Facilitating Women Entrepreneurs: A Challenge for Women’s Organisation
Salmah Topimin1*
1 Centre for Entrepreneurship Research and Development, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Accepted: 1 March 2020 | Published: 15 March 2020
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Abstract: There is a long-running debate about the failure of policy in helping women to achieve gender equality. As such, this paper highlights the extent to which gender issues have been considered in planning interventions intended for women. The issue was investigated by exploring the implementation process in providing business support for women entrepreneurs in a women’s organisation in Sabah. This study uses semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis as the data collection techniques. An in-depth interviews with three representatives who lead different departments in the organisation were conducted. The findings demonstrate that women’s organisation in this study face various challenges in maximising its functions in helping women entrepreneurs. The establishment of women’s organisation can be regarded as a good effort in minimising gender issue that women encounter; however, this study shows the presence of power relations issue that has caused the organisation to still fight for resources. Consequently, the women’s organisation in this study suffer from internal structural weaknesses which has led to its inability to recruit adequate human resources and to strengthen its programmes for women. It is therefore recommended that women’s organisations should be able to act as a powerful player in delivering its value to women and not being discriminated against by the issue of power resources.
Keywords: women’s organisation, women entrepreneurs, gender, challenge
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1. Introduction
It has long been debated that gender planning is significant in helping women to achieve gender equality (e.g. Moser, 1989). Starting with the discussion on the development of policy for women (e.g. Ibrahim, 1989), the discussion on gender in later years becomes more concentrated on analysing the obstacles and challenges that hinder the advancement of gender equality (Cornwall, 2003; Schofield and Goodwin, 2005). As a consequence, various measures have been introduced by policymakers to ensure the inclusion of the gender concept in dealing with women-related issues; for example, through the establishment of women’s group that help to ensure the presence of ‘women-friendly’ policies (Brierton & Bennett, 2012, p. 341) and women’s policy units (Osborne, Bacchi & Mackenzie, 2008) as well as through the provision of a broad range of activities and programmes in the area of education, health, human rights, business, social support and other related areas that reflect with women’s needs. However, while the effectiveness of such policy has been debated (Alsop, 1993), the success of various support programmes for women is also questionable as the initiatives is argued as providing no guarantee to women’s steady income; thus causing them to have lack of control on productive resources (Montanari & Bergh, 2019). Often, those
initiatives are viewed by women as irrelevant as there is a mismatch between women’s needs and what is on offer (Topimin, 2015). As such, it is suggested that any projects or strategies which are uniquely ‘women-centred’ can be best delivered on the basis of the shared goals and interests of women (Clarke, 1986, p. 114). Clarke (1986) further argues that one way to understand the needs and interests of women is to investigate the organisations or groupings to which women are affiliated. Therefore, it is the interest of this paper to investigate the extent to which women’s organisation has successfully facilitated women’s entrepreneurial activities through the provision of support programmes intended for women. This issue is contextualised within a women’s organisation that provides support programmes for women in business. Specifically, this paper focuses on exploring the following research question:
Do the business support programmes provided by women’s organisation have facilitated women entrepreneurs?
This paper is structured as follows. The following section explains about the institutional framework for women in Malaysia. This is followed by a discussion on women’s organisations and the gender concept, the nature of assistance being offered by the organisations and the issues related to women’s needs and interests. The subsequent section discusses the methodology adopted and followed by the discussion of findings. The final section presents the discussion and conclusion of the study and suggestions for future research.
2. Context: Institutional Framework for Women in Malaysia-Women’s Organisations The perception that men’s and women’s responsibilities can be segregated based on their biological conditions has placed women in a disadvantage position against men (Bradley, 2007). As a consequence, women face gender inequality issue in various aspects of their life.
As such, it is not uncommon that feminists tend to discuss how women’s status and involvement in the public sphere can be improved (Greer and Greene, 2003). Theoretically, Madsen, Neergaard & Ulhøi (2008, p. 369) assert that women could influence and change any structural barrier they encounter through a ‘more and sensitive framework’ that reflects with women’s interests and needs. In the same vein, Brush, de Bruin & Welter (2009) also argue that institutional aspect has a significant influence on women’s lives, particularly in minimising the impact of women’s subordination to men. In line with this argument, it can be seen that institutional approach has been introduced as a strategy to improve women’s status in life as well as incorporating them into the development process of a country, including Malaysia.
