INTRODUCTION

“The saying ‘Nice Girls don’t ask!’ is yesterday’s

Advice for business.
Today’s advice is ‘women ask, and ask, and
Appreciate what they get’”.
-Nancy Clark.

Nutrition is essential for growth and development, health and

well being. Eating a healthy diet contributes to preventing future
illness and improving quality and length of life. Nutritional status is
the state of health as determined by what we eat. There are several
ways of assessing nutritional status, including anthropometric
(Physical body measurement), food intake and biochemical
assessment (Dwyer J. Harrisons, 2006).

Engel’s attributes practice of private property as the beginning

of women’s subjugation. Men became the proprietor of women. The
women was degraded and reduced to servitude and the female became
the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for production of children
(Engels. F. 2001).

In the recent years, Women have taken a bold step to come out
of their traditional domestic occupation to take up jobs out of homes.
Today, the entrepreneurial world is also open to the womenfolk
(Murthy. C.S.V, 2002).

Women all over the world in general, and in India in particular,

are entering in various occupations and professions which have been

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considered entirely male occupation and professions in the past. They
have proved their worth everywhere, but the battle is yet to be won.
They are facing constraints both “Inside” and “Outside”
(Pandey. S.K, 1996).

Indian Women’s participation in the national movement has

been a story of valor, intrepid, self-control, sacrifice and inner power.
The Father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi, believed in women’s strength
and capabilities; hence he remarked:

“In order to play her full and destined role in world affairs, in
the solution of conflict by non-violence means, Women must extend
their hearts and interests beyond the narrow confines of their homes
and family and embrace the whole humanity” (Pandey. S.K ,1996).

Entrepreneurial is the process of creating something new with

value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the
accompanying financial, psychic and social risks, and receiving the
resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and
independence (Michael Peters, 2002).

Entrepreneur may be defined as an individual who desires to

add value of the economy by creating a new business venture through
the utilization of his knowledge, passion, dreams and desires
(Nafees A. Khan, 2006).

Entrepreneurship Development requires the attention of policy

makers in changing the mindset of people and developing
entrepreneurial organization. The word ‘Entrepreneurship’ has been

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derived from a French root which means to ‘undertake’
(Kotler, 2002).

Women Entrepreneurs in India represent a group of women who

have broken away from the beaten trade and are exploring new
avenues of economic participation. Their tasks have been full of
challenges. They have had to encounter public prejudices and
criticism. Family opposition and social constraints had to be overcome
before establishing themselves as Independent Entrepreneurial
(Prabhakara Rao J.V, 2000).

Emancipation of Women is an essential perquisite for economic

development and social progress of the nations
(Guru Moorthy T.T , 2000).

However in India, the actual participation of Women in income

generating activities is quite unsatisfactory, only 8% of the Small
Scale – manufacturing units are owned and operated by women
(Sumangala Naik, 2003).

Entrepreneurship is an economic activity which is undertaken

by an individual or group of individual. Entrepreneurship can be
defined as the making of a “New combinations of already existing
materials and forces; that entrepreneurship throws up a innovations, as
opposed to inventions and that no one is entrepreneur for ever, only
when He or she is actually doing the innovative activity”
(Schumpeter Joseph, 1961).

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 Today Women in advanced market economies own more than
25% of all businesses and Women – owned businesses in Africa, Asia,
Eastern Europe and Latin America are growing rapidly. In some
regions of the world, transformation to market economy, Women
Entrepreneur is a growing trend (Eswaran et al, 2002).

The motivational and behavioural characteristic of 60 female

business owners, utilizing both structural questionnaire and
unstructured interviews. They found that the need for independence
was an important motivating factor to start a business for the Women
in their sample (Victoria A. Velkoff, 1998).

