PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 4(1): 1-9 (1996)ISS : 0128-7702

© Penerbit Universiti Pertanian Malaysia

Gender Needs Analysis of WOlDen Entrepreneurs

MAIMUNAH ISMAILWomen's Studies Unit

Centre for Extension and Continuing EducationUniversiti Pertanian Malaysia

43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Keywords: gender needs, gender analysis, women entrepreneurs.

ABSTRAK

Satu kajian telah dijalankan dikalangan pengusaha wanita di Lembah Kelang. Kajian bertujuan untukmeneliti ciri-ciri dan profil perniagaan usahawan wanita; mengenalpasti keperluan usahawan wanita dariperspektif gender. Pengumpulan data dijalankan dengan menggunakan borang soalselidik secara pos danseramai 33 usahawan wanita diambil sebagai responden kajian. Hasil kajian menunjukkan seramai 66.7%daripada responden terlibat dalam perniagaan kecil yang berasaskan perkhidmatan, 36.4% dalamperkhidmatan professional, 21.2% dalam perniagaan pembuatan, dan 9.1 % sebagai pemborong. Kajianjuga menunjukkan bahawa keperluan utama responden ialah usahawan wanita perlu mendapatpendedahan yang sebaik-baiknya mengenai keusahawanan. lni diikuti dengan keperluan latihan dalamkemahiran pengurusan perniagaan, sistem penasihat dan kaunseling kerjaya, pembentukan persatuansesama usahawan, akses yang lebih baik terhadap kredit dan penglibatan yang lebih aktif dalam perniagaanyang selama ini diceburi kaum lelaki. Kajian juga mengutarakan cadangan dalam usaha untukmembangunkan usahawan wanita.

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted on women entrepreneurs in Klang Valley to examine the characteristics and businessprofile of women entrepreneurs and to identify the gender needs of women entrepreneurs. The data wascollected by using mailed questionnaires and 33 women entrepreneurs responded. The study revealed that66.7% of the women were involved in retail services, 36.4% in professional services, 21.2% in manufacturingand 9.1 % in wholesale. The study also showed that among the significant needs women required moreexposure to entrepreneurships, business management training, system of mentoring and career counselling,networking and better access to credit facilities and better involvement in male-dominated business. Somerecommendations to help develop women entrepreneurs are forth.

INTRODUCTION

Investigation into female entrepreneurship isa recent development. The available entre­preneur analyses mainly focused on maleentrepreneurs (Stevenson 1986). The specificobjectives of this study are first, to identify thecharacteristics and business profiles of womenentrepreneurs; and second to examine thegender needs of women entrepreneurs.

The Background of Women Entrepreneurshipin Malaysia

An entrepreneur defined as "the organiser ofeconomic venture" owns, organises and

assumes the risk of the business. Accordingto McMullan and Long (1990) an entrepre­neur is a self-employed person who has to faceuncertainty, and will never be tied down tothe traditional way of making deals. Moore(1990) defines entrepreneur as one who takesan active role in the decision making and therisk of a business in which she/he has majorityownership. There has been an increase innumber of women entrepreneurs in Malaysiain the past two decades due to the economicrecession and the increase rate of unemploy­ment in the mid 1980s, resulting in many ofthe unemployed graduates choosing self­employment. Increasing interest in privatisa-

Maimunah Ismail

tion, self-employment and business-orientedemployment encouraged and facilitated thegrowth of new enterprise in sectors such asfood manufacturing, general trading, bankingand financing, personal and public services,education, training and consultancy, andmany others. The sixth Malaysia Plan(Table 1) shows that the role of women inbusiness was on an increasing trend. In 1980,40.1 % of the total women labour force werein the manufacturing sector, 29.3% in thewholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants,29.5% in the finance, insurance, real estateand business services sector. By 1990, theproportion of women's labour force in thosebusinesses had increased to 46.4% in manu­facturing, 38.6% in the wholesale, retails,hotels and restaurants, and 34.2% in finance,insurance, real estate and business services.

