Entrepreneurship, like most other fields, is male-dominated. We find that only a part of women entrepreneurs is able to make it to the top. Most of the aspiring women, who start, are forced to give up on their dreams to satisfy family responsibilities and to pacify the demands that a traditional society demands of it. In the course of the present article, we will discuss some of the problems that female entrepreneurs face when they set out to build their businesses. We will also talk about the challenges and hindrances that this creates for them.

1. Balancing responsibilities
   There is a lot that a woman has to balance in her life. Traditionally, it has always been a woman who has managed the majority of the house. Even today, the upbringing of children, looking after the welfare of her family, having a spouse, and being a good mother are just some of the responsibilities that a woman has to carry. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of the above-mentioned duties, but as a leader, you need to have time and mental freedom to invest in your project, company, brand, etc.; even for successful entrepreneurs, it becomes difficult to balance family and business life. For women entrepreneurs who lack support from their families, it can be even more difficult.

2. Gender inequality
   Stigma and discrimination are just two of the many things that a woman has to fight in the workplace. A majority of the leaders we see today are men, and this is despite the government taking steps to promote the participation of women in business. We have been educated to understand what equality is, yet we continue to see so little of it today. The same discrimination continues even in the work field. When a woman tries to build something of herself, she is viewed as incompatible and is often doubted. This is a serious challenge to businesses that rely on taking bids and applying for projects. Some areas of work have been built as male dominant.

3. Educational challenges
   In many countries, the biggest challenge that a woman faces is the lack of proper educational opportunities. Unless you have an education in the field that you want to pursue, you will never be able to advance in it. Being a student of a craft or a subject allows you to study its technicalities and its history of it. It gives you knowledge that you can then put to use to implement your vision. But the lack of such facilities has proven to be a limiting factor for many women, and they cannot step out and work for the things that they want to achieve because they have no knowledge of it and no education to make them eligible for work.

4. Lack of family support
   As we were talking about above, having a business can make it difficult to balance your family and business life. It is more difficult for a woman. Because of this, many families don’t support their womenfolk in their work; they do not encourage them to take up outside work and start projects of their own. These factors are important because they prove to be a limiting factor to their risk-bearing capacity. In the absence of the ability to bear risks, no one can excel in business. With a lack of motivation and support from their family members, most women are often forced to drop their dreams or limit the rise of their businesses.

5. Limited funding
   The first thing that any business needs to grow is funding. And yet, women-owned businesses are the ones that fail to find funding when they need it. Male-owned businesses and male-backed funding agencies are at the root of this problem. One cannot rely upon traditional ideology, or rather patriarchal ideology, to help businesses grow. For a business to grow, it will need to procure funding to buy inventory, machinery, land, market advertisement, etc. These are like the basic needs for any new business. But yet again, we find that women-led businesses are the ones that are constantly at the back end of it. They are the ones who find it most difficult to cut it in a male-dominated world.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the CEOWORLD magazine.