Gender Perspective of Constraints over Start-up of Small-scale Enterprises in Sri Lankan Tourism Industry

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the gender difference of the constraints over start-up of small-scale enterprises in Sri Lankan tourism. This research is a case study of Hikkaduwa Urban Council and analyses both qualitative and quantitative data obtained from: key informant interviews, non-participant observation, surveys and in-depth interviews conducted among small-scale tourism enterprises in the Hikkaduwa Urban Council of Galle District, Sri Lanka. Comparisons were made between men and women in small-scale enterprises of three major sectors namely: accommodation, food and beverages and tourist-affiliated retail stores. The study found that women have encountered challenges based on gender identity from both internal and external environments of the business. Women have been placed in a secondary position and the division of labour has constructed the superiority and inferiority relationships on men and women workers in the business. Unequal sharing of family responsibilities, stereotyped attitudes towards women create barriers for women entrepreneurs in terms of their self-confidence, independence, mobility as well as access to business information, marketing, credit and technology. However, despite patriarchal values in the social structure, and regardless of underpaid or less paid makeup, women have been motivated to involve with the tourism industry due to their personal interests towards being economically independent. However, the findings shed light on problems in men and women in other areas and sectors. This study sheds light on the men’s and women’s positions in post-war Sri Lanka which had brought numerous structural adjustments in the economy. Therefore, it examines whether the constraints are continuing equally or changing in the two different periods of Sri Lankan history.