For the past three decades now the need to rectify gender inequities and to bring women in the mainstream of development has been of major policy concern by United Nations bodies, Governments and many non-Governmental organisations. It is a well acknowledged fact that women constitute a key resource whose ideas, ability and creative solutions and concern for social cohesiveness can help bring about economic and social transformation. To do that, however, their equal access, to and control over, resources is necessary. It is a fact that resource ownership patterns in Tanzania, as is also true of other African countries, is gendered to the disadvantage of women. This, according to Mbughuni (1994) has led to gendered poverty. It has now been widely accepted that one of the ways to alleviate women's poverty and hence societal poverty in Africa is their equal participation in entrepreneurship.
In the past two decades policy-making bodies of developing countries have increasingly and explicitly recognised that small-scale enterprises have potential for contributing to economic and social development of their countries. This recognition has led to a host of supportive interventionary measures that have included, for example, the establishment of small-scale development organisations to promote the sector. In Tanzania, the Small-Scale Industries (SSI) policy was launched in 1973. This was followed by the establishment of the Small Scale Industries Development Organisation (SIDO). Yet despite all these efforts, women's participation in entrepreneurship remains very low. This, in our view, is an issue of utmost concern warranting through research. It is important that problems be identified and overcome when developing a first generation of women entrepreneurs. It is against this background that this research was undertaken in Tanzania.
In Tanzania, women who constitute 51 percent of the total population (1988 census) represent a big labour force. Apart from their involvement in cash and food crop production, women continue to perform other numerous and vital productive and reproductive roles that have ensured the survival of the nation particularly during some of the worst economic periods from the late 1970s to the present. A number of studies suggest a strong relationship between women's participation in income generating activities in Tanzania and the economic crises (Maliyamkono and Bagachwa, 1991; Tripp, 1991; Rutashobya, 1995; Omari, 1991). Women have borne the greatest burden of the structural adjustment measures that are being implemented in Tanzania. A study on the impact of IMF conditionalities on health, education, nutrition, water and incomes has revealed that women have suffered most (Tibaijuka, 1988). Despite their important contribution to national development women lack equal access to, and control over, national resources. Their participation in meaningful entrepreneurship remains very low. Entrepreneurship in the country has basically been dominated by men and by non-indigenous communities. Women's participation in entrepreneurship, like in other developing countries, appears to be only a recent phenomenon. El Namaki (1990) has also reported of the late entry of women in entrepreneurship in developing countries. For the few women who are already in business the problem of their survival remains a real one.
The above situation suggests that there must be fundamental and practical factors that constrain women's entry into, and survival in, business. It is pertinent that these factors be investigated. Research in this direction should reveal the additional parameters that can help to understand the female entrepreneur in Tanzania. Once she is better understood she can be enabled to contribute more effectively to the socio-economic development of the nation. The problem for this research, therefore, revolve around the following concerns:
(i) The low participation of women in entrepreneurial roles.
(ii) The existence of disparity between women's active participation in other development activities and their lack of participation in meaningful and high growth entrepreneurial activities.
(iii) Lack of comprehensive information on the critical factors that restrict women's entry into business and those that adversely affect their performance, as well as the strategies to overcome the constraints. This research was intended to fill this information gap.
The term "entrepreneur" has a lot of definitional and operational ambiguity (Gibb, 1990; House et al. 1993; Kao, 1990; Palmer, 1991; Romijn, 1989). Entrepreneurship is variously used to describe an overall set of attributes of a person, to describe a career or refer to a practice in large or small organisations (Gibb, 1990: 33). The word entrepreneur is also at times used synonymously with independent owner manager. There has also been a tendency to associate the word with small business. Despite an extensive use of the term in the 1980s (Gibb, 1990), the debate on what exactly constitutes entrepreneurship is still ongoing (Romijn, 1989). In the literature, two definitional approaches have come out quite clearly. The first approach is that by classical economists who define the word "entrepreneur" in terms of his/her assumed roles and functions. The second approach is that by psychologists and behavioural scientists who define the term in terms of his/her personality traits or characteristics that differentiates him/her from non-entrepreneurs.
In the first approach, we note the contribution by the French Economist, Cantillon, the first to introduce the term "entrepreneur". Cantillon (1955) defined the "entrepreneur" as "the agent who purchased the means of production for combination into marketable products" (Palmer, 1991). Since then many other economists have tried to define the term. Romijn (1989), however, has observed three basic approaches, which, according to him, have, to date, retained some validity: (i) the entrepreneur who is the fourth factor of production... (ii) the entrepreneur who commits the capital and bears the risk under condition of unpredictable change, as described by Knight (1921), and (iii) Shumpeter's (1934) as innovating entrepreneur who conceives and engineers change, or ... carries out new combinations. These can be the introduction of a new good, the introduction of a new production method, the opening of a new market, the discovery of new raw material supply sources or the reorganisation of any industry (p.3).
Similar analysis has been provided by Gibb (1990: 34). Gibb, nevertheless, observed that little attempt was made by the early economists to define in practice the roles and functions of the entrepreneur.
