Paper
Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan
How to improve the bargaining power of the business women of Pakistan?
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This report is based on a survey of 150 women entrepreneurs in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi, three major cities in Pakistan. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the status of small business-women in the country. The respondents:
- Ran their own businesses;
- Operated from dedicated business premises outside their homes;
- Employed at least five persons.
The report presents the barriers and constraints that these women face:
- Gender biases, such as hostile attitude towards them;
- Family and social constraints;
- Financial constraints;
- Problems in marketing.
The report also discusses the factors that enable women entrepreneurship and makes the following recommendations to encourage it:
- Establishing and strengthening business forums of women;
- Hand-holding and counseling selected women entrepreneurs in order to generate role models;
- Developing programs for potential women entrepreneurs;
- Preparing a comprehensive database of women entrepreneurs;
- Conducting gender audit of small and medium enterprises development institutions.
Finally, the report provides brief case studies of 20 women entrepreneurs, each having different backgrounds and each being engaged in diverse businesses.
