Ties that bind? Kinship and female enterprise creation in rural India
Description
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), a large proportion of female-run enterprises are small businesses, often consisting of a single employee—the female owner. These enterprises are typically home-based and operate outside formal regulatory systems. In the South Asian context, in particular, there is substantial evidence of structural constraints that act as barriers to women’s participation in the labor force. However, existing literature primarily focuses on individual women and their ability to pursue employment opportunities independently. The interdependent dynamics of the household context in which female entrepreneurs are embedded—and their influence on the household–business nexus—have received relatively little attention. In this paper, we focus on these dynamics, specifically examining the role of husbands’ education, occupation, income, and overall family wealth. We investigate these factors using a unique dataset collected from over 9,800 women belonging to self-help groups (SHGs) in the district of Kolar, Karnataka, India. Our main results indicate that husbands’ secure employment and the average income of husbands within SHG groups positively influence female enterprise creation. In contrast, the presence of in-laws in the household, when husbands have secure employment, acts as a barrier to female enterprise creation. However, when women possess higher levels of agency and decision-making power, alongside husbands’ secure employment, the likelihood of female enterprise creation increases.
Copyright Date
January 2018
Publication Date
1-1-2018
DOI
10.5465/AMBPP.2018.16009abstract
Publisher
Academy of Management
Keywords
Women enterprises, Female Enterprises, Women empowerment
Conference
Academy of Management Conference, 10-14 August, 2018, Chicago
