Authors

1. Ms. Priya Makhija
2. Ms. Kavita Nagpal
3. Dr. Leena James

Affiliation

• Head of Department Commerce Baldwins Methodist College Bengaluru
• Senior Teacher Lilavati Podar Mumbai
• Professor Christ University Bangalore

Abstract

The origins of the concept of empowerment go back to the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1960. It has since then been interpreted differently and filled with new meanings and is today used in such different sectors as business, social work, development discourse and by advocates of very different political agendas. The different definitions of empowerment range between defining it as a largely individual process of taking control of and responsibility for one’s life and situation, and defining it as a political process of granting human rights and social justice to disadvantaged groups of people. At the former end of the continuum, where empowerment is defined largely as an individual process, empowerment can be used in the conservative political rhetoric of freeing the government of responsibility for injustices and for granting social security. Instead, the argument makes individuals and communities responsible for their own social security and welfare, without providing the necessary support and resources.
Women’s empowerment is a new phrase in the vocabulary of gender literature. The phrase is used in two broad senses i.e. general and specific. In a general sense, it refers to empowering women to be self-dependent by providing them access to all the freedoms and opportunities, which they were denied in the past only because of their being ‘women’. In a specific sense, women empowerment refers to enhancing their position in the power structure of the society.

Keywords

empowerment ,, Entrepreneurship , , liberalization, , globalization, privatization

References

1. Goetz, A.M. and R. Sen Gupta (1994, September), “Who take the credit? Gender, Power, and control over loanuse in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh,” Unpublished manuscript Brighton, U.K. : Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
2. Gershon, David and Gail Straub (1981), “Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life As You Want It”, United States: High Point Press.
3. George Abraham, (2001, April), “Empowerment of Women in Rural India”, Paper presented at the Conference of Empowerment of Women in Developing Countries, Action Alliance on Women’s Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
4. “Women in Business: A Demographic Review of Women’s Business Ownership”, Office of Advocacy U.S. Small Business Administration, August 2006.
5. Women in Business & Decision Making – A survey on women entrepreneurs, women network”, euro chambers Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, August 2004.
6. Women Entrepreneurship Development India,www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC1073/fc1073.html
7. Damwad, (2007), “Women Entrepreneurship – A Nordic Perspective”, Nordic Innovation Centre.
8. Winn, Joan, (2005), “Women Entrepreneurs: Can we remove the Barriers?” International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal,1(3): 381-397,
9. Renuka V. (2001), “Opportunities and challenges for women in business, India Together”, Online Report, Civil Society Information Exchange Pvt. Ltd.
10. Raheem A (2006), “Role of SHGs”, Yojana, Vol. 50, No. 12.
11. Mahanty Sangram Keshari (2005) “Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship”, Prentice Hall of India.
12. Kumar, A. (2004), “Financing Pattern of Enterprises Owned by Women Entrepreneurs”, The Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol. 57, No. 2.
13. Hattangadi Dr. Vidya: (2007) Entrepreneurship – Need of the hour, Himalaya Publication House, First edition. “Schemes and Programmes of Ministry of Small Scale Industries and Ministry of Agro & Rural Industries”, Govt. of India Kalyani Publishers.
14. Gordon E. & Natarajan K.: (2007) “Entrepreneurship Development”, Himalaya Publication House, Second Revised edition.
15. Dhameja S K (2002), “Women Entrepreneurs: Opportunities, Performance and Problems”, Deep Publisher (P) Ltd., New Delhi.
16. Chandhoke, N. and A. Ghosh (1995) “Grassroots Movements and Social Change”, New Delhi: Developing Countries Research Centre, University of Delhi.
17. Chandhoke, N. (1995) “State and Civil Society: explorations in political theory”, New Delhi: Sage.
18. Census of India (2001) ‘Sex composition of the population’, Provisional Population Totals, New Delhi, Census of India 2001, Ch. 6.
19. Census of India (2002) ‘Provisional Results’, Census of India 2001, Retrieved June 2002, from www.censusindia.net.
20. CARE (Credit Analysis and Research) (2009) ‘Grading of Micro-Financing Institutions Report: Chinyard ’, Mumbai: CARE.