Women entrepreneurs face a series of problems right from the beginning till the enterprise

functions. Being a woman itself poses various problems to a woman entrepreneur, The
problems of Indian women pertains to her responsibility towards family, society and lion work.
The tradition, customs, socio cultural values, ethics, motherhood subordinates to ling husband
and men, physically weak, hard work areas, feeling of insecurity, cannot be tough etc are some
peculiar problems that the Indian women are coming across while they jump into
entrepreneurship. Women in rural areas have to suffer still further. They face tough resistance
from men. They are considered as helpers. The attitude of society towards her and constraints
in which she has to live and work are not very conducive.

The problems and constraints experienced by women entrepreneurs have resulted in restricting
the expansion of women entrepreneurship. The major barriers encountered by women
entrepreneurs are as follows:
1. Lack of confidence: Woman generally lack confidence in their own capabilities. Having
accepted a subordinate status for long. Even at home, members of their family dont
appear to have total confidence in their abilities and on their decision making. Society in
general also lacks confidence in womens strength, traits and competence. This is quite
apparent in the familys reluctance to finance womens venture, bankers are reluctant
to take risks on projects set up by women, and individuals are unwilling to stand
guarantee for loans to a woman.
2. Problems of finance and working capital: Another problem faced by women entrepreneurs
is lack of access to funds because they do not possess any tangible security and credit in the
market Since women do not enjoy right over property of any form, they have limited access
over external sources of funds. Even the members of her family have little confidence in the
capability or the women to run a business.
Women entrepreneurs face serious problem in obtaining working capital for financing day to
day operations of the enterprises, including purchase of raw materials, meeting pay rolls. The
chronic shortage of working capital leaves women entrepreneurs extremely vulnerable to
competition and other emergencies. The complex and complicated procedure of bank loans, the
delay in obtaining the loans and running about involved, deter many women from establishing
enterprises.

3. Social barriers: A woman has to perform her family duties irrespective of her career as
a working woman or an entrepreneur. In our society more importance is given to
educating the male child as compared to the female child. This results in lack of
schooling and vocational training of women. Their lack of attaining technical skills and
thereby lack of awareness or opportunities available. This adds to the constraints in

establishing enterprises by women. Even the male labor force is generally seen as not
preferring to work under a lady boss. Women entrepreneurs are not taken seriously
enough by the labor force. All this hinders women entrepreneurship.
4. Tough competition: Usually women entrepreneurs employ low technology in the
process of production. In a market where the competition is too high, they have to fight
hard to survive in the market against the organized sector and their male counterpart
who have vast experience and capacity to adopt advanced technology in managing
enterprises
5. Production Problems: Production in a manufacturing enterprise involves coordination
of a number of activities. While some of these activities are in the control of the
entrepreneur, there are others over which she has little control. Improper coordination
and delay in execution of any activity cause production problems in industry. The
inability of women entrepreneurs to keep pace with the latest advances in technology
and lack or technical know-how results in high cost of technology acquisition and
machinery utilization.

6. Inefficient Marketing Arrangements : Heavy competition in the market, and their lack

of mobility makes (he women entrepreneurs dependent on middlemen. For marketing

their products, women entrepreneurs are at the mercy of middleman who pockets a
major chunk of profit. Further, women entrepreneurs also find it difficult to capture the
market and make their products popular. They lack information on the changing market.
In addition, women entrepreneurs, face difficulty in collection of payments .
7. Lack of entrepreneurial aptitude: Lack of entrepreneurial aptitude is a matter of
concern for women entrepreneurs. They have no entrepreneurial bent of mind. Even
after attending various training programs on entrepreneur ship women entrepreneurs
fail to tide over the risks and troubles that may come up in an organizational working.