E-Commerce: a Gateway to Mobilizing Female Entrepreneurs in the Digital Era

International Journal of Advance Science and Technology Vol. 29 No. 10S, (2020), pp. 1-17

E-Commerce: A Gateway to Mobilizing Female Entrepreneurs in the Digital Era

Nida Masroor *1, Muhammad Asim 2, Saman Hussain 3 *1,2 KUBS & Department of Commerce, University of Karachi, Pakistan. 2 Karachi University Business School (KUBS), University of Karachi, Pakistan. 3 Department of Commerce, University of Karachi, Pakistan. *[email protected]

Abstract Female population is approx. 48.6% of total population of Pakistan (World Bank, 2018). The culture of Pakistan is attributed with insider role of females rather outside homes but expecting the economic growth with just 51% males (including children & old as well) is irrational. Despite the growth in population, contribution of females in corporate sector is yet limited. Although, a significant increase in working females is observed in Asia but reaping their full entrepreneurial potential is still a dream. However, the rapid growth of ecommerce has provided the females the opportunity to come forward. The study aims to unveil factors impeding female entrepreneurship, to highlight the contribution of ecommerce to economy and its benefits facilitating female entrepreneurship. This will help determine the scope of female entrepreneurs in e-commerce and will also enable policy makers to devise policies to accommodate females in the right sector and ensure removal of actual barriers.

Keywords: Female entrepreneurship, Ecommerce, Economic development, Women empowerment, Socio-Cultural Environment

1. Introduction A woman plays multiple roles in her life, a mother, sister, wife and daughter. Every role entails stories of love, care, struggle, motivation, sacrifice and success. Females always play a pivoting role in the emotional, social and economic growth of a family. Females always have been of vital importance not only for emotional well-being of a family but also accounts as strength of her family. A healthy family system contributes to a better society and every sound and balanced personality depicts the efforts of a female in their development. The economic development of a family as well as the country is almost impossible without the contribution of females. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah said: “No struggle can ever succeed without women participation and no nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you”. The total population of the world consists of males, females, infants, young and old people etc. Out of the mentioned, the productive workforce comprises of young males and females that are expected to have major contribution in economic development of any country. Approximately half of the world population i.e. 49.6% of total consists of women and in some countries like Thailand, Spain and Sri Lanka, female population is comparatively a greater proportion (World Bank, 2018). However, in most countries especially in East, they are non- productive and contribute little towards GDP and GNP. In agricultural sector, of course, the women contribute something through working in the field and a little proportion through working in industry and offices (FAO, 2015) (Boserup, Kanji, Tan, & Toulmin, 2007). Still, a great proportion remains unproductive. There is no doubt that females are physically weak in comparison to males and have limited capacity of doing tasks requiring physical strength. Women are not only structurally different

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from men but whether west or east, they have to cater for certain specific responsibilities including marriage responsibilities, up-bringing of her children and keeping her home intact. . In eastern cultures, these responsibilities are multiplied specially the housewives hardly get time for activities like jobs or business. Although in west, women are comparatively given freedom in choosing field of education and career. However, even in west, a woman faces difficulties in balancing her personal and professional life. The imbalance in management of both domains of life of a female may lead to a number of societal issues including neglected children, broken families, work stress etc. Poverty, unemployment and Inflation have always been the major issues of developing and underdeveloped nations. The reasons may include instable political and regulatory environment that ultimately results in economic instability and dependence on foreign assistance. For the economic growth of the country, female participation is inevitable and excluding them results in the loss of a major part of total workforce. This is the reason that throughout the world, working women are facilitated through special provisions in industrial laws so as to encourage their participation in economic activities. The need of the hour is to develop sustainable business environment to ensure economic growth. Different Strategies have been adopted to cope up with the problem. The struggle for SME growth has gained momentum during the last decades. The transformation of sole proprietorship to entrepreneurship and introduction of digital means in business (IT and e-commerce) are some of the strategic moves to accelerate SME growth. The contribution of females to the corporate sector in form of employees or entrepreneurs is inevitable in the current era. Although being an employee assumes less risk but workplace exploitation, harassment, gender biasness and lack of career growth ultimately compel the females to pursue for their own setup. Moreover, majority of the females from Asian and Islamic countries are more risk takers that is an important entrepreneurial trait. This might be due to the fact that in such societies, mostly the fulfillment of basic needs is still the responsibility of the males whereas females just play a supportive role to enhance the standard of living thus giving the females enough peace of mind to assume risk.

1.1. Objectives of the Study • The study aims to fulfill the following objectives: • To signify the role of females in the economic development. • To evaluate the level of motivation in females towards entrepreneurship • To highlight the barriers restricting growth of female entrepreneurship • To highlight the benefits of IT industry & ecommerce for less developed countries • To check out the suitability of e-business for females in Pakistan

1.2. Significance of the Study The study will be helpful in identifying the impediments in the growth of female entrepreneurship. The study is of greater significance for developing as well as eastern and Islamic countries where a large proportion of females is economically non-productive due to socio-cultural traits. It will also be beneficial for developing and underdeveloped nations where the population growth rate is more than its economic growth rate. The study will help devising policies to bridge up the gap by converting the idle workforce into productive one. Women empowerment is the important topic of discussion these days. Apart from all government favorable policies, significant impact on women entrepreneurship is not yet achieved. The study will also help understand the reasons behind the limited growth of women entrepreneurship. Although the study is conducted in the country of Pakistan but it will be helpful for other underdeveloped or developing nations. Analyzing the barriers will help in dealing with them effectively.

