Traditionally, India had the concept of trade guilds. Many of them were linked to castes. The stereotypes included assumptions: that women entrepreneurs would set up tailoring units or beauty parlours; rural men from lower castes were expectedtosetupfootwearunitsoreven assemble agarbattis.
Why women run fewer than 13% of India’s small businesses
Loan applications of female entrepreneurs are more likely to be delayed or rejected, studies show. Representational image. | Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters
Software entrepreneur Niyati Chander, 30, ran into gender bias fairly early in her career. A Bengaluru-based management graduate, she had set up a software enterprise, a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise with eight employees in June 2020. “I wanted to be in control of where I am going in life,” she said.
From investors and government officials to real estate agents and even friends and former colleagues, Chander found that she was not being taken seriously. “People assume you do not know what you want,” she said. “When we were looking for office space, the emails from the landlord would go to my male co-founder though it was made clear that I am the main founder – it was assumed that the final call would be his.”