TABLE IPercentage distribution of women's

employment by industry

Industry 1980 1985 1990

Agriculture & Forestry 39.0 38.4 34.4

Mining & Quarrying 10.3 10.5 12.9

Manufacturing 40.1 43.1 46.4

Electricity, Gas & Water 7.5 3.4 6.9

Contruction 7.1 5.6 4.3

Wholesale & Retail Trade,Hotel & Restaurants 29.3 37.7 38.6

Transport, Storage &Communications 6.3 10.4 11.1

Finance, Insurance,Real Estate &Business Services 29.5 35.1 34.2

Community, Social& Personal Services 29.4 36.8 37.9

Average % Distribution 32.7 34.6 35.0

Source: Sixth Malaysia Plan, 1991-95 (1991: 463)

The participation of women in modernbusiness could be traced from the period ofwomen's involvement in the cooperativemovement in the nineteen fifties & sixties.Manderson (1980) reports on the prolifera­tion of cooperatives established by "womenfor women" to meet their credi t. The

establishment of these organisations reflectthe inacccessability to credit and loan facilitieswhich were faced by women entrepreneurs.

O'Brien (1983) noted that many womenresorted to self-employment in small scaletrades, services and industries. In PeninsularMalaysia in 1970, 18% of the female labourwas classified as "own-account workers" and2.3% as employers; and 13% were engaged as'working proprietors of wholesale and retailtrade' .

A study on the profile of Malay womenentrepreneurs in Kuala Lumpur (FatimahDaud, 1975) found that most of them were inthe 35-44 age group, were married, camefrom large families and were eldest in rank,and were housewives before they started theirbusinesses. They were motivated by theprospects of better income and receivedencouragement from their husbands. Major­ity of them were involved in hawking,retailing and wholesaling because thesebusinesses did not require large capital onskilled manpower and were less risky.

The available studies in Malaysia andelsewhere point to a conclusion that womenentrepreneurs encountered many other pro­blems apart from those already mentioned.Example, management technicalities such asobtaining lines of credi t, lack of skilled labour,and lack of knowledge in marketing, financialplanning and business training. In addition,they also had to strike a balance betweentheir personal life and career (Md. Zabid andFariza 1992).

In the United Kingdom, Allen andTruman (1993) found that restricted accessto capital and collateral remains a key barrierfor women to achieve financial security. Afurther constraint on women's business acti­vity is that of sectoral segregation. Through­out the world, women entrepreneurs are mostlikely active in food production, nutrition,health and child care industries.

A study by Sco tt ( 1986) in GeorgiaUnited States, revealed that about 40% ofthe women entrepreneurs perceived that itwould be easier to borrow money if they weremen. The same percentage of respondentsalso reported that balancing the needs ofbusiness and family. was their grea tes t

2 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. I, 1996

Gender Needs Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs

problem. (Stevenson 1986). Other problemscited were.the lack of skills in record-keeping,advertising and sales promotion.

Gender Needs and Women Entrepreneurs

The term gender refers to the socially definedroles, resources and responsibilities of menand women as they relate to one another(Whitehead 1971; Murray Li 1993). It isdifferent from the term sex which is derivedfrom biological characteristics of being maleand female. The term gender relationsemerges to distinguish social relations be­tween men and women, and are based on twoassumptions. First, the problems faced bywomen are not caused by women per se, butas a result of the relations between men andwomen in the social system. Second, it isassumed that the roles of men and women areactually complementary, while in fact it is notalways the case. Since men and women havedifferent roles and responsibilities, they usedifferent approaches in getting access toresources and facilities relevant to theirneeds. Gender needs are those that women(or men for that matter) may develop byvirtue of their social positioning and functionsthrough gender attributes (Moser 1993).

One way to fulfill the strategic genderneeds of women entrepreneurs is by solvingproblems they face on the basis of they 'beinga woman' and in lacking the requiredbusiness skills. The most significant problemhowever is meeting the demands of familyresponsibilities and career (which in mostresearch is the least important of problemsmentioned by men entrepreneurs). Genderneeds should also be identified. Womenentrepreneurs be-have differently from menin terms of mana-ging and leading theirenterprises (Helgesen 1990). Their personal­ity characteristics, business needs, strengthsand weaknesses as business individuals aredifferent and this study attempted to verifysome of these differences.

MEmODOLOGY

Data collection was conducted by using a setof questionnaires. The respondents wereasked about their personal and entrepreneur-

al characteristics such as type of enterprise,length of involvement, workers employed,types of business ownership, total sales andpaid-up capital and their reasons for goinginto business. They were also asked abouttheir perceptions on various gender-relatedstatements based on a five-point intervalscale, ranging from strongly disagree (1) tostrongly agree (5).

The questionnaires were sent by mail to96 women entrepreneurs in the Klang Valley.The mailing lists were obtained from theNational Entrepreneur Centre of the Ministryof Public Enterprise, and the MalaysianWomen's Development Institute (IKWAM).They were registered under these institutionsas entrepreneurs and had attended trainingand received advisory services from theinstitutions. A total of 33 respondents(34.4%) returned the questionnaires.