To explore the personal and contextual factors that influence the

start up and successful continuation of Women’s businesses. Taking a
comparative approach, they conducted twenty semi structured
interviews with managers, 10 female and 10 male, in order to examine
how personal and contextual factors may be gender related. They
found that the female entrepreneur’s main motivations for starting
their own businesses were the need for flexibility due to childcare
responsibilities, and their negative experiences of previous
employment (Arjun Adlakha, 1998).

To succeed as Entrepreneurs, tips- such as never undervalue or

underestimate our self, never forget why we started our own company,
maintain a comfortable network, remember that we are running a
business, and promote our self – could be of more help to female
business owners than male (Shivganesh Bhargava, 2002).

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 OBJECTIVES
Hence the present study was carried out with the following
objectives
 To assess the Nutritional status of Women Entrepreneurs by
means of
 Anthropometric Measurements,
 Biochemical Tests,
 Clinical signs and symptoms,
 Dietary patterns.
 To assess the Socio – Economic Status of Women Entrepreneurs.
 To assess the Occupational Health problem and Work details of
Women Entrepreneurs.
 To create awareness on health, nutrition among Women
Entrepreneurs through Nutrition Education.
 To assess the impact of Nutrition Education.

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 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

WOMEN IN INDIA
The status of Women in India has been subject to many great
changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in
ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the
promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in
India has been eventful. (Jayapalan et.al., 2001)
In modern India, women have adorned high offices in India
including that of the President, Prime minister, Speaker of the Lok
Sabha, Leader of Opposition, etc. The current President of India is a
woman (www.wikipedia.com)
The Literature pertaining to the present study entitled
“Assessment of Nutritional status of Women Entrepreneurs
involved in Food processing” is reviewed under the following
headings.

A. SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA

B. SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR
C. HEALTH STATUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR
D. NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR
E. COMMON HEALTH PROBLEMS OF WOMEN
F. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR
G. NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF WOMEN
H. PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR
I. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS.
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SUCCESFUL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA

1st Successful Women Entrepreneur – Priyanka Malhotra

Priyanka Malhotra is successful woman entrepreneur in India.
She is operating the business of book publishing and also devotes her
time in cafe business. She did graduate in printing and publishing
from Landon college of publishing. She also holds the degree of M.Sc.
in media and communication field. After this, she came to India and
became successful businesswomen in Delhi. Priyanka thinks
differently about the idea of scaling her businesses. Here's a young
entrepreneur unplugged. She got licence for operating cafe. She
encouraged young woman in this video also. (www.svtuition.org).

2st Successful Women Entrepreneur - Bhawana Kakkar

Bhawana Kakkar is young graduate woman in Painting and
Arts. She did also postgraduate in Art history from Baroda University.
She has huge experience in fashion designing in India and she opened
Art gallery. She is also publishing a magazine named "Take - Simple
Black". She is successful woman entrepreneur in India and she told
many tricks to success in business in following video.
(www.svtuition.org).

3rd Successful Women Entrepreneur - Manju Bharatram

Mrs Manju Bharatram was a simple child for whom school
wasn't a happy experience. Just like many others. And the day she saw
her own children feeling the same as well, she became a social
entrepreneur (www.svtuition.org).

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4rd Successful Women Entrepreneur - Rajashree Birla
Rajashree Birla is a successful woman entrepreneur and
chairperson of Aditya Birla Centre for Community and rural
development. Her focus is on the all-round development of the
communities around our plants located mostly in distant rural areas
and tribal belts. All our Group companies Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya
Birla Nuvo, Indo Gulf and UltraTech have Rural Development Cells
which are the implementation bodies (www.svtuition.org).

5th Successful Women Entrepreneur - Shruti

Shruti is a degree holder in Chemistry from University of
Pennsylvania and she did worked with Merrill Lynch. She came back
India after study in USA and started his own hotel business and
became successful woman entrepreneur in India. (www.svtuition.org).

SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS OF WOMEN

ENTREPRENEUR

Mishra. R.C (2006) stated that “Socio Economic status is a term

which is often constrated with that of social class. Socio Economic
status is a rather arbitrary category and is developed by combining the
position or score of persons on criteria such as income, level of
education, type of occupation held, or neighborhood of residence”.

