Women's Empowerment and Micro-Entrepreneurship: Enlarging Life-choice Contours through the Capability Approach

Micro-entrepreneurship is acting as a major instrument of women's empowerment in India beyond the threshold of income generation alone. It significantly improves life-choice contours among women on personal, social and economic fronts. This study, using the secondary data of world indices, highlights the existence of huge differences between women participating in micro- entrepreneurship that depict the country in non-homogeneous states and regions. This study is based on secondary-data that synthesises national databases such as NSSO, MSME, and NABARD’s status of microfinance in India. Micro-entrepreneurship has enabled women to be economically independent and freely mobile, but the extent of its impact on the life-choice contours is directly associated with the existing socio- cultural norms, access to education and the extent of institutional support. Women entrepreneurs in some regions tend to face various problems, such as limited resources and credit access, that can stifle their potential. This is in comparison to more advanced areas where the supportive networks and educational programs enhance women's participation in entrepreneurial engagements. These results justify the need to formulate holistic policies that will develop an enabling environment for the female entrepreneur. A solution to the issues they deal with and a fair share of resources would shift micro-entrepreneurship into a force of making the world a better place, where women can once again find their independence and become valuable members of their communities and the economy as a whole. This study, therefore, supports the inclusiveness of the concept of entrepreneurship that emphasises the key role of entrepreneurship in enhancing gender equality in India.