Dynamics Of Women Entrepreneurship And Property Rights In Pakistani Context: The Path Towards Value Creation

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the value creation process of women entrepreneurship and property rights in Pakistani context. More specifically, the study assesses the overarching question as to what the sound property rights means to women entrepreneurs in Pakistani context, and how it can help women entrepreneurs to effectively contribute to the stakeholders’ wealth and societal well-being. The study capitalizes on the proposed framework of value creation. These value outcomes accrue at four levels i.e. individual, business, household, and community or society levels. This study collects information to explore layers of these value creations mainly focusing at individual level. The researcher utilized the narrative case for gathering the qualitative data from the targeted respondents. The study records five narrative based cases from women entrepreneurs engaged both in physical products and knowledge-based service sectors in District Peshawar, Pakistan. The study concludes that secured property rights boost women entrepreneurial activities and add to their empowerment on a continuum of weak and strong property rights. Besides, knowledge-based service sector entrepreneurial initiatives in Pakistan offers much safer spaces and working environment than tangible or businesses based on physical property. Due to the inseparability of service based business from the owners, for instance, software engineering, medical, and legal practice skills etc., make it much secure for women to exercises control on these resources. In nutshell, the study concludes that sound property rights are imperative for women entrepreneurship, enhance their socio-economic conditions, and their well- being. In other words, a sound property rights enable women entrepreneurs at individual level in their personal development, high self-esteem, adoption of leadership roles in a family, and an active social member of the society in the wealth creation activities.