The Challenges of Growing Small Businesses - International Labour ...

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egulations. There is no recognized status of “actively moving towards compliance”, and yet the WED research showed that many women were building towards legalizing their business and improving the terms, conditions and rights of their workers. Although not part of the research approach, it would also be useful to see if there are any differences in behaviour, formalization and compliance between women and men entrepreneurs. From the research it would appear to be useful for those legislating as well as the women themselves, if it were possible to have some form of incremental steps towards compliance. This could be provided through officials acting as advisors and facilitators, alongside their role of reinforcement. In Tanzania there was evidence that this was happening on an informal basis with some officials and women entrepreneurs reporting that over a period of months they had moved from being “illegal” to being licensed. It could be argued that this is not a gender specific issue for women alone but one that applies to many MSEs. Nevertheless within this issue there is a gender dimension, which concerns time mobility and women’s ability to spend the time away from her business and her family responsibilities in order to visit the appropriate authorities, to get the appropriate paperwork, and to fulfil the licensing requirements. This time constraint is further exacerbated when faced with the unhelpful and often discriminatory attitudes of officials, as well as the perception among some male family members of a woman’s business being a hobby, or even as a distraction from household roles. (v) Harassment by government officials. The ease with which MSEs can operate their businesses is also affected by the attitudes of government officials and staff from support institutions, and how they view the “acceptability” and “credibility” of women in business. The preliminary research reports showed that MSEs owned by both women and men are open to harassment by registration and licensing officials, especially tax officers. In the WED primary research, most of the women reported minimal problems related to formalization, but there were examples cited where women entrepreneurs faced various forms of physical and sexual harassment from the officials concerned. Moreover, there is a gender dimension to this harassment, in that women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment by these (largely) male officials. Furthermore, sometimes the women are not protected by their community when such actions occur, since others in the community do not support the idea that women should be in business. As one woman entrepreneur noted, being in business was perceived as almost being a prostitute, so why should they be supported or protected. 5.4 The socio/cultural and economic context The impact of society, community and family attitudes to women in business can be seen as both constraining and motivating factors for the further development of women as business owners. Attitudes in societies are always changing, and the fact that the research revealed there are so many women running formal and substantial businesses is a positive indication in itself. Only a minority of the women interviewed had experienced a lack of support or negative reactions from their family about going into business – although it should be acknowledged that many of those facing significant opposition would probably not be in business anyway! Having said this, many of the women felt that their broader community and society as a whole were not supportive of MSEs, and were especially negative about women being in business. This was evidenced by incidences where suppliers would only contract with the male spouse, and where officials felt it was permissible to harass women entrepreneurs – a clear case of gender-based discrimination that women entrepreneurs confront. Much needs to be done to assist in fostering attitudinal change, for example, by showing ways in which the family can be a positive asset for successful business development. Current discussions about the role of the family in women’s business tend to be couched in negative and constraining terms – the spouse being disapproving and controlling; women being constrained by family duties, etc. 72
However, as this WED research has shown, many of the women entrepreneurs have largely succeeded with the support of their families, as do most entrepreneurs as a whole. They also acknowledge the crucial importance and value of this support. The promotion of role models of good practice could also contribute to a more positive and supportive context. In this respect, role model families – including male spouses, children or in-laws – can be highlighted, emphasizing their contribution to women’s business development. Most importantly for this initiative to have greatest impact, it is critical that the voices of supportive family members, especially males in the family, should be captured and used for influencing others. 5.5 Summary Some of the key themes and issues raised from and by the research have been presented above, and they reveal a number of new perspectives on women’s entrepreneurship in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia that might also be applied in a wider African context. The next section presents some of the key recommendations put forward from the research and stakeholder consultations, for the further development of women entrepreneurs in the three study countries. 73
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SEED Working Paper No. 47 Series on
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Foreword The ILO’s Programme on B
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Table of contents Foreword ........
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5.2.2 Abilities, skills, and experi
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Executive summary This report provi
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Acronyms AEMFI BDS CSA CSO COMESA E
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WED WED Study WEDAZ WEPC WEDGE ZCSM
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The Gender lexicon Gender was taken
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1. Introduction and background 1.1
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1.2 Aims and objectives In associat
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Phase Two (July-Oct 2002) Workshop
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• The Enterprise Level, as relate
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• The Enabling Environment for En
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(ii) Degree of Formality Another ch
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1.4 The Structure of the report Thi
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The lack of up-to-date and comprehe
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employees, marketing and resources,
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eluctant to make legal agreements w
Page 37 and 38: Most of the existing research would
Page 39 and 40: promotional activities, may be ques
Page 41 and 42: Tanzania, the Women and Gender Deve
Page 43 and 44: Throughout the preliminary reports,
Page 45 and 46: 3. Jobs, gender and enterprise in A
Page 47 and 48: • In Tanzania, there was a greate
Page 49 and 50: 4. Profiles of women entrepreneurs
Page 51 and 52: networking skills for business. Ind
Page 53 and 54: Table 6: The primary reasons given
Page 55 and 56: Table 7: Type of business by sector
Page 57 and 58: This reliance on personal sources o
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Page 61 and 62: 4.4.2 Why formalize? The women entr
Page 63 and 64: Table 13: Forms of business develop
Page 65 and 66: employment practices, signs of impr
Page 67 and 68: Table 16: Number of employees at st
Page 69 and 70: premises, and this factor constrain
Page 71 and 72: cent of women able to name credit a
Page 73 and 74: oth. Those who were members were po
Page 75 and 76: their time is already constrained b
Page 77: In Tanzania the research acknowledg
Page 80 and 81: Figure 12: Ingredients for a succes
Page 82 and 83: men business owners surrounding the
Page 84 and 85: and also help to diversify risks; a
Page 86 and 87: (iii) Attitudes to collateral One m
Page 90 and 91: 6. Key recommendations from the Nat
Page 92 and 93: oadly similar in nature and focus,
Page 94 and 95: appropriate services that are desig
Page 96 and 97: - Are sometimes regarded as “mino
Page 98 and 99: addressed effectively with positive
Page 100 and 101: Abdulahi, Hayat (1997): “Constrai
Page 102 and 103: Economic Commission for Africa (ECA
Page 104 and 105: Hulme, D. and Mosley P. (1998): Mic
Page 106 and 107: Maliyamkono, T. L. and Bagachwa, M.
Page 108 and 109: Oyhus, A. O. (1999): “The importa
Page 110 and 111: Temu, S. S. (1997): Financing and I
Page 112 and 113: Wangwe, S.M. (1993): “Small and m
Page 114 and 115: Identify ways in which Governments,
Page 116 and 117: Elements impacting on successful mi
Page 118 and 119: 1.3 The research approach The WED S
Page 120 and 121: Market access and developing BDS (a
Page 122 and 123: III. IV. Special efforts should be
Page 124 and 125: II. III. IV. Women entrepreneurs an
Page 126 and 127: 110 V. As women experience particul
Page 128 and 129: Access to resources and finance (a)
Page 130 and 131: 114
Page 132 and 133: 22. “Ajuste Local à Globalizaç
Page 134: 59. “Facilitating Youth Entrepren
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