Beneath the Glass Ceiling: Reviewing the Struggles of Dalit Women Entrepreneurs in India

Dalit women entrepreneurship is an emerging notion in the context of women empowerment through entrepreneurship and bringing them into the main economic structure in India. Dalit women are economically empowered, although they encounter several hurdles during their entrepreneurial establishment and growth. This paper focuses on uncovering the challenges Dalit women entrepreneurs face in India. An extensive literature search has been done to understand comprehensively the dynamics of Dalit women entrepreneurs in India. The reports, including several published literature, pinpoint important obstacles impeding the ability of Dalit women to pursue entrepreneurship in India. Entrepreneurship emerges as a potential avenue for historically underprivileged groups to elevate their social standing. While female entrepreneurship is growing, they face obstacles such as lack of funding, poor credit alternatives, low earnings, and intense competition. The findings of the study affirm major issues, such as Discrepancy in resource allocation, Lack of managerial skills, Psychological fear, Female-oriented specific issues and Societal constraints, etc., reported by Dalit women entrepreneurs in studies mentioned by several scholars.