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2. Literature Review The literature review will help revealing the facts and figures supportive to the research. The following discussion comprises of the barriers to female entrepreneurship, the benefits of ecommerce along with its potential to support female entrepreneurship and the empirical evidences from Pakistan.

2.1. Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship Success is rewarded to those who work hard and struggle against threats converting them into opportunities. Despite the vibrant stories of success, there also exists a dark side. Like any other struggle, there also exist many barriers and hurdles that need to be dealt with. Pakistan is an eastern and Islamic country. The general societal approach is family oriented and according to majority perception, females are supposed to stay at homes to look after their family. To deal with the hurdles and different mindsets, it needs a lot of courage. The females of countries like Pakistan fight multiple battles simultaneously, inside or outside their homes and above all with themselves as well. The basic problem lies with their physical strength. Eventually, females have to sacrifice their professional career either due to marital or post marital problems. The occurrence of career sacrifice is more in private sector where they are unable to get desired leaves/ relaxation in times of need. Other than their own physical weaknesses i.e. their limited tendency to do work and their ability to deal with the work stress, some of the barriers are mentioned in Figure 1, that are faced by women if they have decided to get into the career. Family oriented approach has always been the beauty and the most positive trait of Asian countries. In Asian countries, it is considered as the primary responsibility of the females to look after the personality development of her kids. Females are double burdened if they opt to take financial responsibility as well. They have to take care of the family along with the fulfillment of their professional requirements so as to maintain a balance between both their personal and professional lives. This sometimes results in fatigue and stress due to absence of a supportive hand at homes. In western culture, the males and females both are expected to contribute equally in their personal and professional lives. However, in eastern culture, domestic requirements (cooking, washing, cleaning etc.) are totally considered females responsibility regardless of their professional work burden.

• Family barriers/ • Access to Finance Requirements/ • Risk expectations

Women Entrepreneurshi p

• Gender Stereotypes/ • Physical Strength Male chauvinism • Working Hours/ • Labor issues Work Stress • Distribution channel issues

Figure 1: Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship

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In less developed countries, due to lack of legal compliance, and dominance of private sector, there are reported cases of violation of labor and employees rights including excess work hours and negligence of provision of day care etc. to them. This in the long run results in ignorance towards the children leaving a gap in their personality and different psychological problems in women due to the stress of leaving infants or kindergartens at homes. The sacrifice of personal lives leads to psychological issues in children and mothers resulting in different societal problems as only mentally and emotionally healthy families can better contribute to a better society. Sometimes, the family instead of playing supportive role to females, at times creates hurdles for them. Regardless of their potential and capabilities, females are not allowed to make use of their excess time. There still exist different casts and sects that consider it a shame to let their girls work in the industry neither for economic support nor for their own well being. Family is the most important institution in one’s life. Getting into the profession against the family’s consent results either in mental frustration and lack of peace of mind in females that ultimately ruins their work output. The extreme of such cases results in increasing divorce rates and broken families in the society. Another problem same as the above is the male chauvinism that results in non-cooperative behavior of males either in form of sub-ordinates, suppliers or at distribution channels. These problems are more reported in rural and semi-urban areas at times due to low literacy rates but in urban areas mostly due to specific gender stereotype mindset. Such type of people neither let their family females work but creates problem whenever encounter other working females. Access to finance, that is the common issue of small business entities, is also faced by female entrepreneurs. Moreover, due to a number of issues discussed above and uncertain future of the entity, the risk factor exists more in loans to females. The associated risk restricts the females from taking loans as well. Reducing the barriers mentioned above and providing ease in entity establishment may improve female entrepreneurship scenario in Pakistan.

2.2. Advantages of E-Commerce & its Contribution in Economic Development The increasing use of computers and internet has opened doors of opportunities for potential and existing entrepreneurs by making use of technological advancement and changing societal trends. The basic reason behind the success of Computers was the availability of a number of different features by a single machine that were previously being provided by different machines. A single computer has fulfilled the need of a newspaper, TV, book, calculator, phone, mail and many others as well. The blessings of computers were further triggered by the introduction of internet. The physical existence of the markets is now transformed into digital existence. The old concept of Brick and mortar organization is now replaced by Click and Brick and Virtual organizations. In the current era of artificial intelligence, the growth of internet and e-commerce is evident by the shift of TV viewership to YouTube where as novel/ books/ magazines to e- novels/ e-books etc. A change in word vocabulary and increasing use of terms like ‘Google’ instead of ‘search’ also defines the growing impact of internet. E-Commerce is also gaining fame due to a number of associated advantages. The beneficiaries included both the sellers and the customers. The ease in shopping while sitting at home along with a greater variety and competitive pricing has shifted a wider customer base to e-malls and storefronts. Another reason behind the success of online shopping is gradual increase in working women limiting the availability of their excess time and increased purchasing power that eventually building the need of convenience in shopping. The need is well recognized by e- sellers and they are determined to cater the customers at their doorstep with a single click. On the other side, the benefits to the sellers include low cost of establishment, virtual presence i.e. independence of physical existence, availability of automatic business processes limiting the need of workers, flexible hours as per convenience, usage of direct channel i.e. reduced need of intermediaries, and above all is the increased size of market in ecommerce i.e. access to global