Therefore, to improve the status of women in Malaysia, a series of institutional efforts have been introduced by the Government, particularly after the Declaration of the Women’s Decade [1975-1985] (Ahmad, 1988). The efforts include the formulation of policy and the establishment of institutional frameworks for women. In 1989, a National Policy for Women (NPW) was formulated and this effort was regarded as a major initiative by the Malaysian government in ensuring the involvement of women in all sectors of national development. A separate chapter on women’s issue was created in the Sixth Malaysia Plan [1991-1995]
following this policy. The chapter highlights women’s past achievement as well as issues that restricted women’s participation in the development process of the country. Another significant effort was by strengthening the institutional framework for women in Malaysia.
The evolution of the institutional frameworks for women in Malaysia started with the establishment of a council- National Advisory Council (NACIWID) in 1976, followed by a
secretariat- Women Affairs Secretariat (HAWA) in 1983 and a ministry- Ministry of Women and Development in 2001 and the ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development in 2004. A specific department that handles women’s issues was established in all states of Malaysia and is placed under the ministry. The establishment of these departments can be categorised as part of governmental machinery for women as classified by Clarke (1986).
3. Literature Review
In line with the demands of women towards gender equality, there is an emergence of women’s organisations in which these organisations are established with the aim to eradicate barriers to women’s involvement in the public sphere (Afolabi, 2019). Women’s organisations are commonly defined as organisations that run by women and for women (Walsh, 2000; Kabeer & Huq, 2010) and they may be started and funded by men or women (Afolabi, 2019; Sonkar, 2018). It becomes apparent that being a member in women’s organisations has allowed women to show their collective concerns; thus, it is argued that these organisations are more effective than the non-women’s organisations in reaching out to women (Walsh, 2000). As such, various activities that focus on women’s concerns have been developed by women’s organisations. To develop a better understanding of women’s organisations, Development Alternatives for a New Era (DAWN)1 identifies seven different types of women’s organisations (Moser, 1989). Each typology is differentiated based on its content activity. Another classification of women’s organisations was developed by Clarke (1986). Clarke’s classification of women’s organisations falls under five categories which include the governmental machinery for women, political parties, church associations, national organisations of women and non-governmental organisations. These five classifications were used by Clarke in understanding the special interest of women and how these interest are conceptualised in all five types of women’s organisations to which women normally belong. In agreement with Walsh (2000) and Kabeer & Huq (2010), women’s organisation in this study refers to an organisation that is run by women and for women and which is established as part of governmental machinery for women (Clarke, 1986).
It is suggested that in order to ensure the effectiveness of initiatives directed to women is by examining the organisations that provide such initiatives (Clarke, 1986). Several factors need to be considered in investigating the extent to which women’s organisations have facilitated women’s involvement in the public sphere. Firstly, the objectives of particular women’s organisation must consistent with women’s needs. It is argued that institutional influence is significant in minimising gender inequality issues; however, any initiative to achieve gender equality through institutional process should not overlook women’s interest and needs (Brush et al., 2009). Moser (1989) asserts that it is crucial to differentiate between women’s interests and needs in the planning context. She refers women’s interests as their prioritised concerns, whereas needs relates to the means by which those concerns are satisfied. However, the term
‘interests’ is argued as too abstract; thus, the term ‘needs’ is commonly used, instead (Alsop, 1993). The term ‘needs’ is seen as more specific in addressing women’s particular requirements. Within this context, women’s need and interests constitute two elements;
strategic and practical. While strategic element concerns on the issue of women’s subordination to men, practical element is often derived from women’s experiences in their
1DAWN is a network that was created in 1985 in Nairobi and consists of women scholars, researchers and activists who work on gender issues through various activities such as research, analysis, proposal and training.
daily activities in society (Alsop, 1993). Therefore, since practical element is formulated from women’s experience, particularly in relation to the inadequacies of their living conditions, it can be seen that most intervention programmes for women fall under this category. One of the most common intervention programs that fulfil the practical interests and needs of women is related to income generating projects which focus on women's poverty issue (United Nations Development Programme, 2008). However, while the number of women who have participated in income generating projects provides a good official statistics for the particular organisations, the outcome from the activities does not guarantee women’s steady income in the long run (Montanari & Bergh, 2019). For instance, Leach (2000, p. 339) argues that women’s entrepreneurial activities are commonly being viewed by the providers of business support programmes as ‘income generation’ activities rather than
‘business’ activities. In this sense, the financial return from women’s income generating projects is seen as an extra income to their families and not to the degree of economic security that is significant to reduce women ‘reliance on patronage relationships’ (Kabeer &
Huq, 2010, p.86). The tendency to relate women with income generating projects that could help them to become petty traders can be seen as prejudice against women. In this context, women in business are expected to carry out their business operations simultaneously with their reproductive roles and the business stays small. To be effective, it is suggested that women’s organisation must be able to link substantively the practical and strategic elements in implementing activities for women (Walsh, 2000). Therefore, any initiatives to support women in general and women who involved in entrepreneurial activities in particular should take into account their strategic and practical needs and interests and should be able to improve their economic status. For example, it is suggested that support programmes for women in business should capture their different needs and reflect with the different stage of their business development.
