Cultural Factors and Role of Pakistani Women in Growth of SME

Abstract

Women play a significant role in entrepreneurship, though female contribution in SMEs is lesser than male contribution in SMEs. On the other hand, the distance between both gender contribution rates in entrepreneurship varies from country to country for the reason that there is a sway of disparate parts and stereotypes on commercial activities. For understanding that dissimilarity, this study inspects the gap between female and male roles in small and medium enterprises in Pakistan from a cultural perspective with different EU and North American countries. By using a simple random technique, the data was collected from 5 Pakistan’s main cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Faisalabad. 250 women were randomly selected who are associated with SME’s business in Pakistan. The results reveal that women are facing many more hurdles and difficulties in establishing and running an independent business, specifically a rural lady for whom getting business opportunities in Pakistan is very difficult.  Findings show that the Pakistani women contributed a small portion to the SME growth of Pakistan.