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market that ultimately reduces the risk of recovery for the business (Turban & King, 2016). The benefits of e-commerce are shown in Figure 2. According to many research studies, availability of finance, recession, strong competition, distribution channel issues and unstable political and legal environment are among the major issues for small companies in under developing and developing economies (Berle, 1989). The advantages of e-commerce discussed earlier have given the entrepreneurs in such economies an idea to deal with the problems that creates hurdles for them by getting into e-business. The e- commerce aids you establish any click and brick or virtual organizations with minimum amount of investment. The automated processes in e-commerce also facilitate in reducing labor or manpower cost. As it can be operated easily from anywhere therefore one can also establish a home based entity thus facilitating flexible working hours as well. Moreover, the direct access to customers even in the global market place due to the additional benefit of direct channel not only help to reduce cost of business but also the negative effect of competition faced in the local territory (Turban & King, 2016).

• Can be operated • Reduced Cost from anywhere/ • Access to Global Home based market/ Recession Business Proof

E-Commerce Benefits

• Automated Business • Flexible Hours • Direct channel

Figure 2: Benefits of E-Commerce

Although Pakistan is considered as the lowest performers in the south Asian region (World Bank , 2018), however, the e-commerce is growing at a very fast pace in Pakistan. Pakistan is among those countries with a greater entrepreneurial potential as it has creative minds and risk taking attitudes. The main issues that restricts SME growth is the unavailability of finance and unstable macro environment. E-commerce has somehow resolved the issues to a greater extent, giving people of Pakistan an opportunity to prove their entrepreneurial excellence. The internet penetration rate in Pakistan is currently estimated to be 18% and is considered as the real trigger to the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan. The e-commerce sector of Pakistan is growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of more than 100% and this multiplication in size has brought the country in the fastest growing e-commerce markets of the world (The Nation, 2017). Few of a number of popular e-commerce websites are Daraz.pk, Zameen.com, OLX.com.pk, Kaymu.pk, Tune.pk, Shophive.com, PakWheels.com etc.

2.3. Environmental Suitability of E-Business for Female Entrepreneurship In order to establish and execute an organization effectively, the compatibility of the internal environment of the organization along with the external environment is very important. One always has to understand the strengths and weaknesses to identify opportunities and cope up with the threats. It is of vital importance to understand the issues of majority of females to develop a work strategy that is friendly and supportive for females. It is also necessary to understand that

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only stable and peaceful minds can contribute well to the society. Family has always been of prior importance for females in Asian countries and dragging the females out of their comfort zones and compelling them to work against their family expectations would likely to bring stress, domestic conflicts and broken families.

• Can be operated • Reduced Cost from anywhere/ • Access to Global Home based market/ Recession business Proof

Women Entrepreneurship (E-Business)

• Automated • Flexible Hours Business • Direct channel

Figure 3: Benefits of E-Commerce facilitating Female Entrepreneurship

As discussed earlier, figure 1 shows the barriers that negatively affect the women entrepreneurship including family issues, availability of finance, gender stereotypes and personal traits/ weaknesses of females whereas figure 2 explains benefits of e-commerce to the entrepreneurs. Most of the benefits of e-commerce discussed in figure 2 were found as potential solutions to reduce the barriers for female entrepreneurship identified in figure 1. Upon merging both the models i.e. evaluating benefits of e-commerce with respect to its effect on female entrepreneurship, a model is formed that is shown in figure 3. The benefits of e-commerce were found supportive to female entrepreneurship as they were just somehow offering a solution to the barriers and a way to deal with the problems. Home based automated business processes give the females an opportunity to manage the personal and professional lives efficiently and effectively. It also provides those females an opportunity to be economically beneficial that are unable to work outside their homes either due to family restrictions or responsibilities. The reduced cost of an e-business helps deal with the finance/ investment issues. The access to global market in e-business helps resolve the negative impact of competition in local market. Moreover, it also helps in minimizing risk thus facilitating ease of establishment and execution. Lack of cooperation from the workers and distribution channels due to male chauvinism often results in improper management that further leads to decline of a business. The problems that arise due to non-cooperative behavior of the relevant business professionals (males) are also expected to be reduced by establishing a pure e-business that limits the need of workforce and provides the benefit of direct channels.

