1.1 Why Does Female Entrepreneurship Matter?
Poverty is a major concern across the globe and the focus of governments, multilateral and other organisations that devote resources to poverty alleviation. The United Nations ā millennium development goals and sustainable development goals , aimed at ending poverty globally, are evidence of this concern. Small businesses are recognised as a tool in economic development and poverty alleviation through the creation of jobs and providing livelihoods. However although women constitute the majority of the world ās poor, they are in the minority as entrepreneurs and often excluded from full economic participation. This notwithstanding, studies have found that women entrepreneurs make an important impact on poverty alleviation. This is particularly important in the context of Africa. āSub-Saharan Africa has around 875 million people located in 47 different countries, with a gross national product of USD1, 266 trillion [ā¦] USD1, 258 gross national income (GNI) per capita, 36% urban population, a life expectancy at birth of 55 years and 70% primary education completion rateā (LourenƧo et al. 2014, p. 384). Unlike most other parts of the world , African women make up the majority of entrepreneurs on the continent, but their businesses are smaller, less profitable, and provide fewer jobs than those of their male counterparts (Tillmar 2016). Africaās status as the poorest continent in the world , but with a critical mass of entrepreneurial women who are yet to reach their full potential , but could hold the keys to poverty alleviation, underlines the importance of a book originating from Africa that explores this potential and advances ways of achieving it.
Womenās entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as important in the fight against poverty . LĆ©ger-Jarniou et al. (2015) attribute this partly to the fact that in recessionary times, alternative potential areas of growth are needed and female entrepreneurship has been identified as ideal in this regard. Affirming its poverty -fighting potential , Paramanandam (2015) writes that āwithout women [ā¦] economic development will not take placeā (Paramanandam 2015, p. 295), while Edoho (2015) asserts that āAfrican women represent a vast reservoir of entrepreneurial potential , talents and doggedness that could ignite industrial renaissance and anchor a pathway of sustainable growth ā (Edoho 2015, p. 10). An important reason for the potential that female entrepreneurs have to impact poverty globally, is the influence they exert through their gender -assigned roles. Women are predominantly responsible for care giving in families and their well-being has been found to positively impact the welfare of all those in their care, including men, children and the larger community (Nussbaum 2000; Sen 1999; Jones et al. 2006). Empowered women make decisions and take actions that result in improving the lives of their communities , and studies have found that women can make a positive contribution in this regard through their entrepreneurship (Nikina et al. 2015; Acs et al. 2011; Halkias et al. 2011). In addition to income generation, women often use entrepreneurship to gain independence and agency to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their communities (Kanti Prasad et al. 2011). Comparisons of male and female entrepreneurship often ignore this aspect and show women in business as wanting because some of their business methods and priorities vary from the traditional male norm and yield different results from men.
Despite the recognised importance of female entrepreneurship in fighting poverty , the literature finds that globally there are fewer female than male entrepreneurs and in some communities , women are effectively barred from economic participation. The result is that a large section of the female population is excluded from contributing to the solutions to poverty .
Prior work that has looked at entrepreneurship and women in the contexts of poverty alleviation, economic development and empowerment include Shelton et al. (2008) on the workāfamily conflict of ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the USA; Lewis (2013) on the authentic entrepreneurial identity of women; Fayolle (2007) on entrepreneurship as a driver of economic development ; Al-Dajani and Marlow (2013) on gender , entrepreneurship and empowerment in a deprived environment; Eddleston and Powell (2012), on the relationship between gender roles, entrepreneurship and workāfamily balance; and Scott et al. (2012) on the empowerment of women through entrepreneurship in deprived contexts . There are calls in literature for further study in the areas of female entrepreneurship in the light of its poverty alleviation potential (Acs et al. 2011; Marlow 2014), social entrepreneurship (Brush 1992; Jennings and Brush 2013), developing-world contexts (LĆ©ger-Jarniou et al. 2015), as well as studies based on feminist theory and novel theorising āwithin the broader gender /entrepreneurship discourseā (Marlow 2014, p. 103). This book addresses this combined gap through the lens of African female entrepreneurship .
The majority of the world ās population is poor, and globally there are urgent and intensified efforts to reduce poverty . Furthermore, seventy per cent (70%) of the world ās one billion extremely poor are women and these numbers are set to increase, with the ILO (2009) estimating that a further twenty-two million women could become unemployed due to the global economic crisis. As primary caregivers in most societies globally, womenās poverty impacts on the health and welfare of children , families and communities (Fotheringham and Saunders 2014). Entrepreneurship has been called an āengine of economic development ā, a āsource of wealth and employment ā and a source of value globally (Fayolle 2007, p. 14). Rao (2014) considers it āthe foundation of a modern model of development for growing countriesā and believes that ānurturing entrepreneurship in rising economies is very important because it leads to enhanced economic efficiencies, creates new employment opportunities and sustains employment levelsā (Rao 2014, p. 268). Women have been shown to have an important role to play in the economic development of countries, through their contribution to entrepreneurship generating these very benefits referred to above as well as from their ability to positively impact the well-being of their families and communities ....