Partners: ACCESS Development Services and NITI Aayog
Low female labour force participation rates (~22%) in India remain an area of concern. Of the women who work for pay, over three-quarters are self-employed. Women-owned enterprises form only 20% of all micro, small, and medium businesses in the country. Women’s enterprises are also largely clustered in the agriculture sector where opportunities for growth are relatively limited and vulnerabilities high.
Sharon Buteau, Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University, shared her insights in a panel focused on scaling up women’s enterprises as a part of the “Women’s Economic Empowerment” track aimed at enabling policy conversations with a drive to align and mobilize support for key initiatives focused on increasing profitability and sustainability of women’s enterprises. The panel featured leading policymakers and researchers including:
- Samik Sundar Das, Senior Rural Development Specialist, The World Bank
- Dr Yamini Atmavilas, President, The Udaiti Foundation
- Chetna Gala Sinha, Founder, Mann Delhi Bank & Mann Delhi Foundation
- Moderator: Anjani Kumar Singh, Senior Programme Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India
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