The scores can then be arbitrarily divided so as to create Socio

Economic divisions such as upper class, middle class, lower class.
Sociologist are interested in Socio Economic status, as they are in

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class, since it is assumed that this status affects life chances in
numerous ways. (www.sociologyindex.com).
According to Romila pruthi (2001) “Though the constitution of
India provides equal rights and privileges for men and women and
makes special provisions for women to improve their status in society,
strong patriarchal traditions are followed and continue in India for
several years and womens lives are shaped by social customs. The
need to bring women into the mainstream of development has been a
national concern, since independent and their status has improved in
the last few decades with the implementation of several developmental
policies, plans and programmes”.

Guru Moorthy T.T (2000) deplicted that “Emanicipation of

Women is an essential perquisite for economic development and
social progress of the nations”.

Brady Anderson J (2005) indicated that “Eventhough Womens

contributions to business are one of the major engines of global
economic growth, too often, women do not have access to basic
business education, commercial credit and marketing opportunities”.

Education is one of the main determinants of employment. If

women attain higher levels of education, then we expect to see a larger
percentage in wage earning jobs. (www.pacificweb.0rg).

According to Singh S (2007) “Though it is gradually rising, the

female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate.
Compared to boys, for fewer girls are enrolled in the schools and
many of them drop out”.

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 Usha Jumani (2001) conducted a study to analyse the status of
self employed Women in rural areas. Economic activities through
which the income of the women will be increased have to be identified
with great care. They have to be in consonance with time availability
with family roles and their awareness levels.

HEALTH STATUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. It is

also a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism,
often implicity human. At the time of the creation of the World
Health organisation (WHO) in 1948, Health is defined as “a state of
complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the
absence of disease (www.who.int).

Krummel et al., (1996) stated that “Health status is the current

state of the own health. It includes the state of the wellness, fitness and
any underlying diseases or injuries”.

Housman Jeff (2005) stated that “The Alameda country study

examines the relationship between life style and health. It has found
that people can improve their health via exercise, enough sleep,
maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol use and avoiding
smoking”.

Health care is the prevention, treatment and management of

illness and the preservation of mental and physical well being through
the services offered by the medical, nursing and allied health
professionals. (www.nhs.uk).

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 According to MC Ewen BS (2006) “Prolonged psychological
stress of Women Entrepreneurs may negatively impact health and has
been cited as a factor in cognitive impairment with ageing, depressive
illness and expression of disease”.

NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN

ENTREPRENEUR

Judith E. Brown (2010) stated that “the average female life

expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it
has shown gradual improvement over the years. In the many families,
especially rural ones, the girls and women face nutritional
discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished”.

The maternal mortality in India is the second highest in the

World. Only 42%of births in the country are supervised by health
professionals. Most women deliver with help from women in the
family who often lack the skills and resources to save the mothers life,
it is in danger (Marie A. Boyle, 2008).

The average nutritional intake of women is 1400 calories. The

necessary requriment is approximately 2220 calories. 92% of Women
in India suffer from Gynaecological problems.
(Gender and Womens health, publication by CHETNA, NGO).

According to Chatterjee (1990) “Women in poor health are

more likely to give birth to low weight infants. They also are less
likely to be able to provide food and adequate care for their children.

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Finally a womens healthy affects the household economic well being,
as a women in poor health will be less productive in the labor force”.

The malnutrition results in poor health of women. Generally in

India, women are the one who eat last and least in the whole family.
So they eat whatever is left after men folk are satiated. As a result
most of the times their food intake does not contain the nutritional
value required in maintaining the healthy body. In village Women
Entrepreneurs, sometimes do not get the whole meal due to poverty.
(Dadibhavi R.V, 1994).

