PROMOTION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN

Transcription

1 * fit UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA NATIONS UNIES COMMISSION ECONOMIQUE POUR L'AFRIQUE MULTINATIONAL PROGRAMMING AND OPERATIONAL CENTRE (ECA/MULPOC) FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA Distr. LIMITED ECA/MULPOC/LUS/ICE/IV/9 February, 1997 Original: ENGLISH FOURTH MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS (ICE) MARCH, 1997 PRETORIA, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

2 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 ABBREVIATIONS BEDCO ECA Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation Economic Commission for Africa FHHS Female Household Heads IMF International Monetary Fund IGO Intergovernmental Organization NGO Non-Governmental Organization SAP SADC UNDP Structural Adjustment Programme Southern Africa Development Community United Nations Development Programme

3 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION 1 II DEFINITION AND OVERVIEW 3 (a) Definition 3 (b) Overview 3 III A SELECTION OF CASE STUDIES ON EFFORTS OF MEMBER STATES TO PROMOTE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP 7 (a) Lesotho 7 (b) Malawi 8 (c) South Africa 10 (d) Zambia 13 (e) Zimbabwe 14 IV SUGGESTED STRATEGIES OF INTERVENTION TO ENHANCE PROMOTION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 17 (a) Criteria 17 (b) Options for Intervention Strategies 18 (c) Agents and means of Intervention 21 V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 22 (a) Conclusions 22 (b) Recommendations 23 TABLES 1. Regional differences - key indicators Women as a percentage of income brackets Percentage Controlling Resources by sec-- 16 FIGURES 1. Distribution of Proprietors by sex 5 2. Sexes in the Informal Sector 6

4 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 I. INTRODUCTION The global concern on the status of women dates as far back as 1946 when the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was established to monitor the situation of women and to promote womens status. Since then, a number of global and regional initiatives that have impacted upon the political, socio-economic and cultural status of women in Africa have been launched. First and foremost was the United Nations Decade for Women covering the period which was to be devoted to effective and sustained national, regional and international action to implement the World Plan of Action and related resolutions. It will also be recalled that in 1979, the United Nations adopted the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In July 1985, the Third World Conference on Women was held in Nairobi, Kenya, to mark the end of the women's Decade. It is at this conference where Member States adopted the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women up to the year At the Regional level, several regional conferences on Women in Development have taken place between 1975 and 1996 with various objectives ranging from implementation of the World Plan of Action and to prepare for the subsequent World Conference on Women. Moreover, there are other milestones that have focused on the Political, Socio-Economic and Cultural status of women in Africa which include the Lagos Plan of Action; The Kilimanjaro Programme of Action on Population and Self-Reliant Development; The African Charter on Popular Participation and Transformation and the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, among others. inspite of all these global and regional initiatives focused on women, Women in Africa, and indeed in Southern Africa have continued to lag behind men with respect to participation in various socio-economic development programmes. Inspite of women

5 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 Page 2 being in majority (51%), in Southern Africa, they suffer from abject poverty largely emanating from discriminatory tendencies of such programmes. Moreover, the recurrent crises such as droughts, civil wars and other political conflicts have affected women more than men due to some negative practices emanating from traditional, cultural/ religious and additional constraints (ECA, 1994). ECA has recorded an increase in the female headed households in Africa as well as the rural urban migration. It is also on record that Women form a large percentage of refugees and displaced persons in the continent. The number of women with HIV infections outnumber men by 6 to 5 in most African countries, with the economic and social consequences being felt by elderly women who look after the sick and orphans. Among the guidelines of the Nairobi Forward-Booking Strategies as adopted at the Third World Conference were (a) The achievement and accelerating the economic and political emancipation of women at all levels, enabling them as citizens, on an equal footing with men, to participate at the level of decision-making and become active beneficieries of all aspects of national development; and (b) Enhancing the well-being of Women through sustained improvement of their standards of living, Poverty alleviation and the main steaming of gender perspective in respect of development assistance and development plans. This study therefore seeks to address in particular the efforts of member States in enhancing t;he economic emancipation and improving the standards of living of women through the promotion of women entrepreneurship. The data of the study was obtained through a mission to a selected number of member States as well as through a desk study of existing literature on the subject.

