چکیده:
Women's empowerment is related to women's decision-making power, easy access to information, and resource control. Women entrepreneurship is in the initial stage in Pakistan. The present study primarily focused on the challenge of women empowerment through entrepreneurship in Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data through the survey method. The target population of the study was 120 women of the main cities of Pakistan. The target population was divided into two categories (housewife/ entrepreneur cum housewife). The results highlight that entrepreneurship played a significant role and increased the decision-making power of women entrepreneurs as compared to the housewife. However, women entrepreneurs are facing various obstacles such as less governmental support, complicated bank loan procedures, lack of entrepreneurial education, and market awareness. The governmental support in place of smooth and easily accessible bank loans for women requires enhancing their confidence and control over resources similar to the men. The result highlights that women entrepreneurs have strong decision-making power, fewer mobility issues, autonomy, financial independence, and empowerment. This study will help policymakers to formulate strategies to overcome the obstacles of women entrepreneurship to attain empowerment through entrepreneurship. A women empowerment model is proposed to be followed.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The current scenario of developing countries such as Pakistan – where the informal business is the most affordable path to run a business – depicts women entrepreneurship as the primary tool to bring female empowerment via access to business loans (Ariffin, Baqutayan, & Mahdzir, 2017; Blasco, Brusca, Esteban & Labrador, 2016).
Previous researches highlight that women entrepreneurs in Pakistan face various challenges such as less education, lack of finances, a male-dominant society, gender discrimination, and lack of entrepreneurial training (Roomi & Parrott 2008; Shabbir, 1995).
The survey was made of questions related to (a) business type and income-generating ventures, (b) microcredit loan schemes, (c) instalment procedures, (d) and women empowerment that is measured by (i) resources control, (ii) mobility, (iii) decision-making power, (iv) autonomy, (v) ownership of household, (vi) political and legal awareness, (vii) participation in development and social activities, (viii) contribution to family expenditure and income, as well as knowledge about rights (Brush & Manolova, 2018; Hung, Yoong, & Brown , 2012; Mustapha & Subramaniam, 2016; Ong et al.
Figure 1 highlights the relationship between women entrepreneurship and women empowerment and how women entrepreneurship empowers women in terms of knowledge and skills such as individual (resource control, mobility ease, increased decision-making power, autonomy, and enhanced knowledge about rights of women), family-related (ownership of household and contribution to family expenditure and income), and community-related (political and legal awareness, and participation in development and social activities) issues (Asif, Arshad & Ali 2015; Brush & Manolova, 2018; Ong, Habidin, Salleh, & Fuzi, 2017; Phonthanukitithaworn, Ketkaew & Naruetharadhol ,).
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