneficiaries of the projects; second - women as contributors; and third - women in decision-making. This policy is imperative if micro women entrepreneurs have to get onto the next plateau.
In order for micro women entrepreneurs to spread out their scope of activities, it is important that the following essential ingredients are introduced, accepted, and implemented, in order to attain these objectives. These are as follows:
-- Integration of women in economic activities as a priority and enabling the availability of international expertise with local knowledge and resources.
-- Co-ordination of projects of women organisations among themselves, to avoid duplication and to serve more women in the targeted population.
-- Highlighting "women's success stories," in order to change existing stereotypes of women.
-- Forging of bonds of solidarity among women by creating a network of women's groups throughout the country - both in rural and urban areas.
-- Harnessing the influence of religious organisations to support women-specific normal and legislative changes, in order to improve the situation of women at all stages of their existence.
-- Creation of gender focal points in all sections of government and state bodies, for the purpose of exchange of information and co-ordination of action, eg, simplification of the administrative system pertaining to loan applications to banks, introducing flexibility in procedures of lending institutions, criteria for guarantees, etc.
-- Mandatory setting up of a functional one-window facility in infrastructure providing services, in financial institutions, in government departments, and even in Chambers, etc.
-- Establishment of a quota mechanism to assure gender parity in decision-making positions in government bodies.
-- Reduction of taxation be reduced on enterprises where women employees form at least 30% of the workforce.
-- Providing special attention to social security benefits for elderly women, who often remain with little sustenance.
-- Economic development of rural areas for the benefit of women be given priority;
-- Skill development programmes and courses that orient women in subjects, such as, of starting businesses, financing, marketing, packaging, and trouble-shooting, etc must be arranged on a priority and on a continuing basis;
-- The government must ensure that, wherever applicable, atleast 5% of all government procurements, state-owned enterprises procurements, and armed forces procurements, must be from women-owned enterprises.
-- The government has recently announced the "Wasila-e-Haq" initiative under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Income Support Programme. Under this over Rs 70 billion programme, it is planned to provide a direct loan of Rs 300,000 to families through computer balloting. This one-time loan is supposedly being done to encourage the recipient to start a business or trade.
Although it is an altruistic proposal, the bare fact is that most of the recipients may not have the knack or the talent to commence business and there is always the possibility that most of the money would be lost forever. It is proposed that out of the Rs 70 billion, at least Rs 2 billion annually be earmarked for women entrepreneurs since this allocation would be generally safe, secure, and of course, create jobs and income. The mark-up, if applicable, should not be more than the rate of Export Refinance Scheme;
-- Subsidy should be provided to women entrepreneurs to participate in local exhibitions if held in cities away from their places of residence. In this way, the women entrepreneurs would get a better exposure, make business contacts, and able to market their goods and services in other areas too;
-- The President of Pakistan should announce special Awards for women entrepreneurs, and these be awarded after consultations with women organisations, FPCCI, and through documentary participation of women in various activities;
-- The foreign support organisations, such as USAID, ODA, CIDA, UNDP, etc must involve women entrepreneurs in their programmes as this would motivate more women to become involved in trade and services;
-- Organisations, such as CIPE, must continue to play a determined role in financing and organising the training programmes, are very instrumental in motivation, guidance, and sustainability of these projects, and in providing support and help in lobbying for the market acceptability of products and services of these women entrepreneurs.
A WORD OF CONCERN AND A MESSAGE The success of any project, the acceptability of any initiative, and the implementation of any policy can only be achieved if there is transparency, if there is sincerity, and if there is consistency among all stakeholders. It is also important that women organisations do not succumb to the malaise prevalent in many chambers and associations where all activities are personality based or where the organisation is formed solely for the purpose of self-generated publicity and self-interest considerations for one person or a small group.
These organisations, if continued to be supported and encouraged, and if not able to get out of the old mould, would impede rather than encourage the transformation of women entrepreneurs from a lower tier to a higher plateau. I would like to end with a part of the chorus from Helen Reddy's song, "I am Woman", which is really an anthem for women all across the world:
Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am Woman