COMMON HEALTH PROBLEMS OF WOMEN

MENSTRUAL PROBLEM

Teera Diane (2004) stated that “It is very common to experience

problems with menstruation from time to time”. According to
textbooks, the period should come regularly every 28 days or so, and
the blood you should expect to lose is equivalent to about a quarter of
a cup. However some women face serious trouble during their
menstrual cycle. These problems can be related to the length or
frequency of the periods, the amount of flow, or irregular periods, or
periods that come regularly but with longer intervals in between. The
most common problems associated with menstruation are
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Painful periods (Dysmenorrhea)
• Excessive bleeding (Menorrhagia)
• Absence of periods (Amenorrhea)
• Infrequent periods (oligomenorrhea).

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OBESITY

Kushner Robert (2007) stated that “Obesity is a medical

condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that
it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life
expectancy or increased health problems”.

Gray DS, et al., (1991) showed that “Obesity is defined by body

mass index (BMI) and further evaluated in terms of fat distribution via
the waist–hip ratio and total cardiovascular risk factors”.

Manson JE, et al., (1995) depicted that “At an individual level, a

combination of excessive caloric intake and a lack of physical activity
are thought to explain most cases of obesity. A limited number of
cases are due primarily to genetics, medical reasons, or psychiatric
illness”.

BREAST CANCER

One of the most growing problems among women, which is

responsible for 1 per cent of deaths worldwide, is breast cancer. Dr
Ashok Vaid, senior oncologist, Medanta Medicity, "Breast cancer is
definitely one of the most common problems with women today.
While there's no one cause that can be ascertained as to why it hits
one, science does understand some issues related with it. Things like
late marriage, delay in having the first child, less breast feeding,
problems of over-weight and genetic factors, all make for a variety of
reasons that heighten the risk of breast cancer in women."
(www.cancer.com).

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POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN DISEASE

Polycystic ovary disease is yet another issue that has come up

to be one of the most common female endocrine disorders affecting
about 5 to 10 per cent of women of reproductive age, which is
anything between 12-45 years. It is a condition in which there are
many small cysts in the ovaries, which can affect a woman's ability to
conceive (www.seasonindia.com).

ANAEMIA

Marlene B Goldman, et al., (2000) stated that “Iron deficiency

is the most widespread form of malnutrition in the world affecting
more than two billion people. In India anaemia affects an estimated 50
percent of the population. Anaemia has determined effects on the
health of Women and children and can become an underlying cause of
maternal mortality, ante- natal mortality, increased risk of pre mature
delivery and other maternal morbidities”.

In karnataka, the haemoglobin level was tested for 94 percent of

the Women compared with 88 percent in India as a whole. Overall 42
percent of women had some degree of anaemia, 27 percent of women
were mildly anaemic, 13 percent were moderately anaemic and two
percent severely anaemic. This prevalence was found to be higher
among rural women(46 percent)than among urban(36percent), high
for illiterate scheduled caste or scheduled tribe and working women
who were not self-employed. It is slightly higher among Hindus than
among Muslims and Christians. Thus, it is evident that the high

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prevalence of anaemia among women is due to the poor Socio
Economic conditions and eating habits. (Sidramshettar, 2002).

DIABETES

Florence M Brown, et al., (2009) deplicted that “Diabetes is a

serious chronic illness that affects how the body uses food. The food
that we eat is broken down into glucose, which is our body main
source of energy. To burn this energy our body needs insulin,
produced by the pancreas, to get the glucose into cells where it can be
used. When this is not done correctly, serious health problems can
occur”.

Approximately 23.6 million people in the United states had

developed diabetes. (American Diabetes Association, 2007).