Secondly, the power that is exercised in women’s organisation must not subordinate women.
It is widely discussed in the women’s literature that the issue of gender inequality is related closely with the power resources that are controlled by men (Bradley, 2007). Therefore, it is not uncommon that most policies are designed and developed by men, thus causing women to be further discriminated against (Finzel, 2003). To minimise the issue of gender inequality at the institutional level, there is a need to include women in the policy planning stage. It is argued that women should involve directly in planning and developing initiatives that are designed for them (Teghtsoonian, 2003). This practice helps to capture women’s specific interests and needs; thus treating women as the ‘shapers’ and not only the ‘users’ of such initiatives (Cornwall, 2003, p. 1326). Within this context, it can be seen that the establishment of women’s organisation can be regarded as a good effort in providing space for women to share their voices and thoughts as well as to ensure their interests could be transformed into influencing action. To materialise the action, women’s voices should not be neglected (Debusscher, 2011). In this respect, the establishment of women's organisation should act as a real place for women's voices to be heard and not to give the impression that women’s issues have been taken into account at the institutional level. In addition to the programmes and activities that are designed for women, it is suggested that an analysis of power at any stage in the implementation of the programmes should be carried out (Kabeer, 2010). Therefore, the extent to which women’s organisation resolves the power issue that dominates women’s subordination requires further investigation.
Finally, in order to successfully achieve the objectives that have been set, women’s organisation must have adequate resources. The main issue concerning resources of women’s organisation is the lack of funding (Walsh, 2000). Often women’s organisations are
responsible to spend money that they receive from donors on projects that have been agreed earlier (Rhodes, 2003). Furthermore, the amount received from donors or government is also to cover operating costs and staff salaries. As a consequence, women’s organisations are commonly understaff, thus affecting the effectiveness of their daily operations (Clarke, 1986). In addition, the lack of funding has restricted women’s organisations to maximise the impact of their activities. For example, not only that women’s organisations can only provide micro-financing for women who involved in business, the organisations also struggle to reach out to different types of women (i.e. vulnerable groups of women) (Walsh, 2000). In this respect, the financial constraint faced by women’s organisations could hinder them from providing a better and greater outreach programmes for women.
4. Methodology
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which women’s organisation has successfully facilitated women’s entrepreneurial activities through the provision of support programmes intended for women. A qualitative research design was adopted (Creswell, 2014). In-depth interviews (Patton, 2002) were undertaken with three representatives of a women’s organisation who lead various units within the organisation- the units provide different types of development programmes for women. The use of in-depth interviews as data collection technique allows for specific topics to be covered while not limiting participants to share their own thoughts during the interview process (Blumberg et al., 2008;
Bryman, 2004). In addition, data was also obtained from documentary evidence (Creswell, 2014; Marshall and Rossman, 2011). The documentary analysis technique enables the triangulation process to be conducted, thus ensuring the credibility of the research (Bryman and Bell, 2007: 413). The documentary analysis was used to check consistency of the information given during the interviews. For example, the objectives of the women’s organisation as explained by the representatives of the organisation were checked with the printed materials produced by the organisation. This triangulation process helps the researcher to obtain further clarification of the roles and commitment of the women’s organisation in facilitating the entrepreneurial activities of the targeted women. Data from the interviews was transcribed and analysed based on thematic network analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The data analysis involved the process of selecting basic themes, where those themes were rearranged into organising themes and deduced to a global theme (Attride-Stirling, 2001). The analysis process starts with the development of a coding framework, followed by the organisations of the interview transcripts according to the codes. Table 1 illustrates an example of data analysis of this research under the category of ‘challenges of women’s organisation’. The code of ‘weaknesses of women’s organisation’ included text segments such as ‘we want to provide a lot more [programmes] than what we have now … but … we can’t … we have financial constraint’. Based on the texts, the ‘financial capital’ emerged as a basic theme which relates to the code of ‘weaknesses of women’s organisation’. The basic themes were identified based on the ‘common, homogenous and popular themes’ (Attride- Stirling, 2001: 395) that emerge from the segmented texts. The underlying issues of the two basic themes as shown in Table 1 were made explicit and named as the organising theme of
‘resources’. The global theme of ‘structural weaknesses’ which reflect with the organising theme was deduced.