2.4. Females & Their Inspirational Role in the Society of Pakistan: Pakistan is considered as one of the male dominant society for females. It is also considered as one of the societies having least participation of females in the economic activity. In the societies like Pakistan, it is assumed to be the responsibility of males (Father/ Brother/ Son) to fulfill the financial needs of their family whereas females are expected to play their role as a household. Earlier, it was comparatively easy to rely on a single person’s earning (i.e. the head of the family) for the fulfillment of their basic needs but gradually with the passage of time, the increasing inflation and depreciating value of money have made it almost impossible to rely on a single person earning. The females are required to come forward to share the economic burden for the well being of their family. Therefore, the financial and economic scenario accompanied by a

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change in cultural environment of the country can be considered as one of the factors defining the need of female’s participation in the business activities. The statistics of Pakistan consist of approx. 49% females out of the total population (World Bank , 2018). Expecting the rapid economic development from just the 53% males seems illogical. Moreover, all of this population is not economically productive as it contains children and old as well. According to UNDP Human Development Report 2016, the total population of Pakistan is 189 million with 114.3 million people between 15-64 years of ages. These age groups actually define the appropriate work force of a country providing quality output to the industry in comparison with the unskilled child labor. The female labor force participation rate of ages 15 and older estimated to be 24.3%. Professional & technical females represent only 26% of total work force where as the percentage contribution of female on senior official position was estimated at just 2.1% of total population (UNDP, 2016). It is evident with the statistics that the economic growth of the country cannot be well reaped without the involvement of females that constitutes approx. half of the total population. Regardless of the mentioned facts and prejudice in the society and the whole world, the history of Pakistan is full of successful, prosperous and courageous women, depicting its great potential of highly skilled and proficient females. The history of Pakistan is incomplete without mention of exemplary and courageous roles of many female leaders including Amjadi Bano Begum, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, Lady Abdullah Haroon, Lady Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Begum Jehan Ara Shah Nawaz, Begum Viqar-un-Nisa Noon, Begum Tassaduq Hussain and many others, who took active part in its independence. The first and the foremost example is Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, who stood next to his brother and showed her leadership skills throughout the struggle of independence. The strong charismatic personality of Mother of Nation proved to be a true role model for the future generations of Pakistani females. The list of vibrant females in Pakistan was not just ended at Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah neither it was just a single example of courage, vigor and hard work. Instead the fertility of this land is evident from the dynamic roles of many others. Many of the females worked hard and shed their blood for the independence of Pakistan. The first lady of Pakistan, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan was a strong believer of gender equality. She was also the first and last female governor of Pakistan. Apart from the political services, she was also the founder of All Pakistan Women Association (APWA) that contributed a lot in the education and development of females by setting a chain of colleges and professional institutes. Another example was of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the first lady to be the chairperson of a political party, the first and only Female Prime Minister of Pakistan and the only Pakistani lady whose wax statue is present among the world dignities in Madame Tussauds museum. Other than the ladies from the Political Background, there are many others who served on different top level positions in private as well as public sector and proved to have the best managerial potential against the male competitors. Maliha Lodhi, the female Pakistani ambassador, who earned a good name by well representing Pakistan in United States of America. Shamshad Akhtar, is another first and only Pakistani female to be appointed as the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan and the only Pakistani female who served as the Vice President at World Bank (Middle East and North African Region). The lady proved her best Financial Skills by keeping economy of Pakistan at stable pace at the time of Global Financial Crunch 2008, when the whole world was facing slump in their economies. Tahira Raza, former SEVP and CRO of National Bank of Pakistan, is currently the President and CEO of First Women Bank Limited, Pakistan. The females have not only proved their worth in the form of employees but also have progressed through thick and thin as entrepreneurs. A number of visionary ladies have a great contribution in the economic development as entrepreneurs. Some examples of these visionary ladies are mentioned in Table 1.

Table 1: Famous Pakistani Females and Their Contribution to the Society:

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Names of Ladies Establishment Name Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Founder of chain of APWA colleges Khan Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Chairperson, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Maliha Lodhi First Pakistan’s Representative to United Nations Shamshad Akhter Governor, State Bank of Pakistan Sultana Siddiqui Founder- HUM TV Network Tahira Raza President & CEO, First Women Bank Ltd. Jehan Arra Pasha President P@SHA Musarat Misbah Founder of Depilex Fiza Farhan Bakhsh Foundation Nabila Maqsood Founder- Nabila’s & N-Gents saloons Sabeen Mahmud Ex-President-TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Roshaneh Zafar Founder- Kashf Foundation Salma Jafri Founder & CEO- WordPL.net Sana & Safinaz Sana & Safinaz Clothing Brand Seema Taher Khan Co-Founder of Interflow Communications, CEO-TV One Maria Umar Founder- Women’s Digital League Momina Duraid CEO-Moomal Productions Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri Founder & Chairperson-Beaconhouse School System Source: Authors

