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Factors influencing the growth of rural female entrepreneurs: a case of Vihiga County, Kenya
Get PDFThe context of this paper will be based upon research investigating the factors influencing the growth of rural female entrepreneurs in Vihiga County, Kenya. Currently, research presents a dominant focus on women’s entrepreneurship as instrumental to sustainable economic growth and poverty alleviation in both developed and developing countries, which is both valued and expected. This body of literature predominantly focusses on making comparisons on performance and growth of women’s businesses vis à vis those of their male counterparts. Often times, female entrepreneurs are regarded as hanging on to the tail end of underperformance as their businesses are labelled as feminine, ‘lifestyle’, smaller, of low growth potential, and less profitable. Some studies focus on the personal characteristics and shortcomings of women themselves to explain the reasons underpinning their enterprises’ stuntedness. However, this view is lopsided and ignores external structural factors constraining their growth.To address the study’s objective of investigating factors influencing the growth of rural female entrepreneurs, a qualitative research methodology is adopted, 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews with female entrepreneurs in two villages - Bunyore and Mbale were conducted. The main findings indicate that socio-cultural factors such as patriarchal structures that define women’s roles and denies them property ownership rights which hinders accessibility to finance are the main factors hindering their growth. Equally, the concept of women-to-women opposition not present in prior literature emerged, revealing that female entrepreneurs face an apparent hostility from fellow women in the community who are not entrepreneurs for defying their culturally assigned role of homemaking
Unmasking patriarchy and coloniality in Kenya’s political regimes: a feminist intersectional analysis of women’s marginalisation
No full textThis chapter explores how the interplay of patriarchy and colonial legacies embedded in political regimes perpetuate gender inequality and the marginalisation of women in Kenya. Using a comparative historical analysis, it examines the context and sequence of institutional mechanisms and processes unfolding across four Kenya’s post-colonial regimes since independence, analysing how women’s socio-economic and political marginalisation is shaped under each regime. The findings reveal that despite regime changes, there is a persistent nature of women’s political and socio-economic marginalisation and gender inequalities across all successive regimes manifested in constrained women’s feminist movements, limited political participation and representation, inadequate gender and women empowerment policies. By applying a feminist intersectionality perspective, the study reveals the interplay of patriarchy systems and post-colonial historical legacies as the structures creating and sustaining women’s marginalisation. Theoretically, the study extends the scope and application of intersectional lens beyond the main analytical constructs of gender, race and class, and contributes to its relevance in contextualising entrepreneurship debate emphasising the interplay of historical context and coloniality in shaping entrepreneurial contexts. The chapter concludes with policy recommendations advocating for the adoption of quota-based strategy beyond tokenism for women’s political representation; gender-sensitive civic education to reshape narratives around women’s leadership, challenge gender bias in politics; and fast tracking institutional and statutory reforms towards the implementation of the ‘two-thirds’ gender rule for achieving gender parity in politics and in socio-economic spheres
Exposing the ‘dark side’ of Jua Kali entrepreneurial spatial contexts: lessons from Rural Kenya
Get PDFThis paper exposes the ‘dark side’ of entrepreneurship by examining the everyday spatial context challenges facing Jua Kali women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya. Jua Kali is a Swahili term, referring to an informal economy whose unlicensed enterprises operate in open-air marketplaces, literally ‘under the hot sun’. This study relies on 40 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Jua Kali women entrepreneurs from Vihiga and Kisumu counties in Kenya and supported by observational evidence captured in fieldwork photographs for illustration purposes. This study shows the major spatial context challenges women face in Jua Kali include forced evictions and marketplace demolitions; lack of proper marketplace infrastructures; illegal leasing of public spaces, physical intimidation, violence and sexual abuse, which undermine their entrepreneurial activity. Interpreted through a feminist intersectionality perspective, the findings reveal how spatial contexts simultaneously intersect with gender and class dynamics, neoliberal urban policy and political powers, patriarchal societal structures, and institutionalised informal arrangements and practices in the Jua Kali marketplaces to disadvantage women entrepreneurs. In a nutshell, these study advances theory and practice by bringing forth an in-depth understanding the everydayness of entrepreneurship and extends critical entrepreneurialism debate on the ‘dark side’ of entrepreneurship that suggests, by itself, informal sector entrepreneurship does not ameliorate the negative effects of subordination and poverty for women in marginalized Global South contexts. Rather it reproduces structural and contextual constraints that trap women in the same old conventional structures of misogyny in rural Kenya
