Women entrepreneurs who work remotely and in rural areas — provide 27 million jobs

• India is estimated to have over 13.5 million women-owned enterprises.
  
• These enterprises are creating employment for nearly 27 million people in the country and can generate up to 170 million jobs over the next decade.
  
• ‘Women solopreneurs’ — who mostly opt for working remotely — account for 31% of the companies run by women.
  
• Women labour force participation in India is among the lowest in the world and is stagnating at 25% — much below the UK and the US at 73% and 67%, respectively.

Around 20% of India’s enterprises — at 13.5 million are owned by women. These women entrepreneurs also provide direct employment to nearly 27 million others, says a report by Google and Bain & Company.

As per the report “Women Entrepreneurship in India – Powering the economy with her '', ‘women solopreneurs’ — who work remotely — account for 31% of the enterprises. These are followed by ‘agripreneurs’ in the rural areas and other small businesses.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The report believes that such enterprises can generate up to 170 million jobs over the next decade. This is over 25% of the total jobs needed to keep up with the growing population.

“We have seen that women are hungry for opportunities to grow their household incomes. Hundreds of women in rural India want to learn more about doing business and many have already made the start to enhance their livelihoods. We are already running a pilot accelerator program for rural entrepreneurs from our Internet Saathi network,” said Sapna Chadha, senior country marketing director at Google India & Southeast Asia.

Like most other contributions made by women, their role in the economy is significantly underestimated. Women labour force participation in India is among the lowest in the world and is stagnating at 25% — much below the UK and the US at 73% and 67%, respectively.

In fact, almost 75% of the working age women in India do not have a paid job. Even in the rural farms, they represent 42% of the agricultural labour force but own merely 2% of the farmland.

Social barriers, technological disruption and other stresses have kept women away from making a larger contribution.

“Unlocking entrepreneurship amongst women in India is a complex effort, but it provides an unprecedented opportunity to change the economic and social trajectory of India and its women for generations to come. This will drive tremendous job creation and also deliver transformational social and personal outcomes for women,” said Megha Chawla, partner at Bain & Company.

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