Women entrepreneurs' profile and needsderived from this study were compared,wherever necessary, with those of men foundin the literature. The data were analysed inthe SPSS-Windows programme. The reali­ability test was conducted for the perceptionson gender needs items and the reliabilitycoefficient was reasonably high at 0.8531.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data below shows that women entrepre­neurs were engaged in a wide range ofservice-oriented business, the most commonwas retailing (66.7%). These include tailor­ing, direct selling, mini-market and restau­rant, and selling computer products as well aspharmaceutical goods. Next category ofactivities were professional services whichinclude training, consultancy and counsel­ling, advertising and travel agencies (36.4%);manufacturing (21.2%); and business inwholesale accounted for 9.1 %. Other busi­nesses include boutique and beauty saloon,and stockbroking (12.1%).

It was also interesting to note that 10women entrepreneurs were engaged in twodifferent types of business activities and threehad three different types of business activities.

About 45% of the respondents had salesabove RM350,000 per annum and about

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. I, 1996 3

Maimunah Ismail

* Frequencies and percentages are non-additive dueto multiple responses of a respondent.

Reasons for Starting Business

Reasons for starting business were theopportunity to increase income (66.7%),and the freedom of having control over their

equal percentages (27.3 %) had sales In therange of RMIOO,OOO - RM350,000 and thatof below RMIOO,OOO. 60.6% had a paid-upcapital of RMIOO,OOO and below; while therest (39.4%) had total paid-up capital ofmore than RM 100,000. In terms of employ­ees, more than three-quarters had 10 staff andbelow, while 15.2% had 11 to 25 staff. Threeenterprises had 45, 52 and 73 employeesrespectively. The enterprises comprised ofproducing transformers engine and hydrau­lic oil; home and office furniture, andprocessing burger and meat products. Own­ership of the businesses 51.5% were privatelimited, 30.3% sole proprietorships and18.2% were partnerships. In terms of lengthof involvement in the business, the dataindicated that 57.6% of the enterprises wereless than five years old; 18.2% were six to tenyears old, 12.2% were 16 to 20 years old and9.0% were 11 to 15 years old. One tailoringen terprise had more than 20 years ofinvolvement. Table 3 summarises the profileof the women enterprises.

Table 4 summarises the demographiccha-racteristics of respondents. Their meanage was 39.6 years, 75.8% were married, andabout 75.8% had less than three children.About half of the respondents had tertiary edu­cation (degree and diploma), 27.3% schoolcertificates and more than half of them werefrom families with business background.

TABLE 2Types of business activity

Activity Frequency*(1 = 33)

Retail Services 28Professional Services 12Manufacturing 7Wholesale 3Others 4

Percent*

66.736.421.2

9.112.1

working lives (42.4 %). About one third ofthe respondents (30.3 %) said that owning abusiness is the best way for a woman tomain tain both domestic and career roles.24.2% said they wanted a more rewardingjob and 21.2% said they enjoyed the personalautonomy it game them. The above datasuggests that economic reason is the mostmotivating factor to the women entrepre­neurs. This gave them a better income,economic independence and better workingenvironment. This in general reflects thedesire to have more control over theirworking lives. The need for greater indepen­dence suggests that the motivating force wasnot directly related to material needs alonebut other intrinsic reasons such as personalautonomy and self-interest. For the unem­ployed (e.g. full housewife), involvement insmall business is stimulating because it gives

TABLE 3Characteristics of women-owned enterprises

Item Frequency Percent( = 33)

Total SalesLess than RM 100,000 9 27.3RM 100,000-RM 350,000 9 27.3More than RM 350,000 15 45.4

Total Paid-up CapitalLess than RM 50,000 II 33.3RM 50,000-RM 100,000 9 27.3More than RM 100,000 13 39.4

Total EmployeesLess than 10 25 75.8II - 25 5 15.2More than 25 3 9.0(x = 11.2)

Types of Ownership

Sale proprietor 10 30.3Partnership 6 18.2Private Limited 17 51.5

Age of Business (years)I - 5 19 57.66 - 10 6 18.2II - 25 3 9.016 - 20 4 12.2More than 20 I ·3.0(x = 7.33)

4 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. I, 1996

Gender Needs Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs

them the satisfaction of working within theirhouseholds.

