Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 1

Volume XXII Issue I Version I 22 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Women Entrepreneurs: An Analysis from Socio-Economic Perspective in Rangpur City Corporation, Bangladesh reconstructing their livelihoods, with adverse conditions such as limited access to financial services. Gender- based violence is also on the rise, as women are forced to live with their abusers while their families struggle financially. Then there are the concerns surrounding the pandemic's reaction. Approximately 243 million women are believed to have been sexually or physically abused by an intimate partner in the previous year. Many of these ladies have been stuck with their abuser for a long time. Domestic abuse reports increased by 30% in the first week after France imposed its curfew. It happened in dozens of other nations as well. According to Muhammad et al. (2021), the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had significant economic consequences, placing women businesses at danger of losing revenue and sales growth. The pandemic has presented another another danger to women-owned enterprises, in addition to the socioeconomic and cultural restraints that women face. Because these firms are unstable, necessity-driven, and suffer various societal/institutional limitations, the impact on women entrepreneurs in the informal sector demands special consideration. Watanabe & Omori (2020) stated that people who used both the offline and internet markets in Japan before the pandemic converted to just utilizing the online market because to the COVID-19. This can be a crucial factor for flourishing women entrepreneurship in Japan. According to James and Navaneethakrishnan (2020), in Sri Lanka, minimizing approaches and modalities to mitigate COVID-19 have come at a great financial and societal cost, and have severely harmed SMEs, due to the scarcity of raw material, a decrease in both international and domestic sales and services, troubles in repaying loans and interest, termination of orders, a severe cash deficit (inflows) and lack of cash reserves (even problems with salary and energy costs), financial limitations regarding recalling the employees to work, and the expense of minimizing workplace accidents is significant. COVID-19 tactics, lack of fresh orders, and so forth. According to Wenham et al (2020), global closures to control the spread of the coronavirus may have had a compounding effect on women's physical and psychological health, as they were burdened with additional caregiving responsibilities in addition to other household chores, with little to no support from male family members. Hossain and Rahman, (1999), Chowdhury (2000) and Tambunan (2009) confers that women in Bangladesh are more vulnerable to illiteracy, deprivation, lack of information, disorganized, powerless or underrepresented political representation, inflexible social conventions, and mistreatment by their male counterparts. These obstacles must be eliminated in order for women's entrepreneurship to thrive. Haidar & Akhtar (1999) stated that women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh have gone a long way in breaking down the barriers of societal norms and stereotypes that have kept women out of business, even though in the beginning they merely worked for survival. Sultana (2012) stated that in Bangladesh, women entrepreneurs are mostly associated with SMEs "due to their access to finance, funding capital through SME loans, and other supportive programs by the government and other bodies". They also possess lack of information needed to assess the risk of doing business, which is a significant determinant of women's entrepreneurial growth (Rahman, Hossain, & Miah, 2000). Based on the literature reviewed thus far, it is clear that much more research on women's formal and informal entrepreneurship, particularly the problems and responsibilities of women's enterprises in emerging economies, is required. The pandemic has unveiled a novel challenge to women-owned enterprises, in addition to the socioeconomic limits that women suffer. This study is concerned to find the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 on women entrepreneurs in Rangpur City Corporation, Bangladesh. V. C onceptual F ramework This portion offers a conceptual framework to show how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the socio-economic conditions of women entrepreneurs in Rangpur City Corporation Arena. Entrepreneurship can be defined as the process of using private initiatives to transform a business concept into a new venture or to grow or diversify an existing venture or enterprise. Women entrepreneurs can be defined as women running their own enterprises within the formal or informal sector. Women's entrepreneurship has an important influence on their social position, economic empowerment, social equality, self-reliance, gender equality, and self- inspiration. At the same time, it has a substantial socioeconomic impact since it enables women to generate more income for their families, achieve economic independence, increase employment for themselves and others, and expedite the economic growth process (Al-Hossienie, 2011). Women's entrepreneurship is influenced by factors such as the source of finance, the initial investment, training, gender, education, age, the longevity of the enterprise, and monthly revenues (Karim, 2001). To prevent the spread of infection, the authorities enforced a countrywide lockdown. A multiplier impact has resulted from the pandemic and its corresponding lockdowns. Women and girls are frequently the ones who bear the brunt of all of this, since they are hampered by gender and economic inequities, as well as deeply ingrained social