"WOMEN EMPOWERMENT – WITH REFERENCE TO OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSIP IN MADURAI DISTRICT"

Women entrepreneurship plays an important role in the contribution to Indian economy. It aims at raising the standard of living of the people especially in backward areas. It plays a vital role in local employment generation, balanced resource utilization, income generation and enhanced livelihood. Thus, Women enterprises which serve as growth engine are struggling with the day-to-day changes in business. The productivity of such enterprises is affected by ineffective administration, weak management due to lack of enhanced managerial skills. In this context, the study titled “Women empowerment – with reference to Opportunities and Constraints of Women entrepreneurship in Madurai District” is undergone to understand the problems and prospect of empowerment of women through entrepreneurship. The study was conducted by exploratory method based on survey questionnaire. Women entrepreneurs in and around Madurai District constituted the population of the study. Sample was categorized according to distinguished demographic profile of respondents. A sample size of 200 respondents is taken for the study in which majority of them belongs to rural part of Madurai region. The study is mainly based on Primary and secondary data collected from direct interview and government published records. After the analysis it is found that support and motivation by local people ranks first among opportunities for Women entrepreneurs with a mean score of (61.25) which is followed by employment generation for Women youth (58.51).