TABLES 4Demographic characteristics of women

entrepreneurs

Problems Encountered by Women Entrepreneurs

Only one-third of the respondents mentioned

Previous Job Experience

About one-third of the women entrepreneurshad previous administrative experience(administrators, managers and clerks).Other previous job experience was in secre­tarial, education, finance and public relationssectors.

30.324.215.212.19.19.16.06.0

24.221.2

6.16.13.03.0

66.742.430.324.2

Percent*

108543322

Frequency Percent

TABLE 6Previous job experience

that they were very satisfied with theircurrent status of business. The large majoritystated they were fairly satisfied with theirpresent business.

On the problems they face, twentyrespondents cited financial-related difficul­ties as their greatest problem (60.6%). Thisincludes access to credit facilities, largeamount of capital or investment needed,financial management, difficulty in obtain­ing contracts and high rate of rent of businesspremises. Nineteen respondents found diffi­culties handling human resources needs(57.6%) such as high turnover rate, un­skilled workers, lack of discipline and com­mitment in work among the workers and lackof manpower. Other problems were lack ofdistribution outlets and limited networking

* Frequencies and percentages are non-additive dueto multiple responses of a respondent.

AdministrationBusinessHousewifeSecretarialEducationFinancePublic RelationsOthers (doctor and technician)

Areas

TABLES 5Reasons for starting business

Reason Frequency*(N = 33)

Opportunity toincrease income 22

Freedom 14Flexibility 10Interested 8To escape from insecure and

low-paid occupations 8Personal autonomy 7Challenging career 2Family tradition 2Assisting husband IShift to a new career I

Frequency Percent(N = 33)

Age (years)20 - 30 5 15.231 - 40 12 36.341 - 50 15 45.551 and above I 3.0

(x = 39.6)

Marital StatusMarried 25 75.8Single (unmarried/widow

divorced) 8 24.2

Number of Children0 6 18.2

1-3 19 57.6

4-6 7 21.2

7 - 9 I 3.0

(x = 24)

Educational AttainmentDegree and higher II 33.3

Diploma 8 24.2Higher School Certificate I 3.0

School Certificate 9 27.3Lower Certificate of Education

and below 2 6.1

o response 2 6.1

Family BackgroundFamily involved in business 18 54.6

Lived in big town 13 39.4

Lived in small town 4 12.2

From village 10 30.3

No exposure in business 7 21.2

Characteris tics

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Maimunah Ismail

TABLE 7Problems encountered by women entrepreneurs

TABLE 8T-value for total sale by category of business

Problems Frequency* Percent* Variable N Mean t-value p

* Frequencies and percentages are non-additive

Perception on Gender Needs

In this study, gender needs are defined as theprioritised concerns that women entrepre­neurs have to fulfill. Table 9 presents theresults of perception ofrespondents on genderneeds. The items are arranged and ranked

(21.2%), lack of support from governmentagencies (12.1 %), price fluctuation (9.1 %),lack of business contacts (6.1 %) and lack In

skills and experience in their respectivebusinesses (6.1%).

Table 8 gives results of t-test analysis onwomen's total sales in two business categories:women's traditional business and male-domi­nated business and any significant differencecategories of business. Women's traditionalbusinesses refer to food processing andmanufacturing, tailoring, boutique, restau­rant and canteen, beauty saloon and directselling. While male-dominated businessesrefer to other businesses which include retailservices in mini-market and wholesale, pro­fessional services in training and consultancy,medical and counselling electrical and en­gineering, telecommunication consultancy,sales of computer and sports equipment andstockbroking. Both t-tests results producenonsignificant t-values. This shows that thereis no significant difference in mean of totalsales between entrepreneurs in women'straditional businesses and those of male­dominated.

Category of BusinessWomen's Traditional

Business 14 214285.7-2.5 0.338

19 359210.5Male-Dominated

Business

according to values of mean of each item. Thehighest needs as perceived by the respondentsin descending order were as follows: betterexposure in entrepreneurship (4.727), skillstraining in planning, financial and businessmanagement (4.697), mentoting system forguidance and access to career counselling(4.485), networking and formation of associa­tion (4.394), better access to credit (4.364),more active involvement in male-dominatedbusiness (4.364), shared ownership of housebetween spouses (4.091), and provision ofcreche or nursery facilities (4.061).

Next, the need for partnership betweenspouses and the need for property ownership.Categorised under joint entrepreneurship was(3.818), joint-credit between husband andwife (3.697), and ownership of businessaccount (3.364). The location of nurserynear to wife's business premise (3.697) wasseen as one of women entrepreneurs' genderneeds. The last group of items which wereconsidered least important by the womenentrepreneurs were matters pertaining toproperty ownership with spouses.

