Relational Resilience and Intergenerational Empowerment: A Qualitative Study of Women Entrepreneurs in Punjab
Abstract
This qualitative study documents the experiences of 57 women entrepreneurs across four districts of Punjab: Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, and Wazirabad, to understand how they navigate social, cultural, and economic challenges within family systems. Semi-structured interviews and eight focus group discussions were carried out with a view to capturing women's motivations, their coping strategies, and the broader impacts of entrepreneurship on household wellbeing. Anchored by concepts from the women's empowerment literature, the Sustainable Livelihoods perspective, and global development goals like SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), the study explores entrepreneurship both as a resilience strategy and as a pathway to family development.
Two main themes emerged from the thematic analysis. These were Relational Resilience and Intergenerational Empowerment. The theme of Relational Resilience reflects how support from husbands, children, mothers-in-law, neighbors, and extended family networks helps women to sustain their businesses in the face of mobility constraints, financial pressures, and cultural expectations. The theme of Intergenerational Empowerment outlines how the income generated by these entrepreneurial women enhances their children's education, health, nutrition, and emotional confidence to create long-term stability for the households.
The study concludes that women's entrepreneurship in Punjab plays a central role in strengthening family wellbeing while operating within patriarchal social structures. These findings emphasize the need for supportive policies, accessible financial resources, childcare and mobility facilitation, and institutional initiatives that promote women-friendly entrepreneurial environments. These contributions deepen understanding of women's entrepreneurship as a socially embedded, developmental process with far-reaching implications for the resilience of families and future generations.
Keywords: Women Entrepreneurs, Punjab, Resilience, Family Empowerment, Qualitative Study
