Support for women entrepreneurs

Women in business are progressing in Bangladesh. However, the country is still among the toughest places for female business owners. Here, women continue to be held back by deeply rooted socio-cultural as well as economic and financial constraints such as a lack of work opportunities, government support, and access to funding and capital.
Women's representation in the business and economic landscape remains low compared to men, especially in terms of business leadership. One of the main reasons behind this is that they are still expected to prioritise their families over their careers in our society. Although women have demonstrated time and time again that they are as capable as anyone else, many still find it difficult to believe in this and hesitate over engaging in a company endeavour founded by a woman entrepreneur. It is also disheartening to see that banks often dismiss women as creditworthy because they feel female entrepreneurs can abandon their businesses at any time. As a result, female business owners rely much on their own resources or seek financial assistance from their families.
Women's work and entrepreneurship can survive and thrive if everyone including the government comes together to offer them a systemic support. There should also be a policy of sanctioning a certain amount of loan with special benefits for women entrepreneurs.

Srabanti Dey Orthy,
Student of School of Business and Economics,
North South University, Dhaka,
srabanti.orthy@northsouth.edu