The second approach as postulated by psychologists and behavioural scientist has also received great attention in the literature. For example, Bird (1988) observes that the entrepreneurial process has both attitudinal and behavioural components. The attitude component refers to the willingness of the entrepreneur/organisation to take advantage of new opportunities and act accordingly. The behavioural component includes those activities required to asses an opportunity, create the business idea, acquire the necessary resources, organise and operate the business venture (Morris and Lewis, 1991:584). Consequently, six underlying entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours have received a great deal of attention in the literature: achievement - motivation, innovativeness, risk taking, self-confidence, proactiveness, and future orientation (Covin and Slevin, 1989; Dewing, 1919; El Namaki, 1985; Gibb, 1990; Hornaday and Aboud, 1971; Kao, 1990; Knight, 1921; Mancuso, 1974; McClelland, 1961, 1962, 1969, 1971; Miller, 1983; Morris and Lewis, 1991; Morris and Paul, 1987; Palmer, 1971; Patel 1986; Romjin, 1989; Schumpeter, 1934; Weber, 1930). The need for achievement is defined as the willingness and the need to overcome obstacles, to exercise power and to accomplish something difficult (Gasse, 1990). The need for achievement is defined as the willingness and the need to overcome obstacles, to exercise power and to accomplish something difficult (Gasse, 1990). Innovativeness, (creativeness) has been defined by Schumpeter (1934) as the tendency to do new things and break the routine. On the other hand, risk taking refers to the willingness to invest resources to opportunities with possibilities of costly failure. Self-confidence is closely related to need for achievement. It can be defined as the capacity to meet objectives, to face challenges and to do and accomplish difficult tasks. Proactiveness means task - orientation, viz, iplementation or action to realise some results.
In practice, entrepreneurs, will demonstrate different degrees of innovativeness, achievement motivation, risk taking, proactiveness and the like (Morris and Lewis, 1991). This means that different levels or amounts of entrepreneurship do exist. Some entrepreneurs, be they communities or societies, will be more entrepreneurial than others. To the extent that this is true, many Tanzanian women in business, at the moment would correspond more closely to the informal type of business, characterised by low innovations, low achievement motivation, low future orientations and the like. Highly entrepreneurial women in the country are mere tokens. The reader is advised to note this phenomenon throughout this study. Subsequently, some women who operate in the informal sector were included in the study sample.
It will be shown in the literature review in subsequent sections that the attitudes and behaviours and hence the amounts of entrepreneurship are shaped or influenced by societal and economic environments.
The overall objective of this study was to identify social, cultural and economic factors that hinder or limit women's entry into entrepreneurship in Tanzania and those that adversely affect their performance.
The study was guided by the following specific objectives:
(i) To explore some social and cultural constraints to women's participation in entrepreneurship.
(ii) To study the educational background of women entrepreneurs.
(iii) To identify the main source of invisible income of women entrepreneurs, including and investigation into their accessibility to credit facilities.
(iv) To identify factors that hinder women's access to institutional credit.
(v) To explore some psychological and behavioural traits of existing women entrepreneurs.
(vi) To explore other constraints to women entrepreneurship, viz, legal structural, etc.
(vii) To draw up some recommendations or strategies to overcome the constraints.
Women's participation in business can greatly break the vicious cycle of low entrepreneurship - low resources - poverty. It should essentially be one of primary policy concern if women's poverty and hence societal poverty is to be alleviated. This is because "entrepreneurship represents the force for continuous innovation and change which makes possible an ever improving way of life (Morris and Lewis, 1991). Early economic theories suggest some correlation between economic growth and business formations. Palmer (1971) also appears to support this relationship.
The potential contribution of small-scale enterprises to the development process in developing countries has been well acknowledged. The recent policy interest in entrepreneurship in these countries has basically emanated from a "concern over an observed lack of economic activity and the realisation that entrepreneurship would be a vital quality for the emergence and sustenance of economic growth" in Less Developed Countries (Romjin, 1989: 4). The most obvious advantages of entrepreneurship are singled out as a more equitable distribution of income and a source of employment where few alternatives exist.
In Tanzania, like in many other developing countries, the recognition of this important role of small-scale enterprises led to the establishment of the small-scale industries policy in 1973. Despite these efforts women's participation in entrepreneurship remains very low. Women's non participation in business means that their potential capability as well as their potential contribution to economic and social transformation of this country remain untapped. Women's participation in entrepreneurship should be part and parcel of this whole transformation process. It is this situation that prompted the execution of this study. Causes for women's non participation in entrepreneurship should be identified in order to recommend possible measures that can redress the present status quo.
Furthermore, the study was motivated by the absence of comprehensive information on the critical factors that hinder women's entry into, and survival in, business in Tanzania. The absence of studies on entrepreneurship and management in African business in general has also been reported by Harris (1971), House et al. (1993), Kennedy (1988), Kilby (1988), and Marris and Somerest (1971).
The ensuing report is organised as follows: The next chapter reviews the development of entrepreneurship in Tanzania in respect of history, political and economic policies and the changed roles of women in the modern economy. Chapter 3 reviews the literature on entrepreneurship in general and female entrepreneurship in particular as it relates to the critical factors that hinder its development. The findings on the characteristics of women entrepreneurs and the dynamics of their businesses are provided in chapter 4; while chapter 5 discusses and analyses the critical factors that hinder the promotion of female entrepreneurship. Finally, in chapter 6 we present the summary, strategies and suggestions for future research.
