Small-Scale Women Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Sector: Do Business Associations Help?

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.