**3. Handicrafts and women empowerment**

Committee (BRAC) to empower women through various economic opportunities, measure the effectiveness of these programs by the increase in contraceptive use among poor rural women in Bangladesh. They define women empowerment in a specific socio-economic way as the increasing capacity of women to be physically mobile, have increased economic secu-

Younus [2] re-invented the concept of social business models and entrepreneurialism. The Grameen Bank model went on to become a benchmark for many studies conducted for pov-

Dubreuil and Mirada [3] advocated the relationship between micro-finance and women's micro-entrepreneurship in developed countries. Micro-finance institutions have played an obvious role in empowering women by providing them the social credit to start up their own business. With a greater rate of loan repayment, women are found to be more involved in starting up their businesses with less capital resources. Lack of financial resources deprives females of a chance to earn their income and contribute to a country's economy but in recent years, micro-loans have enabled women to become active members of the society socio-economically. Sirika [4] debates on the socio-economic status of artisan women in West Wallaga. She compares, in her research, the socio-economic status of artisans in the past and the current situation. Women in this region are producers of utensils and other products which people use in their day-to-day chores. Their role in sustainable development is of special concern. The economic status of handicrafts women is ranked high as compared to non-artisan women. There are many challenges for these women and once again their work needs promotion and guidance. Their skills need to be enhanced and they need proper training in marketing techniques, negotiating prices, etc. They should be provided a place in the market to display their work. Hence, non-government organizations (NGOs) and other organizations should focus on the empower-

Sinha [5] conducted her research to study the impact of motivation and social support on enterprise creation and women entrepreneurship. For the purpose, a sample of 400 men and women entrepreneurs of the northeast India was taken. The sample was selected using stratified random sampling. In her study, the author reports that industrialization is an important factor for developing human resources in any region. Women constituted half of the population of the country according to the 1991 census. Northeast India women were more involved in income-generating activities. They were running different trades in the area and they were dominant in many trading bazaars of Northeast India. According to her, one of the motivating factors for women to start an enterprise was independent economic status. More educated women took enterprise as a challenge, while women who were not highly qualified and educated started micro-enterprises to earn an income. For most of the women, home was the first preference, so it was also needed to make the family members understanding and accommodating. These women lacked proper financing for these micro-businesses and

rity, and reduce their vulnerability to household violence among others.

erty alleviation, social cause, and micro-finance service providers.

ment of these women along with other matters of interest.

**2. Literature review**

72 Entrepreneurship - Trends and Challenges

Krishnaraj [13] analyses rural women handicraft as a type of subsistence production. She argues that women's work in bamboo craft production at household levels is affected by three factors: socio-economic contexts (caste and class), larger development and growth policies at state level and the way the household of these subsistence workers respond to these two larger contexts. Handicrafts are a source of women empowerment. In Pakistan, the handicrafts work is not as much appreciated due to which the women from underdeveloped areas remain in poverty and misery. It is one of the reasons why the arts and crafts in Pakistan are not well marketed. Lack of creative market strategies and negligence of government toward this sector also led to the negligence of this craft. When we look at the trend of handicrafts in far flung and under developed areas of Pakistan, we see that there are very hard-working women who make beautiful handicrafts but when the time comes to sale these products, there are no potential customers. They ultimately must sell those beautiful products to ignorant people who do not have any idea about the products' actual cost, so they demand a very low price; handicrafts women must sell these products at the price offered to earn their living. However, the trend is different in the large cities of Pakistan where there are various foundations and organizations that not only support the females to start up their businesses, but also provide financial support to the minorities. Hence, a woman who has a little money to start up her business will take a certain loan amount from such micro-finance institutions or organizations and operate their work. In this way, they earn a considerable amount of income and are able to repay the amount of loan. They easily support their families. They send their children to schools and get the necessities of lives. This is how their presence is acknowledged in society and this is how their decision making power is also increased.

well as NGOs have looked upon women as indirect participants of development of a nation and region. Thus, most projects for women have concentrated on their reproductive role rather than their productive role. Women work need assistance and guidance. The government should take some steps to improve the handicrafts sector in Punjab and in other far and backwards areas too. The potential of the female workers should be creatively utilized and

Micro-Finance: A Driver for Entrepreneurship http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75031 75

Women are disproportionately represented among the poor, and the number of women in poverty in the rural areas of developing countries is growing faster than the number of men. In 1988, an estimated 564 million rural women lived below the poverty line, representing an increase of 47% since 1965–1970. In comparison, the number of men living below the poverty line increased 30% over the same period. Factors contributing to the increase in rural poverty are economic recession, civil strife, and natural disasters. In addition, the rise in the number of households supported solely by women is an important variable explaining the increase in poverty among women. These households tend to be overrepresented among the poor. In both the urban and rural areas of developing countries, women are important contributors to the economic support of their households. In Africa, for example, it is estimated that 96 percent of rural women engage in farm work and 40% of small farms are managed by women. Because of this work, women contribute both cash and subsistence income to household support. Data from many countries show that the poorer the household, the more women work for income, and the larger the proportion of household income derived from women's earnings. In some landless households in India, for

instance, women are often the main or even the sole income earners in their households.

The whole study revolves around the impact of handicrafts on the socio-economic status of women. A proposition has been developed since female entrepreneurs have a high status in society. Different elements have been considered keeping in view Punjab as the area of study.

The research is intended to study the impact of one independent variable, which is handicrafts, over the other dependent variable, which is status of women. Both variables have their

• 59 of the respondents were customers of the Kashf Foundation; the other 50 were handi-

• An adopted questionnaire consisting of 11 questions formulated by the Kashf foundation was used to study the impact of handicrafts on the status of women. Therefore, purposeful

craft working women from a backward area of Punjab near Mianwali.

• To conduct the research, 20 respondents were selected.

used in the development of handicrafts.

**5. Research methodology**

sampling technique was used.

**5.1. Research design**

own dimensions.

**5.2. Sampling**

Maskiell [14] analyzes the impact of colonial policies and the intermixing of economic and cultural aspects of "Phulkari" among Punjabi women during the British Raj and how this has continued to make work feminine or masculine in the cultural imagination. She uses the term "gendered work" to explain her point.