Some of the ladies belong to the business family background but many of them have started from the scratch. These examples also help identify the main sectors where females are doing well. Other than the traditional businesses like clothing, saloons and education, the recent stepping of females in IT sector and their success in flying colors shows its compatibility for females. Hum TV Network, that is getting fame all over the world and acknowledged as one of top 25 companies by Karachi Stock Exchange, was also founded by a lady i.e. Sultana Siddiqui. Jehan Ara Pasha, President of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), is another vibrant example of female entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The entrepreneurial potential of Pakistani females is evident by many other exemplary ladies who proved to be an asset for the country. Keeping in mind the statistics of female population and the growing impact of inflation, the efforts to empower women is accelerated during last years to make them productive for the economic development of the country. The establishment of WBDC (Women Business Development Centre), a subsidiary of SMEDA, and KWCC (Karachi Women Chamber of Commerce) depicts the importance of females in the society. These organizations also serve as important milestones in the economic development of females. “Nisa” financing program and “Women Can Do” training programs are some of the other government initiatives for women development. Currently females are serving almost every field of Life in Pakistan whether is the field of agriculture or aircraft or any other but still the women participation in the economic activity is comparatively less as compared to the rest of the world. According to Financial Bureau of Statistics (2006), approximately 2.4% of total of 3.2 million enterprises in Pakistan are women owned, although majority of them are really small in size with a minimum investment of just Rs.0.5 million (Financial Bureau of Statistics, 2006). Being the signatory of Millennium Development Goals, Pakistan affirms its commitment to eliminate gender inequality in the country by empowering women. SMEDA also aimed to increase share of female owned enterprises to 6% that was previously being noted to be 2.4% (SMEDA, 2007).

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The objective has to be achieved by paying special attention towards women entrepreneurship. However, a lot more effort is required to reach the benchmark. Policy makers need to understand the importance of females as a major part of the workforce available to the country and should draft policies and programs to facilitate services of females to the industry. Eradicating macro environmental barriers that restrict the female entrepreneurship will help achieve desired objectives and right ways to utilize females for the economic development without sacrificing their family lives and social, moral and ethical well being of the society.

3. Methodology This is a descriptive research aims to identify the barriers restricting growth of women entrepreneurship. After the review of the literature and evidences, the female entrepreneurship (FE) may be defined as function of family issues (FI) including barriers, expectations or genuine requirements, Cost of business (CB), risk of recovery (RR), labour issues (LI) or distribution channel issues (DC) gender stereotypes or male chauvinism in the society, and nonetheless the physical strength of females (PS) or the medical concerns specific to females that itself capacitates them to work under certain circumstances and overburdening themselves may result in work stress and other health issues.

FE= f (FI, CB, RR, LI, DC, PS)

Other than the secondary data gathered through articles and publications, the primary data is gathered through questionnaires. The respondents are the females as the research focuses on problems faced by them while starting their business. Due to limited time frame, the research is kept limited to Pakistan with a sample of 130 females. A random sample of 130 females from Pakistan was selected for data gathering. This may be considered as the limitation of the study and the increase in sample size is expected to bring sharpness in the results. To maintain the authenticity of the responses, females with minimum graduation level degree were selected as respondents. This was made sure by including the passed out female students from different universities. The questionnaire was divided in three sections. The first section gathered information about their education, their current status (household/ employee/ entrepreneur) and their desired status in life. The mentioned information aimed to provide level of competence and motivation and visionary approach among the respondents. The rest of the questionnaire is designed on likert scale taking respondent’s opinion from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly Agree”. In the first question, respondents (females) had to identify the barriers restricting them from starting their venture. The second question gathered their opinion whether the benefits of ecommerce facilitates female entrepreneurs to cope up with the mentioned barriers or not. The scale was selected from 1-5 representing degree of agreement from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly Agree”. The frequency tables, descriptive statistics, and non-parametric binomial tests are applied to verify the significance of the identified variables.

3. Data Analysis Below is the summary and analysis of different statistical tests applied on the data. The data consists of 130 responses gathered from either household, employed or entrepreneur females. Among the respondents as shown in Figure 4, 59% of the females were found to have Graduation and 36% were Masters Degree holders. The rest 5% possessed research degrees i.e. MS/ MPhil./ PhD. defining the literacy or knowledge potential of the respondents.

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80 Graduation 60 Master 40 MS/ Mphil./ PhD 20

0 Qualification of Respondents (%) Figure 4: Qualification of Females

The comparative analysis of the other demographic data including the current and desired status of the respondents (Figure 5) reveals the level of motivation in them towards entrepreneurship. The current status of the females showed that a big percentage of literate & competent females are spending their lives as household without having any contribution in the economic development. A small portion is serving as employees in organizations whereas the smallest one i.e. just 14% are the entrepreneurs. On the contrary, among the desired status in life, being an entrepreneur was found to have the highest ranking. It was also found that there exists a huge difference between the number of entrepreneurs currently working and the number of females that wants to be entrepreneurs in life. It is evident with the fact that there exist some barriers restricting females to pursue their ambition in life (being an entrepreneur) and that needs to be identified to ensure female entrepreneurship.