The American Diabetes Association reports an estimated 11.5

million women over the age of 20 in the U.S. have diabetes, and one-
third of them remain undiagnosed. When compared with men, women
have a 50 percent greater risk of diabetic coma, a condition brought on
by poorly controlled diabetes and lack of insulin. Women with
diabetes have heart disease rates similar to men, but more women with
diabetes die from a first heart attack.
(Francine Kaufman MD, 2009)

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR

Karl M, (2006) skowed that “Health at work and healthy work

environments are among the most valuable assets of individuals,
communities and countries. Occupational health is an important
strategy not only to ensure the health of workers, but also to contribute
positively to productivity, quality of products, work motivation, job
satisfaction and thereby to the overall quality of life of individuals and
society”.

Occupational health is a basic element and constitutes a social

and health dimension of the principle of sustainable development.
Occupational health practices constitute a set of key activities for such
development. (Marlene B Goldman, 2000).

Due to lack of education, unaware of the hazards of their

occupation, general backwardness in sanitation, poor nutrition and
climatic proneness of this geographic region to epidemics aggravate
their health hazards from work environment. (Vilanilam J V, 2006).

A very high respiratory morbidity was recorded from a cross-

sectional survey on Mango plantation workers in Lucknow. This
respiratory morbidity was attributed to prolonged inhalation of organic
dusts during the farming operation. (Gupta B N, et al, 2005).

According to Jose P., et al., (2007) “Occupational stress is

one of the major problems from Women Entrepreneurs. Studies from

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developed countries show that sources of stress in women’s lives are
more diverse and diffuse than those experienced by men. A number of
factors cause stress among working women”.

Headache is a term used to describe aching or pain that occurs

in one or more areas of the head, face, mouth, or neck. Headache can
be chronic, recurrent, or occasional. The pain can be mild or severe
enough to disrupt a women’s daily activities. Headache involves the
network of nerve fibers in the tissues, muscles, and blood vessels
located in the head and at the base of the skull. A women’s health can
be affected greatly if she suffers from headaches (Bullock, 2004).

Carol S Coonrod (2008) stated that “Low back pain does not
signify poor quality of individuals life, but also showed decreased in
labour productivity due to offwork, absenteenism and early retirement.
About 11.6% out of 2600 populations in a semirural area, malaysia
were diagnosed with low back pain”.

NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF WOMEN

Energy: Energy requirements of an adult woman is based on

Reference Woman. Reference Woman is between 20-39 years of age,
healthy and weighs 50 kg. For the sedentary women 1875 kcal,
moderate 2225 and for heavy worker 2925 kcal is recommended per
day. (B. Srilakshmi, 2005)

Protein: The average daily protein requirement for an adult women

one gram kilogram of body weight. Protein rich foods are the Egg,
pulses, soya protein, etc. (Garrow et al., 2000)

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Fat: In the diets of adults in India, about 20% energy may be derived
from fats. 10-20g of fat per day depending upon the level of calories
consumed. (Antia, F.P., 2002)

Calcium: The recommended daily allowance varies from 400 to 1,200

mg/ day. Good sources of calcium include dairy products, leafy green
vegetables, oatmeal and other grains, tofu, cabbage, summer squash,
green beans, garlic, and sea vegetables. Calcium is absorbed slowly
and your body cannot take in more than 500 mg at any one time.
(Mahan Kathleen., et al, 2000)

Iron: Iron requirement for women is 2 mg higher than man. Iron loss
through menstruation in women of reproductive age groups are 0.6
mg/day on an average, when spread over the whole month.
(Swaminathan, M., 1998)

Vitamin D: Aim for between 400 and 1,000 IU daily. You can get
Vitamin D from about half an hour of direct exposure to sunlight, and
also from foods and supplements. Salmon is an excellent source of
vitamin D. Other good sources include shrimp, vitamin-D fortified
milk, cod, and eggs.
(David A Bender, 2002)

Vitamin C – vitamin C is important for normal gum, tooth, bone and

body tissue formation. The best source of Vitamin C is an orange, but
it is also found in other citrus fruits and a variety of vegetables.
(Marie A Boyle., et al., 2008)

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Zinc – this nutrient is needed to maintain the health of cells. Taking
iron supplements may interfere with the absorption of zinc so women
taking iron supplements should continue to eat iron-rich foods, which
are also a good source of zinc. (Judith E Brown., et al., 2010)

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

Mallika Das(2009) made an exploratory study of Women

Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The study examined the
problems faced by Women in initiating, running and succeeding in
business and differences between the experiences of women from the
developing and developed worlds. The study also underscored the
difficulties faced by women in getting funds for setting up business
and meeting the working capital requirements. The Women in the
study differ from western counterparts in family background, marital
status, incubator organizations issues and environmental factors.

