Abstract:
Women-owned enterprises mobilize various resources in order to overcome the structural,
institutional and cultural disadvantages which they face. The objective of this paper is to
investigate whether the Business Associations (BAs) help these women small scale
enterprises in tourism sector to overcome their limitations. A novel contribution of this
paper is the analysis of three tourism sectors to study factors that support women
entrepreneurs’ leadership roles in BAs. This study used a semi-structured questionnaire
from 195 women entrepreneurs and 195 men entrepreneurs, as well as key informant
interviews, non-participant observation and twenty-four in-depth interviews with women
entrepreneurs. Respondents own small-scale tourism enterprises in the Hikkaduwa Urban
Council (HUC) of Galle District, Sri Lanka. Gender analysis of women’s and men’s
membership, participation and leadership in BAs was conducted. This study found that
women entrepreneurs in tourism industry face gender-specific limitations in access to
information, training, credit and networks. To overcome these challenges, they gain
membership in Business Associations (BAs). However, women’s participation in BAs is
restricted largely to low-level positions, and leadership positions continue to be
monopolized by men. Nevertheless, this study found that women’s leadership in BAs varied
by sector offering insights into factors supporting women in leadership.