Three major needs that could be con­cluded from Table 9 are first, needs which aregenerated from the situation of "women"themselves being the business owners. Theseare actually related to difficulties or problemsfaced more by women entrepreneurs com­pared to men. Second, needs valuing partner­ship between spouses in business. They areshown by items 7th to 12th in the rank. Thelast category of needs refers to concerns leastneeded in their business. Example, wantingownership of business to be under thehusband. It is clear that most do not havethese needs as the conditions perpetuate oreven make worse the condition of women

20 60.619 57.67 21.26 18.2

4 12.13 9.13 9.12 6.1

2 6.16 18.8

FinancialHuman resourceMarketingCompetitionLack of support from

development agenciesPrice fluctuationSpace/premiseBusiness contactLack of knowledge, skills

and experienceOthers

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Gender Needs Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs

TABLE 9Results of respondents' perception on needs

Mean Std.Need

Better exposure in entreprenuershipSkills training in planning, management, accounting, etc.Mentoring system for guidance and access to career

counsellingNetworking and formation of associationBetter access to creditMore active involvement in male-dominated businessShared ownership of houseCreche/nursery facilitiesJoint-type of entrepreneurshipCreche/nursey facilities to be near to own place

of workCredit to be under husband and wife's nameBusiness account to be jointly ownedCredit to be under own name onlySeparate business account between husband and wifeBusiness ownership under own nameHouse ownership under own nameCreche/nursery facilities to be near to husband's place

of workBusiness account to be under own nameCredit to be under husband's nameEntrepreneurship to be under husband's nameBusiness account to be under husband's nameHouse ownership to be under husband's name

4-.7274-.697

4-.4-854-.394­4-.364­4-.364­4-.0914-.0613.818

3.6973.5763.364­2.9092.6972.54-52.333

2.3032.2732.1521.54-51.5151.4-85

Dev. Rank

0.4-52 I0.4-67 2

0.566 30.966 4-0.962 51.084- 61.0II 71.116 81.334- 9

1.723 101.582 111.729 121.608 131.776 14-1.822 151.963 16

1.667 171.892 181.395 191.227 201.326 211.372 22

entrepreneurs in terms of securing economicindependence, personal autonomy, workingflexibility and hence, role and control overtheir business endeavour. The data showsthat the field of entrepreneurship and busi­ness should be made open to everyone, maleor female. For early exposure entrepreneur­ship should be taught in school withoutgender bias and it should be inculcated inthe curriculum that entrepreurship and smallbusiness ownership are attractive options formen as well as for women.

Many studies have indicated that femaleentrepreneurs, are weak in business manage­ment skills (Hisrich and Brush 1984; Md.Zabid and Fariza, 1992) as shown by thisstudy. Training in business management wascited as the second most important needamong the entrepreneurs. Several reasonscould explain why the respondents need thetraining in order to upgrade their business

management skills. First, only one-fifth of therespondents had previous job experience inbusiness. Majority of them were employees inthe administrative (middle level), educationor secretarial fields. Some were housewives.Second, almost two-third of the womenentrepreneurs have been involved in businessless than five years, and only about half ofthem come from families with business back­ground. This indicates their inadequateexperience in business operations and thespecific skills in business management. Thesewomen entrepreneurs may not yet have theconfidence in management skills and this willinhibit them from succeeding. Anotherimportant need expressed by the respondentsis mentoring system for guidance and coun­selling. This is consistent with other studiesconducted abroad (Hisrich and Brush 1984;Olson and Curfie 1992). Mentoring couldexpose new women entrepreneurs to the

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No.1, 1996 7

Maimunah Ismail

successful female entrepreneurs as role mo­dels to build up their confidence and be asource of inspiration to them.

Another parallel need is the setting up ofinformal and formal networking amongwomen entrepreneurs which was cited as thefourth priority among the respondents. Awomen's network would be very useful forthem to have wider business institutionalsupport system to acquire business informa­tion such as available apportunities andtrainings. In general, they felt that themshould be more active involvement of womenin businesses that have been dominated bymales. This is supported by the results of thet-test which shows no significant difference intotal sales between business traditionallyowned by women and in business tradition­ally associated with males. The fact that thereare more women involved in male-dominatedbusiness today than before means that thescope of business for women have beenexpanded beyond the confines of the tradi­tional female businesses. With the country ismoving into industrialisation, the number ofmodern businesses which had previously beenmale-dominated are expected to increase andbusinesses such as advertising, banking andfinancing, counselling and training, tourismand travell agencies, sales and servicing, se­curity services, and engineering could attractmore female involvement in the future.