Dhanalakshmi., et al.,(2000) carried out a study of Women

Entrepreneurs which seeks to examine the problems faced by Women
Entrepreneurs in Madurai. It is stated that women who have interest in
business should take the first step and are courageous enough to face
the ups and downs their families should be liberal in financing the
venture conducted by women.

Major problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs were poor

location of unit, tough competition from larger and established units
because in all the enterprises work was done manually so it was very
tough to compete with these enterprises in which electrical equipments
and big machineries were used. Other problems were lack of transport

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facility, lack of time for household work, non availability of raw
material, heavy schedule and lack of time for rest and slap leading to
mental tension and fatigue (Badi N.V., et al, 2005)

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Savithri (2002) made a comparative study of Women

Executives and Women Entrepreneurs in Chennai city to gauge the
stress level, its impact on them, etc. It is found that stress played a role
in a wide range of common ailments, such as headache, allergy and
skin disease, blood pressure, ulcer, diabetes and heart disease. Stress
affects sleep, productivity and growth workload also cause stress.
Women Entrepreneurs develop stress when there is labour problem,
wastage and loss occurring in the organization feeling that they do not
have enough time to do everything that is requires. For Women
Executives stress originates from personality, family and organization.
Both the parties are affected physical, psychological and then create
stress in the family in the organization.

A recent study by the National Council of Applied Economic

Research(NCAER) reveals that Tamil Nadu offers the best incentives
package for industries, among industrialized states in India and it
ranks second at the all India level in terms of attractiveness of
incentives. (www.indianbusiness.nic.in)

TIMELINE

The steady change in their position can be highlighted by looking

at what has been achieved by women in the country.

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• 1879: John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune established the
Bethune School in 1849, which developed into the Bethune
College in 1879, thus becoming the first women's college in
India.
• 1883: Chandramukhi Basu and Kadambini Ganguly became
the first female graduates of India and the British Empire.
• 1905: Suzanne RD Tata becomes the first Indian woman to
drive a car.
• 1917: Annie Besant became the first female president of the
Indian National Congress.
• 1925: Sarojini Naidu became the first Indian born female
president of the Indian National Congress.
• 1951: Prem Mathur of the Deccan Airways becomes the first
Indian women commercial pilot.
• 1953: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit became the first woman (and
first Indian) president of the United Nations General Assembly.
• 1963: Sucheta Kriplani became the Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh, the first woman to hold that position in any Indian
state.
• 1966: Indira Gandhi becomes the first woman Prime Minister
of India.
• 1970: Kamaljit Sandhu becomes the first Indian woman to win
a Gold in the Asian Games.
• 1972: Kiran Bedi becomes the first female recruit to join the
Indian Police Service.
• 1979: Mother Teresa wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming
the first Indian female citizen to do so.
• 1984: On May 23, Bachendri Pal became the first Indian
woman to climb Mount Everest.

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• 1989: Justice M. Fathima Beevi becomes the first woman
judge of the Supreme Court of India.
• 1997: Kalpana Chawla becomes the first India-born woman to
go into space.
• 2000: Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to
win an Olympic medal (bronze medal in the 2000 Summer
Olympics at Sydney)
• 2007: Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman President of
India.
• 2009: Meira Kumar became the first woman Speaker of Lok
Sabha, the lower house in Indian Parliament.
(www.wikipedia.com)

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