The role of women in self - employment: special reference to Addalaichenai

Abstract

Women as entrepreneurs are those who organize and manage the self-employment activities of a business. Women involved in self-employment are an important aspect of the economy. It has a great contribution to day-to-day life. Women are actively involved in self-employment activities, which can be observed in rural economic development around the world. This study was conducted among the women self-employees in Addalaichenai in the Addalaichenai Divisional Secretariat of Ampara district in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this research is to find out the role of women in self-employment and the specific objectives are to find out the challenges faced by self-employed women and the contribution of the organizations to developing self-employment activities through this research. Data for the research was collected through the primary and secondary data collection methods. Interviews, focus group discussion, and questionnaires were the primary data collection methods, while reports, journals, and articles were the secondary data sources used for this study. Questionnaires were distributed among the women self-employees by using the snowball sampling method. The collected data was analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative analysis methods and presented in both regression and descriptive ways. This study found that women self-employees played a key role in self-employment activities. Investment, saving, education level, and family members are all factors that have a significant impact on the income level of female self-employed workers. Lack of marketing facilities, financial problems, and low motivation of the organizations for developing self-employment activities are the challenges being faced by women in the research area. To eliminate these challenges, the government should have taken proper policy to empower women self-employees at the local level, and it should have taken steps to facilitate easier access to obtaining credit and find alternative marketing sources to sell their products. It is critical to raise awareness among women about the importance of thinking outside the box in order to become entrepreneurial and creative.