Gender equality is one of the major concerns in India. The minimization of this concern is highly imperative for the growth of the country, not just economically but also as a developing nation. The economic impact of achieving gender equality in India is estimated to be $700 billion of added GDP by 2025. The IMF estimates that equal participation of women in the workforce will increase India’s GDP by 27 percent. The disparity can easily be spotted looking at the statistics that more than half of Indian women don’t have cellphones, and 80 percent don’t use them to connect them to the internet. If as many women as men had phones, it could create $17 billion in revenue for phone companies in the next 5 years. Globally, women make or influence 80 percent of buying decisions and control $20 trillion in spending.
There are also social benefits to empowering women. Women spend 90 percent of their income on their families, and economically empowered women boost demand, have healthier and better-educated children, and raise human development levels. One in three private sector leaders reported that profits increased as a result of efforts to empower women in emerging markets. The aforementioned data clearly justifies why India as a nation must strictly look into the matter of equality for women. But first of all the country and the women community must understand – what actually is this equality means. To be fair, equality is not merely limited to the balancing of rights but also equal opportunity to enjoy such rights and practice them.
Various organizations, individuals, society and even government around the world are trying hard to bridge the gap between gender and the differences in opportunity available to them but still, there are various steps yet to be taken. When it comes to challenging role of entrepreneurship which can also be the called the building block of human economics and development, women are seen to be lagging behind their male counterparts. In the current era, women entrepreneurs are leading organizations and driving huge changes in society. However, to meet their substantial potential and to create jobs while boosting economic growth, it is imperative for them to understand about various laws so that they can be able to gain benefits from fair and equal laws. One such law is the property law for women entrepreneurs. Through this article, we aim to reduce the gap, and hence we will try to cover a part of laws and rights that are associated with the women entrepreneurs’ the community of India. The central government as well as the state government have of India has introduced laws for enhancing women’s ownership of industrial plots. So let’s have a look at the land rights that all women in business must have an idea about.
Allocation of a Ratio of Plot in Existing Land
The law allows allocating a certain ratio of the overall area for women entrepreneurs in existing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Integrated Model Townships (IMTs) on lower per-unit costs. The government introduced this law to encourage more men to buy plots in the name of their women family members or women to buy plots on their own. The impact of this approach has already been seen in the form of increased house ownership by women after the government introduced reduced registration charges for women buyers.
Collective-based Allocation
Smaller plots could be preferentially given on ownership or lease to first-time women entrepreneurs for conducting group or community-based economic activities.
Women-only Industrial Parks
Women own 10 percent of micro, small and medium enterprises of which 90 percent are micro-businesses, and account for only 3 percent of the output. Given that women entrepreneurs face gender-based barriers to starting and growing their businesses, like discriminatory property rules, lack of access to formal finance mechanisms, limited mobility and access to information and networks, the government of India introduced a cluster like this with an aim to help women entrepreneurs grow and flourish. States such as Uttarakhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka have already been promoting this concept with much success. Fully-functional women-friendly business ecosystems now exist in these states, where thousands of women have started buying land to start operations, either in manufacturing or services.
Private sector partnerships
Several companies either have or can be encouraged to formulate corporate policies to encourage female entrepreneurship within their supply chain and business model. The relevant governments could also allot land to private sector entities for promotion of private women-specific industrial parks on a PPP model.
Apart from the above-mentioned laws and rights, women entrepreneurs must learn how to derive maximum benefit from the dynamic societal changes and therefore should always be aware of what is happening around them and in the business environment. India as a nation has a huge potential, the need of the hour is just a push that can lead the nation to the path of development.