Partnership with spouses is perceived asvital to ensure the growth of the businessowned by women (even though this is per­ceived to be of a lesser need). Firstly, husbandare compelled to become involved in thebusiness because financial institutions oftenrequire the husbands to negotiate or co-signthe wife's business loan. Secondly, women toensure business strength and security in termsof getting clients, establishing networking andbusiness contacts. Thirdly, women probablyfeel that involving husbands as businesspartners would ensure a stable marital statusby having similar or related business or rathersimilar business goals. The factor that is leastcrucial is the need to have single ownership,i.e. in credit, business acrunts, proprietorship,or even house ownership. This means thatwomen entrepreneurs prefer to have control

over their properties and business ventures.

CONCLUSIONS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

The present study concludes that majority ofthe women entrepreneurs are involved inretail services, professional services andmanufacturing. About 45% of the respon­dents have sales above RM 350,000 perannum, about 61 % have a paid capital ofRM 100,000 per annum and below. About70% have less than 10 employees; 52% havebusiness of private limited; and 58% havebeen involved in business for less than fiveyears.

The mean age ot respondents is 39.6years, with 76% of them being married withchildren. A total of 58 % of them have highereducation with diploma on higher degrees invarious disciplines. Two-thirds of the respon­dents mentioned that they joined businessprimarily for economic reasons such as theopportunity to increse income and to escapefrom relatively insecure and low-paid occu­pations, to have control over their workinglives and to balance both domestic andbusiness roles. Also mentioned were non­economic factors such as personal autonomyand self-interest. There is no significantdifference in performance however, betweenwomen entrepreneurs involved in women'stradi tional business and those in male­dominated business.

The most important need expressed bythe women entrepreneurs was more exposurein business as they were relatively weak inmanagerial skills compared to men, andwanted therefore better access to acquire therelated skills. Women entrepreneurs also,need mentoring for guidance and careercounselling, stronger networking, better ac­cess to credit lines, and active involvement inmale-donated business. The future scenario inMalaysia will be the proliferation of morebusinesses in various industries, and thatmeans more opportunities for skilled women.

This study provides insigh ts in to thevarious women business in Malaysia, andthe issues affecting women entrepreneurship.Established women organisations can play animportant role in assisting the women

8 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. I, 1996

Gender Needs Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs

en trepreneurs in acq uiring business skills,information and advisory services, and net­working. Banks and financial institutionsshould also be more flexible or sensitive tothe financial needs of women entrepreneurs.The setting up of the Ministry of Entrepre­neurs Development recen tly reflects thestrong concern of the government and thepublic on development of entrepreneurs. It ishoped, that, with the various programmesformulated by the Ministry and womenorganisations, the participation of womenentrepreneurs in the overall national devel­opment could be enhanced.

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FATIMAH DAUD. 1975. Penyertaan wanitabumiputera dalam perniagaan dan perusa­haan di Kuala Lumpur. Master's Disserta­tion, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

HELGESEN, SALLY. 1990. The Female Advantage:Women's Ways oj Leadership. New York:Doubleday Currency.

HISRICH, R.D. and C. BRUSH. 1986. Character­istics of the minority entrepreneurs. Journal ojSmall Business Management, October: I - 8.

MANDERSON, L. 1980. A women's place: Malaywomen and developmen t in PeninsularMalaysia. In Issues in Malaysian Development.eds. J. Jackson and Martin Rudner. Singa­pore: Heinemann.

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MOORE, DOROTHY P. 1990. An Examination ofpresent research on the female entrepreneur ­suggested research strategies for the 1990's.Journal oj Business Ethics. 275-281.

OLSON, SHIRLEY F. And HELEN M. CURRIE.1992. Female entrepreneurs: personal valuesystems and business strategies in a male­dominated industry. Journal of Small BusinessManagement, January: 9-57.

O'BRIEN, L. 1983. Four paces behind: women'swork in Peninsular Malaysia. In Women'sWork and Women's Roles, eds. L. Manderson.The Australian National University, Deve­lopment Studies Centre, Monograph No. 32.

SCOTT, CAROLE E. 1986. Why more women arebecoming en trepreneurs. Journal of SmallBusiness Management, October: 37 - 44.

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(Received 14 February 1995)

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