6 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 Page 3 After this Introductory Section, section II of the report gives an overview of women entrepreneurship in Southern Africa; while section III gives a selection of case studies on Efforts of Member States to Promote Women Entrepreneurship. Section IV provides suggested strategies of intervention to enhance the promotion of women entrepreneurship while the last section gives the conclusion and recommendations of this study. II DEFINITION AND OVERVIEW {a) Definition The term women entrepreneurship has a rather broad meaning. In the first place, the word entrepreneurship describes the act of undertaking a business venture primarily for profit purposes, although there is also a risk of getting a loss. In otherwords, it describes the person who is in effective control of a commercial undertaking. As an entrepreneur one can engage in a particular business may be as a intermediary or middleman. Secondly, Women entrepreneurship refers to women, be it married, or single, who earn their livelihood by being engaged in income generating activities other than by being employed for a wage. The women may be rural women or urban. They may be operating within the formal sector or informal. (b) Overview The list of activities carried out by women entrepreneurship in Southern Africa is endless and may vary from country to country. In Lesotho for example, the Nation Council for Women has one of its specific objectives, to provide promotion and training and advisory services in income-generation among all women in all skills, e.g.

7 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 Page 4 carpentryspinning home management sewing and knitting tie and dye business management poultry, piggery, rabbitary and animal husbandry agriculture and many other skills. In general, women can participate in all types of business alongside men. However, there are certain areas in which women tend to be more inclined. In a study on " The Status of Women Entrepreneurs in the Informal Sector and Measures for Strengthening their participation", ECA reported that women in Swaziland participated in all areas of business activities except for metal work. However, by comparison, it was found that women were mostly engaged in sewing, knitting and tailoring, followed by fruit and vegetable retailing. Metal work was 100 per cent undertaken by male entrepreneurs. Figure one gives the distribution of male and female entrepreneurs to a selection of entrepreneurs in Swaziland. The situation was somewhat different in Zambia. The same study reported that poultry projects were most popular to women at 71%. This was followed by sheet manufacturing at 50 per cent and tailoring at 20 per cent. Figure two gives a distribution of sexes to entrepreneurs in the informal sector in Zambia. In addressing the development of women entrepreneurship it is important to recognize that these may exist in several categories. First there are women entrepreneurs in the informal and formal sectors. Secondly there are women in the rural and urban areas. In each of these categories the women entrepreneurs will have different problems which need to be addressed specifically. It is imperative that all these categories of women entrepreneurs be encouraged since they do contribute to economic development in one way or another.

8 ECA/MULP0C/LUS/ICE/IV/9 Figure 1: Distribution of Proprietors by Sex Page 5 ft't-t'll I T ' - "^ :->^-<-1j >w> <l --j:- " J " " vwv> -"-"' J.^-^h,'.'^-^-.r---'.-.---^ " '.;.L --V ' ",'.'.'.-.'-' '/.'.'.V..'.-.'J-.'.,^y,.-.'.' -,'..-, '.' ^..-.'.->L-.v:'.'.^ L---r=1 - 'K*:vJ>f?>!:!^^>K->:':-:':':':':'.vX"-:'"+>>>^:%v;-S^: ^':o:'>:o^wf:-:";:":"?s^ :^:: ';?j-""l.:tvv^-;"ij;*^i>^l:-:^l'-:i*^-ij'x'-v: KiflfeSSiSS iiiliiubh^h^iilli lslill«^lpllll Iip:ii iiip m I iiil^i ill Source: UNECA - The Status of Women Enterpreneurs in the Informal Sector (Case study on Swaziland)

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