Women entrepreneurship in Kerala: a comparative study with Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Women entrepreneurship is gaining momentum and has become a pressing need of the day in a developing country like India. Women entrepreneurship in Kerala- A comparative study with Tamil Nadu has been undertaken to investigate the socio-economic status and problems of the women entrepreneurs and also to assess the role and involvement of Government agencies and financial institutions in the development of women entrepreneurship in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with a view to providing a sense of direction to planners and policy makers to formulate suitable policy measures for the speedy growth of women entrepreneurship on the one hand and to the emerging crop of young women entrepreneurs to reap immense benefits and decide the future course of action, on the other. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. The primary data were collected through depth interviews with a sample of 487 women entrepreneurs (327 from Kerala and 160 from Tamil Nadu), 379 permanent employees (307 from Kerala and 72 from Tamil Nadu) of the sample women entrepreneurs and also from 25 Government agencies (15 from Kerala and 10 from Tamil Nadu) and 32 financial institutions (16 each from Kerala and Tamil Nadu). The secondary data were collected from the publications of Ministry of Small Scale Industries, Government of India, Department of Industries and Commerce, Tamil Nadu and Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Kerala, reports, books and periodicals. The data were suitably classified and analysed, keeping in view the objectives of the study. The study covers a decade from 1996- 97 to 2004- 05.The results of this study reveal that the women entrepreneurs in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are different in the following aspects, viz. nature of social activities undertaken, amount spent on social activities and degree of acceptance of decisions by employees of women entrepreneurs.