Formal and informal institutional factors influencing rural female entrepreneurs in Western Kenya: a critical exploration
Get PDFResearch affirms that entrepreneurship is institutionally embedded. These institutions are formal and informal, and they define the "rule of the game" that sets boundaries for entrepreneurship. Precisely, the formal institutions are political and economic-related rules, laws and regulations which controls the access to opportunity fields for entrepreneurship. While informal institutions contain uncodified societal norms and attitudes that determine the collective and individual perception of entrepreneurship.Despite this, previous studies on women's entrepreneurship have adopted an individualist approach. These have largely focused on the influence of women's psychological and individual-related factors on their own entrepreneurial activity but underestimate the influence of the underlying external institutional factors at play within their environment. Few studies have investigated the impact of formal and informal institutions on women's entrepreneurship, but the majority of those that do are conducted in western contexts. Yet, these studies do not present the institutional context-specific peculiarities operative in non-western contexts.This research investigates how formal and informal institutional factors influence rural female entrepreneurs in Western Kenya. To achieve the research objective, the study adopts qualitative methodology in which 26 semi-structured individual interviews and one focus group discussion with the rural female entrepreneurs. This is meant to bring to light the ‘lived experiences’ of the female entrepreneurs and how they are influenced by formal and informal institutions within developing countries’ rural context. Thus, this study’s objective and context can be justified as timely and findings. will contribute to scholarship on women’s entrepreneurship that challenges the dominant heroic individualist narrative of entrepreneurship
Formal and informal institutions influencing rural female entrepreneurs in Western Kenya: a critical exploration
Get PDFThis research investigates how formal and informal institutional factors influence rural female entrepreneurs in Western Kenya. Research affirms that entrepreneurship is institutionally embedded. These institutions are formal and informal, and they define the "rules of the game" that sets boundaries for entrepreneurship. Precisely, the formal institutions are political and economic-related rules and regulations which controls the access to opportunity fields for entrepreneurship. While informal institutions contain uncodified societal norms and attitudes that determine the collective and individual perception of entrepreneurship. Despite this, previous studies on women's entrepreneurship have adopted an individualist approach. These have largely focused on the influence of women's psychological and individual-related factors on their own entrepreneurial activity but underestimate the influence of the underlying institutional factors
Examining the everyday entrepreneurial experiences of ‘Jua Kali’ women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya
Get PDFThis paper examines the everyday entrepreneurial experiences of jua kali women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya. Jua kali is a Swahili term that means fierce sunlight, and refers to an informal economy whose unlicenced enterprises operate in open-air marketplaces, literally “under the hot sun”. This qualitative study investigated the everyday work- and care experiences of jua kali women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya. The study drew on observation data captured in fieldwork photographs and in-depth interviews with 40 jua kali women entrepreneurs from Vihiga and Kisumu counties. All data were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, coded in NVivo 12 Pro, and analysed thematically and interpreted through a feminist intersectionality lens. The findings reveal that, due to a lack of childcare support and an absence of social welfare benefits for the elderly, jua kali women are confronted with time–income trade-offs and the unresolved tension of a work–family balance. They negotiate a triple burden of work- and care roles in their everyday experiences, dominated by household chores, childcare, and elderly welfare care roles, as well as subsistence farming work. They also face uncertainty due to sudden evictions and demolitions of marketplaces, and harassment by kanjo (council tax officials). In conclusion, these findings extend critical entrepreneurship research that suggests, by itself, entrepreneurship does not ameliorate the negative effects of subordination for rural women. Rather, it reproduces structural and contextual constraints that trap women in the same old conventional structures of misogyny in rural Kenya
Women’s enterprise policy effects on women entrepreneurs in the informal sector in rural Kenya
Get PDFThis research investigated the influence of women’s enterprise policy on women entrepreneurs in informal sectors, called 'jua kali' in rural Kenya. Current research is dominated by functionalist notions of entrepreneurship, which emphasise the importance of economic growth and the role of entrepreneurship in securing it (Gartner, 1990: Shane & Ventakaraman, 2000). Although entrepreneurship has traditionally been considered a masculine domain, recent studies emphasise women’s contribution, yet their businesses are labelled as feminine, ‘lifestyle’, of low growth potential, and largely situated in informal economies (Welter et al., 2015). Consequently, as the concept of women’s entrepreneurship is increasingly regarded as a matter of global importance (De Vita et al., 2014), a proliferation of entrepreneurship policies financing its agenda continues to be witnessed globally (for