Women Entrepreneurship as a Barrier to Success in Bangladesh
Introduction
A woman entrepreneur is defined as a woman who has alone or with one or more partners started or inherited a business, and is eager to take financial, administrative, and social risks and responsibilities, and participate in the day-to-day management activities (UNDP, 2004). Women in Asian countries like India, Myanmar and Bangladesh have played and also are playing a good role in politics. So, Bangladeshi women are enjoying freedom to join politics as well as business. But compared with the Unites States and the European countries, the number is still poor. In fact, women entrepreneurship development is a challenging phenomenon in Bangladesh as women are lagged behind (economically and socially) compared to men. Generally, women are more victimized as because of their illiteracy, unawareness, unorganized, powerless or less political representation, deprivation, rigid social customs, religious constrains and injustice by their counter partners particularly in rural area. Women constitute about a half of the total population in Bangladesh. So for proper representation of women in the arena of entrepreneurship development, "women should constitute 50 per cent of the country's total entrepreneurs." But the ground reality is totally different. "The ratio is not even 10 per cent. The actual ratio is much lower than that. We do not know the exact number of women entrepreneurs in the country,” There is no real information on how many women entrepreneurs exist in the country.
1
Background
In Bangladesh women entrepreneurs are coming up. If the last 10 years are taken into account, it will be clear that the number of women entrepreneurs has increased significantly. But the ratio of women entrepreneurs to their male counterparts is very low. In the recent years countries like Bangladesh have started paying attention to women. Women entrepreneurs have improved their living conditions and earned more respect in the family and the society. The
A woman entrepreneur is defined as a woman who has alone or with one or more partners started or inherited a business, and is eager to take financial, administrative, and social risks and responsibilities, and participate in the day-to-day management activities (UNDP, 2004). Women in Asian countries like India, Myanmar and Bangladesh have played and also are playing a good role in politics. So, Bangladeshi women are enjoying freedom to join politics as well as business. But compared with the Unites States and the European countries, the number is still poor. In fact, women entrepreneurship development is a challenging phenomenon in Bangladesh as women are lagged behind (economically and socially) compared to men. Generally, women are more victimized as because of their illiteracy, unawareness, unorganized, powerless or less political representation, deprivation, rigid social customs, religious constrains and injustice by their counter partners particularly in rural area. Women constitute about a half of the total population in Bangladesh. So for proper representation of women in the arena of entrepreneurship development, "women should constitute 50 per cent of the country's total entrepreneurs." But the ground reality is totally different. "The ratio is not even 10 per cent. The actual ratio is much lower than that. We do not know the exact number of women entrepreneurs in the country,” There is no real information on how many women entrepreneurs exist in the country.
1
Background
In Bangladesh women entrepreneurs are coming up. If the last 10 years are taken into account, it will be clear that the number of women entrepreneurs has increased significantly. But the ratio of women entrepreneurs to their male counterparts is very low. In the recent years countries like Bangladesh have started paying attention to women. Women entrepreneurs have improved their living conditions and earned more respect in the family and the society. The