This is a question that repeatedly keeps popping up in different fora and interactions. This is a question that I cannot answer in one sentence as this has a context and the context is that of preference. Do I prefer women entrepreneur to their male counterparts?
As a social entrepreneur and being male how can I get into a value judgment in a macro perspective? However, within the field that I work in and the mandate I am given I work with joint liability groups (JLGs) and I prefer to work through JLGs formed exclusively of women.
Why? To answer this question let us look into the rationale that describes the role of the MFIs. To survive in poverty requires a huge amount of enterprise as to live from hand to mouth every day requires overcoming challenges of living every moment of life. Therefore to alleviate poverty the best route could be to leverage their enterprise and empower them so that the process becomes self-actuating. Self help groups were an organizational innovation towards this.
It was thought that if groups of say 10 members could be formed with their savings pulled and loans were given to the group for distribution among the members with the pulled savings acting as the collateral, the members could invest the loan in business for reaping profits and initiating a process towards pulling themselves out of poverty.
Till 2004-2005 self-help groups were the focus as a tool to alleviate poverty in India. But it was increasingly being felt that given the requirement of collateral the system had its limitations in reaching out to all the poor. Around 2004-2005 NABARD took the initiative to move through the JLG route.
Poverty alleviation through JLG as a process of self actuating route to fight against the greatest curse of mankind is not just about creating steps to move out of the vicious cycle of deprivation by enabling the poor to generate business surplus. To make it self-sustaining it needs a 3600 empowerment. This empowerment includes education and health for the entire family.
This is the point where women win their primacy. Experientially it is found that women are better in terms of putting money to such use as would optimize the welfare of the family. They are instinctively oriented towards providing for the improvement of the life of the next generation, whereas the role of the menfolk is just restricted to being the bread-winners largely. So if we get to empower women, we empower their entire family. Now that being the goal and the women turning out to be better agents than men, my vote goes to women entrepreneurs because they channel my mandate and mission more efficiently.