Building an Ecosystem for Gender-Responsive and Climate-Resilient MSMEs in India

After agriculture, MSME is the principal sector employing female labor force in India. Despite commitments and policies that seek to improve women’s representation in MSMEs, currently only 20.37% MSMEs are owned and operated by women, and they form about 24% of the total MSME workforce.

Women owned MSMEs are often informal in nature, making access to timely investments and resources a major challenge, exacerbating their vulnerability to climate change, and limiting their opportunities to invest in newer and cleaner technologies. Moreover, implementing strategies to counter climate change, is likely to result in new jobs. Reskilling women workers who are already in employed in the MSME to adopt, adapt, and apply best practices and providing relevant skills to women entering the workforce is essential to ensure sustainability. Increasing women’s share in MSME sector is essential to harness equitable economic gains and facilitate social transformation at scale.

This conference proceedings provide insights into diverse strategies by various stakeholders to support female entrepreneurs and workers in adapting to energy transitions and to strengthen their resilience to climate change.

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