60 Household 40 Employee 20 Entrepreneur

0 Current Status in Life Desired Status in Life

Figure 5: Comparative Analysis of Current & Desired Proportion of Females in Professional Life

4.1. Reliability Test Cronbach’s alpha explains the reliability of factors and whether they accurately measure the variable of interest or not. Cronbach’s alpha was applied on both set of variables separately as well as cumulatively. One set defines the barriers to female entrepreneurship and the other comprises of the advantages of ecommerce that were supposed to benefit female entrepreneurship. According to the result findings (as shown in Table 2), the measured value of Cronbach’s alpha for the total combined items is .943 whereas the separate values for the items selected as barriers and those supportive to female entrepreneurship are .921 and .903. The higher values of Cronbach’s alpha indicate the existence of a high level of internal consistency of scale and reliability among the items of the selected sample.

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Table 2: Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha N of Items .943 22 .921 14 .903 8

3.2. Descriptive Statistics & Non-Parametric Tests As the primary objective of the research was to identify as many barriers as possible and the most suitable remedies, descriptive analysis and non-parametric binomial testing was found appropriate. The descriptive statistics in descending order helped to identify the order of barriers and factors supportive to female entrepreneurship from most influential to less influential ones along with the non-parametric metric binomial testing helped to verify the significance of the identified variables. The Table 3 reveals the combined results of Descriptive and Binomial test of the identified barriers by the respondents restricting female entrepreneurship in descending order i.e. the barrier with higher acceptance level is kept at the top and the one at the bottom is considered least affecting. The average acceptance level (mean) and the non-parametric binomial test declares all the identified barriers as highly significant including family issues, distribution of product, availability of finance/ investment, physical traits of female/ health issues and the issues with labour/ supplier due male chauvinism in the society .The only variable that was not found significant as per the test was the risk of recovery of return. However, the mean value (3.36) approves its inclination towards degree of acceptance and shows that an increase in sample size in future studies may help in identifying the appropriate effect of the variable. According to the responses shown in the table, it was found that the most influential barrier limiting females from starting their business are the ones faced at homes i.e. family issues were found to have the highest mean value. The binomial test of the variable also confirms the significance of all the identified factors including family responsibilities and restrictions being major challenges, followed by greater family expectations from females and work stress while balancing family and work life. A large proportion of respondents also identified distribution of product as another main hurdle. The greater level of significance defines its high impact on the growth of a business. Distribution of product is one of the most important considerations for the success of a business and having problem in distribution results in overstocking or stuck of your product. The third identified hindrance is the lack of availability of finance and investment. Although this problem is common to men and women both especially in the third world countries but lack of trust on women’s skills make the access to money furthermore difficult for females.

Table 3: Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship (Descriptive & Binomial Test) Observed Test Exact Sig. Mean Category N Prop. Prop. (2-tailed) Family Restrictions/ 3.7038 Expectations/ Requirements Family restrictions Group 1 <= 3 38 0.29 0.5 0 regarding working Group 2 > 3 92 0.71 outside Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 53 0.41 0.5 0.043 Greater family Group 2 > 3 77 0.59 expectations Total 130 1 Issues of time Group 1 <= 3 33 0.25 0.5 0 management due to Group 2 > 3 97 0.75 greater family Total 130 1

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responsibilities Work stress while Group 1 <= 3 37 0.28 0.5 0 balancing family and Group 2 > 3 93 0.72 work life Total 130 1 Distribution of Product 3.6231 Restricted Access to Group 1 <= 3 47 0.36 0.5 0.002 Distribution Group 2 > 3 83 0.64 channels Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 47 0.36 0.5 0.002 Distribution of Group 2 > 3 83 0.64 Product Total 130 1 Finance/ Investment/ Cost of 3.56 Business Group 1 <= 3 49 0.38 0.5 0.006 Lack of access to Group 2 > 3 81 0.62 finance/ Investment Total 130 1 Physical Strength/ Issues/ 3.541 Problems of Females Time management Group 1 <= 3 41 0.32 0.5 0 issues due to double Group 2 > 3 89 0.68 burden Total 130 1 Less available time Group 1 <= 3 52 0.4 0.5 0.028 due to greater family Group 2 > 3 78 0.6 responsibilities Total 130 1 Long working hours Group 1 <= 3 50 0.38 0.5 0.011 are physically more Group 2 > 3 80 0.62 tiring for females Total 130 1 Labour Issues/ Male 3.4885 Chauvinism Less cooperative Group 1 <= 3 50 0.38 0.5 0.011 work environment Group 2 > 3 80 0.62 (Male chauvinism) Total 130 1 Less cooperation Group 1 <= 3 56 0.43 0.5 0.136 from male labour Group 2 > 3 74 0.57 class Total 130 1 Risk (Recovery/ Return) 3.36 Risk is more for Group 1 <= 3 60 0.46 0.5 0.43 females as compared Group 2 > 3 70 0.54 to males while Total 130 1 starting business

The next significant variable is the physical traits, health issues or certain problems specific to females only like the maternity issues etc. These certain problems always pose a break to the professional career of a female or sometimes a total full stop. Moreover, their feminine traits limit their tendency and define their capacity of doing work to certain extent and specific areas. Ignorance towards the fact may result in over burdening of females thus in turn leads to stress out or exhaustion phases and further medical issues. The existence of the mentioned problem is also evident by the higher degree of level of significance showing that a big proportion of females might not be able to work or decline in few years due to same reason The next identified barrier was the labor issues or the non-cooperative behavior of the male associates restricting females from growth. The results declare one of the two factors as highly significant i.e. the non-cooperative work environment due to male chauvinism was found highly

