Empowerment of Women through Entrepreneurship Development in Dhaka City of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing country with abundant human resources, with women accounting for just over half of the population. They offer an important opportunity for economic and social growth. Women’s presence in some kind of economic activity is a supplement to their family’s income; it does not relieve them of their responsibilities at home. Women’s civil rights are now characterized by economic empowerment, with entrepreneurship serving as the ultimate form of empowerment. The ultimate goal of this research was to identify several specific characteristics of women entrepreneurs, as well as the degree to which women entrepreneurs are empowered, and to investigate the relationship between each of these selected characteristics and their empowerment. The research area was Dhaka city, and data was gathered using an interview schedule from 104 women entrepreneurs who were divided into three groups: boutique and handicrafts, foods and catering, and beauty parlors in Dhaka city. Data was compiled from July 25th to August 24th, 2019. In order to quantify the variables, scales were developed. Lower middle empowerment was held by less than half of the women (49.1%), upper middle empowerment by 47.1 percent, and medium empowerment by 3.8 percent. The relationship between each of the women’s chosen characteristics and their empowerment was determined using Pearson Product Moment correlation. Annual family income, organizational engagement, training experience, awareness of family management, family co-operation, and participation in the household decision-making phase of the women all demonstrated a strong significant relationship with their empowerment among the selected characteristics. Age, education, family size, and cosmopoliteness of the women, on the other hand, had little bearing on their empowerment.