example The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), cascading down to continental and national levels. The Kenyan government established the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), in 2007, as a semi-autonomous government agency in the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs and Special Programmes, as an affirmative action fund to support women’s businesses across the country. The WEF fund symbolised a commitment by the Kenyan government to realise the 1st and 5th Sustainable Development Goals and Vision 2030. Despite the presence of these policies, women entrepreneurs have not been on the same footing as men entrepreneurs in accessing opportunities and financial resources. Thus, this study’s objective and context are justified as timely to investigate the influence of women’s enterprise policies on rural women jua kali entrepreneurs in developing economies. The study drew on document analysis of several government financing policies, particularly the WEF, and 26 in-depth interviews with 40 jua kali women entrepreneurs in Vihiga County, Kenya. All data were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, coded in NVivo 12 Pro, and analysed thematically. The study identified several contextual constraints (political, economic, social and cultural) that influence the effectiveness of women entrepreneurship policies in a rural setting in Kenya. First, the analysis showed poor governance and rural marginalisation were the main institutional political constraints to policy implementation in Kenya, where connectivity and infrastructural constraints are structural barriers that disadvantage women entrepreneurs in accessing enterprise funds. Second, many of the women revealed high levels of corruption in the county governments, which prevent the distribution and reach of the funds to the targeted beneficiaries, whilst the high cost of operations and harassments by county council officials, kanjo, are economic constraints that impede the sustainability of their businesses. Third, the lack of ownership of property and low levels of education of rural women are some of the cultural constrains embedded within the patriarchal society
We are all in ‘Jua Kali’: the influence of gender on women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya
Get PDFThe context of this paper is based upon investigating the influence of gender on Jua Kali women entrepreneurs in Rural Kenya. Jua Kali is a Swahili term, which means fierce sunlight, and refers to an informal economy whose unlicensed enterprises operate in open-air marketplaces, literally “under the hot sun” (Mang’unyi et al., 2018: 453). Women own up to 60.7% of enterprises within Kenya’s Jua Kali sector (Ndemo and Maina, 2017) which are labelled as feminine, ‘lifestyle’ and homebased (Marlow, 2002: De Bruin et at 2007:331). Current research portrays entrepreneurship as a desirable and flexible pathway to women’s empowerment from conditions of subordination, thereby emancipated from shackles of poverty to empower others (Rindova et al., 2009; Dy Martinez et al., 2018; Alkhaled and Berglund, 2018). Increasingly, however, recent streams of research question the often ignored prevailing structural and contextual constraints such as uncertainty, long hours, multiple caring roles and poor financial returns associated with women’s entrepreneurship (Ahl and Marlow, 2019). However, a bulk of these studies are conducted in western contexts which does not present the structural context-specific peculiarities operative in non-western contexts. This is especially apparent in the rural sub-Saharan Africa context that is embedded with cultures of patriarchy and misogynistic gender bias (Maseno and Kilonzo, 2010). Thus, this makes this study’s objective and context a timely and justified investigation. The study involved documentary analysis of several government policy frameworks on women’s empowerment, followed by 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews with rural Jua Kali women entrepreneurs from Vihiga County-Kenya. All data was voice-recorded and transcribed verbatim, first and second order coding was done in NVivo 12 Pro and thematic content analysis applied (Gioia et al., 2013). The analysis reveals women’s vulnerability due to harassment and uncertainty that is embedded within Jua Kali sector. A majority of women expressed being harassed by Kanjo (the city council tax officials, who are mostly men) who confiscate their stocks, in case of any delay to pay the daily open-air market fee occurring due to lack of sales. Even though women seemingly appear to be liberated through entrepreneurship, they are still subordinated by dominant masculine power relations forcing them to negotiate their survival through bribery. Regarding uncertainty, a majority of Jua Kali women’s business premises are either temporary market stalls called Kibanda (made of wood with metal sheet or canvas cover generally about 3-6m ²) or simple tarpaulin on which they spread their meagre stock along pedestrian streets. However, due to the ongoing Kenya’s Vision 2030 infrastructure and housing projects country-wide (GoK, 2018), most Jua Kali stalls have been demolished, and the majority of women displaced without reallocation to alternative marketplaces. Consequently, most of them resort to selling from home which ultimately impinges on their enterprise’s credibility and legitimacy when accessing bank loans. In conclusion, these findings provide compelling evidence that extends research on entrepreneurship that suggests, by itself, entrepreneurship does not ameliorate the negative effects of subordination. Rather it reproduces structural and contextual constraints that trap women in the same old conventional structures of misogyny in rural Kenya
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