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influential. Although the problem with male labor class was found non-significant but the higher proportion (more than 50%) of respondents still declared it as a barrier revealing the existence of the mentioned problem in the society. On the basis of the above mentioned hurdles faced by female while establishing their business, certain parameters from the benefits of e-commerce were identified that were expected to work as a coping mechanism against the identified barriers. Those benefits included flexible working hours as per their (females) own convenience, direct access to customers (direct channels), home- based business, automatically operated business, requirement of limited investment and reduced risk. The next part of the questionnaire aimed to gather female’s opinion regarding the effectiveness of benefits of the e-commerce in growth of female entrepreneurship. The analysis of the data as shown in Table 4clearly reveals that majority of the females considered all the selective benefits of e-commerce favorable for the growth of female entrepreneurship as all the mean values are greater than 3. All of the identified factors were also found highly significant on the basis of non-parametric binomial test as all values lie below 0.005 except the recession proof/ evergreen demand. In Table 4, the benefits of e-commerce supporting female entrepreneurship are arranged in descending order on the basis of their mean values. Flexible working hours is at the top with the highest mean value i.e. 3.82 showing that long working hours are physically tiresome for females and it also attests the occurrence of problems due to physical traits of females (Table 3.). The second benefit of pure e-commerce/ digital product business is the easy and direct access to customers facilitating direct distribution that aimed to resolve another highly faced barrier for female entrepreneurs i.e. the distribution of product. According to the results, the mentioned benefit of ecommerce (Easy and Direct access to customers) was found highly significant with 71% respondents in favor of it.

Table4: Factors Supportive to Female Entrepreneurship (Descriptive & Binomial Test) Exact Observed Test Mean Category N Sig. (2- Prop. Prop. tailed) Group 1 <= 3 36 0.28 0.5 0 Flexible Working Group 2 3.82 > 3 94 0.72 Hours Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 38 0.29 0.5 0 Easy and Direct Group 2 3.7 > 3 92 0.71 access to customers Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 48 0.37 0.5 0.004 Home based business Group 2 3.68 > 3 82 0.63 Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 49 0.38 0.5 0.006 Automatically Group 2 > 3 81 0.62 operated business Total 3.6115 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 46 0.35 0.5 0.001 Limited workers Group 2 > 3 84 0.65 required Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 52 0.4 0.5 0.028 Business requiring Group 2 3.48 > 3 78 0.6 limited investment Total 130 1 Group 1 <= 3 62 0.48 0.5 0.661 Recession proof/ Evergreen demand Group 2 3.4615 > 3 68 0.52 Total 130 1

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Increase market Group 1 <= 3 52 0.4 0.5 0.028 share due to Access Group 2 > 3 78 0.6 to global market Total 130 1 Family restriction/ expectations/ requirements were the top listed barrier faced by majority of females (Table 3). Another benefit of e-commerce because of its virtual existence was the accessibility of its operations from anywhere so it may be setup at home as well. The selection of the benefit i.e. the home based business, was made with the perspective of resolving the family issues including restriction to work out. The significance level of the benefit (Table 4) defines the level of positive influence; it is expected to have on female entrepreneurship. The next ranked significant factor is the automatically operated business with limited workers requirement that is expected to reduce the negative influence of male chauvinism and non-cooperative work environment for females. Other factors supportive to female entrepreneurs are common to males as well. These are the business requiring minimum investment and reduced risk due to global market share. However, the additional societal risks specific to females minimizes their chances of recovery and maximizes risk for them hence the importance of mentioned benefits is more for female entrepreneurs.

4. Discussion Females constitute approximately half of the total population of Pakistan. The economy of any country cannot flourish without making the total labor force productive. The objective of the study was to identify the barriers restricting females to prove their worth as entrepreneurs. It was also conducted with the purpose of making the idle workforce useful for the economic well being of the country. This can only be made possible by setting achievable goals, defining appropriate ways to achieve desired goals and making the environment favorable for the females to better utilize their skills. Although the current study was kept limited to Pakistan due to time constraint, however, it is still quite sufficient to set dimensions for future research studies and policy making. On the basis of prior mentioned discussion, following recommendations are made: It was found that despite the existence of high motivation level towards entrepreneurship in majority of females, a very limited proportion of female entrepreneurs or even working females exists in Pakistan. Most of the governmental programs are working to increase motivation towards entrepreneurship by means of conducting motivation sessions and seminars. The results are an indication for the policy makers that appropriate measures should be taken in the right direction and identifying the actual barriers. The study also helped understand the true societal and economical barriers for female entrepreneurs. It was also found that majority of females find it difficult to work outside not just due to some family restrictions but they do have greater responsibilities as well. Family life is the beauty of Asian countries and the key component in maintaining it is role of females and their attitude towards their families. Policy makers should devise policies to encourage female participation in sectors keeping in mind their comfort zone so they do not have to make choices between their family and the career. It should also be considered while devising policies that appropriate allocation of female workforce without compromising their family life will help avoid so many societal problems including negligence towards children and work stress in females. Ensuring the physical and psychological health of the females and the society will help improve their work quality and consequently ensure the economic growth. It was also found that the characteristics of ecommerce are expected to have significant effect on female entrepreneurship as majority of the females considered the benefits of ecommerce ideal for their work. The ecommerce is expected to minimize a number of hurdles. Technological backwardness is a major drawback in most of developing and under developing countries that restricts the people from reaping the pros of ecommerce. Proper training programs should be launched to improve technological environment. Micro finance schemes for establishment of an e-business should be introduced to encourage females for starting their business.

