234 AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Prof. Selvarani Balan, Professor & Head Department of Business Management Osmania University Hyderabad-500007 Dr. V. Samunnatha Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies AMS School of Informatics Hyderabad–500007 Abstract Down the ages, the potentials of women were suppressed and they were treated as secondary citizens in all the cultures. Women today attempt erasing such mark through creating a significant achievement in the economic development of the country; giving a solution to the problems of unemployment and poverty. Though representing a substantial work force of the nation, women entrepreneurs in India lack access to and control over resources and are influenced by some fundamental and practical factors that either motivate or inhibit their survival in this field and a few of them result in lack of decision making power.. Based on the empirical data collected from 200 women entrepreneurs registered with MSMEs of Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts of Andhra Pradesh in India, the study tries to analyze the influence of social and economic factors on women entrepreneurs including motivational factors and other obstacles. The study evidentially proves the prevailing gender discrimination as the major constraint. Lack of external motivation, unfair attitude of officials, lack of confidence by others, lack of acceptance, social insecurity and also delay in the sanction of financial support are de-motivating factors which create obstacles to women entrepreneurs in their way. Keywords: Women Entrepreneurship, Women Potentials, Decision making power, Socio- economic influence, unaccounted contribution. Introduction “I measure the progress of the community by the degree of progress which women have achieved” says Dr BR Ambedkar 1 . Accordingly, the status of women could be the best indicator of a nation’s progress. Women’s active role is regarded as an integral part of a progressive social system. Down the ages, the potentials of women were suppressed which are now being uplifted in the form of entrepreneurship development which has a very significant part in the national development. Through job creation, revenue generation, poverty reduction and wealth creation, entrepreneurship proceeds as an engine for the economic growth and became a central element in the theory of economic development (Schumpeter 2 and Josiane 3 ). 1 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/b_r_ambedkar.html, 14 March 2013. 2 Schumpeter, J. (1934) The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge. M. A. Harvard University. 3 Josiane, C. (1998). “Gender Issues in Micro-Enterprise Development”, ILO Publications, Geneva, June. http://www.ilo.org/enterprise.