Women’s Income Stability and Power of Household Decision Making: An Analysis on Small Scale Tourism Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Economically empowered women have the ability and power to make economic decisions. The men's and women’s ability to engage in decision-making at diverse levels in society varies depending on its context. This study analyses how the engagement of small-scale tourism enterprises has influenced women’s power in household decision-making. This is an explorative study, which employed several data collection techniques, including key informant interviews, non-participant observation, a questionnaire survey, and in-depth interviews. They were carried out among small-scale tourist enterprises in the Hikkaduwa Urban Council (HUC) area of the Galle district, Sri Lanka. The samples were chosen at random, and the data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Three major sectors, namely accommodation, food and beverage, and retail trade, were selected for this study. Secondary information was mostly collected from the literature on gender studies and relevant documents of small-scale enterprises. There are significant differences found between men and women in terms of their participation in decision-making at household, business, and community levels. Also, the nature of decisions has brought sector-specific variations. Women in all three sectors tend to have the least power in decision-making regarding the future needs of the children they have. Women received independent decision-making power regarding everyday home and children’s needs. Women in the food and beverage services sector get more power than in the other two sectors. Women appear to have increased decision-making power when it comes to business investment. Men in the accommodation sector have more decision-making power due to their better accessibility to land and property. Though women get a slight improvement in their decision-making capacities, this does not overly reflect men’s power.