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5. Conclusion It can be concluded on the basis of the above analysis that Government should take measures to support females work environment. Technological awareness should be provided so they may be able to setup any kind of pure or partial e-business. Electronic intermediaries and distribution channels should be introduced to facilitate home based partial e-businesses. Appropriate training and resources should be provided at the higher education level so they may come up as potential entrepreneur before leaving their institutions and getting into market field. The introduction of home based businesses and pure e-commerce will help motivate those females as well who are unable to work because of their family responsibilities. The removal of barriers and the provision of desired work conditions for females ensuring their personal peace of mind and sense of worth will help them better serve their family and society, morally and economically. Facilitating an e- business will not only improve female participation ratio but is also expected to generate economic benefit from youth and the old people who wants to earn but are unable to work either due to lack of finance, time, or physical strength.

6. References

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[11] Georgellis, Y., & Wall, H. (2004). Gender Differences in Self-Employment . FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ST. LOUIS . [12] Hisrich, R., Peters, M., & Shepherd, D. (2013). Entrepreneurship. McGraw-Hill Publications. [13] Jawad, S. (2010). Women & Small Business entrepreneurship in Pakistan. Research Gate . [14] Khan, A. (2007). Women and Paid Work in Pakistan. Pathways of women's empowerment, south Asia research program, Pakistan scoping paper . [15] Khan, A. G. (2016). Electronic Commerce: A Study on Benefits and Challenges in an Emerging economy. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: Economics and Commerce .

[16] Khan, N., Qureshi, M. I., Mustapha, I., Harasis, A. A., & Ashfaq, M. (2020). The Digital Marketing Past, Present, and Future in Malaysia. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 17(2), 583-595. [17] (2013, 2014). Labour Force Survey. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. [18] Lal, R., & Khurana, A. (2011). Gender issue: The role of women in agriculture sector. International Journal of Business Economics and Management Research . [19] Lofstrom, M. (2009). Does Self-employment Increase the Well-being of Low-skilled Workers? IZA Discussion papers . [20] SMEDA. (2007). SME Policy . SMEDA, Pakistan.

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[21] The Nation. (2017, June). Retrieved from The Nation: https://nation.com.pk/04-Jun-2017/pakistan-among- fastest-growing-e-commerce-markets

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Authors

Nida Masroor is a research scholar and pursuing her MPhil leading to PhD in Marketing from University of Karachi, Pakistan. She is also a lecturer in Jinnah University for Women and also associated to Karachi University Business School (KUBS), University of Karachi, Pakistan as a visiting faculty. She is a member of Connecting Asia and Center for Sustainability Research & Consultancy as Research associate. She has a vast experience of teaching diversified subjects along with participation as research scholar on various reputed national and international platforms. She is keen to learning through research and focused on bringing economic boost through research. Her research work covers vast areas including corporate governance, entrepreneurship and business education.

Dr. Muhammad Asim is currently the Chairman and Associate Professor at Karachi University Business School (KUBS), University of Karachi, Pakistan. He is a PhD in “Organizational Behavior and Management” and also holds an Engineering Degree from NED University of Engineering and Technology, M.Sc. in Petroleum Technology and MBA from University of Karachi. He possesses more than 20 years experience of both corporate sector and academia. His research work covers vast areas that also reflect the diversity in his educational expertise with current focus on interface and integration of ethics, economics and ecology, and building a framework leading towards organizational sustainability and developing visionary managers, leaders and entrepreneurs. He is also on the board of Editorial Review Committee at SAGE publishers. Member International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS), Japan, Athens Institute for Education and Research (Management Research unit & Marketing Research unit), Athens, Greece, British Education Leadership, Management and Administration Society, UK., Member Review Editorial Board for International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, Science Publishing Group, New York USA. He is also member of Board of Studies, Board of Faculty and Research Advisory Board and Journal editorial board of so many reputed universities in Karachi including University of Karachi, NED University of Engineering and Technology, etc. He is also serving as member of NCRC-HEC, PEC, member Review Committee NRPU-HEC etc.

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Saman Hussain is working as lecturer of commerce with Ministry of Education, Sind, Pakistan. Along teaching commerce subjects, she is also a PhD research scholar at Department of Commerce University of Karachi, Pakistan. Her main interest of research areas are globalization and female self-employment.