Table 1: Themes analysis
Categories Descriptions Codes Basic themes Organising themes
Global themes
Challenges of women’s organisation
References to negative factors that influence the operation of women’s organisation
Weaknesses of women’s organisation
Financial capital
Human resources
Facilities/infrastructure Resources Structural weaknesses
5. Findings
5.1 The profile of women’s organisation in this study
The women’s organisation that was used as a basis of discussion for this study has been established for more than three decades with the objective to encourage the advancement of women in various aspects such as education, health, economy and other relevant areas. The organisation is staffed by 31 people and has five departments. More than 70 percent of its staff are women and the management team is also led by women. As such, this organisation can be regarded as women’s organisation as discussed in literature (e.g. Clarke, 1986; Kabeer
& Huq, 2010; Walsh, 2000). The operation of this organisation is totally funded by the government. The activities that are organised by this organisation focuses on strengthening women’s economic and social status. As such, it can be seen that most of the activities that have been conducted by this organisation are normally involving income-generating projects.
For example, women will be provided with specific skills and knowledge that normally relates to women’s responsibilities (e.g. cooking) which in turn helps them to utilise those skills for generating income. In addition, the organisation also provides business-related training skills programmes such as marketing, basic accounting, business management and communication for uplifting women’s abilities in business. The business support programmes that are on offer mainly focus on women in need group, particularly the single mothers and low-income women.
5.2 Programmes directed for women
The findings revealed the programmes that are offered by the women’s organisation in this study can be categorised into three focus groups- development programmes for single mothers, leadership programmes for women and gender awareness programmes for public;
individuals and organisations. All three officials interviewed have the same responses on this matter. When they were asked about the participants of their programmes, they stated:
“single mothers…women who are poor”, “mostly … single mother” and “… usually women who have issues…income issues… domestic issues.” Their responses were consistent with the information that is provided in the written materials obtained from the organisation. It is stated in the document that one of the strategic objectives of the organisation is to strengthen the economic status of women under the categories of single mother and ‘hardcore poor’.
These findings show that the focus of development programmes for women are related mainly to women with special needs.
It becomes apparent that the activities of women’s organisation in this study focus on educating women in home economics such as providing skills in cooking, baking, sewing, crafting and other activities that are commonly relates to women’s nature. This situation can clearly be seen when the representatives of the women’s organisation explained the types of their training programmes as “we give them training [women]… cooking or baking...so that
they can start selling foods to generate income”, “… massage skills… this is our new training programmes … we concentrate on giving pre and post-natal massage skills…” and
“we have 5 days of training on sewing.” These statements show that the training programmes for women focus on improving women’s living conditions through the provision of basic skills in areas that usually being accepted as appropriate for women. It becomes apparent that the income-generation programmes conducted by the women’s organisation are mainly for poor women. The programmes are designed on the belief that “they [women] need to be equipped with living skills” and “if they [women] know how to sew… may be they can earn money from that…” It is confirmed by the representatives of the women’s organisation that the training programmes are designed for women to obtain basic knowledge as illustrated by the comments: “as women … they know how to cook… but we teach them how to cook a different menu”. However, they agree that some training programmes may take longer times for the participants to obtain the necessary basic skills. For example, one representative of the women’s organisation frustratedly argued: “Do you think that you can sew properly after five days of training? You can’t, right?” This view indicates that there is a constraint faced by the women’s organisation in maximising the potential of women participants in the programmes that it provides.
5.3 The strengths of women’s organisation
The leader
The representatives of the women’s organisation in this study were asked about the strengths of their organisation. They view their leader as the main strength of the organisation that they work for. Without hesitation, one of the representatives proudly stated:
“… my boss … she is a very supportive person. She understands every single challenge that we face … she also go the groundwork with us …meet women … listen to them … and every time she gives her speech … her words show her concerns on women issues … she fights all the time so that our budget is approved by the ministry
… it’s not uncommon that she has to go and meet up with different significant people from different organisations …. just to ensure we [women’s organisation] get the money that we need.”
Another representative stated:
“… before joining this organisation … I worked with an organisation that is not related at all with women’s agenda. Even though I have been working for more than 20 years…. the experience that I gain here is totally different. There are so many things for women that I want to do … or … I need to do. But, I have to work with some limitations. It’s totally different working environment that I used to. Stressful?
Of course! … but we are like one family here … we support and tolerate to each other
… The working environment is great … the credit should be given to our director…
she provides us with a great deal of support and inspiration.”
These statements describe the charismatic leadership portrays by the leader of the women’s organisation. The findings show that the ability of women’s organisation leader in motivating the staff and is crucial in ensuring the sustainability of women’s organisations.
5.4 The challenges faced by women’s organisation
Internal structural weaknesses
The data revealed that the women’s organisation in this study suffer from internal structural weaknesses. Within this context, it is evident that the organisation encounters difficulties in carrying out its functions as planned. The structural weaknesses as discussed by the representatives of the women’s organisation refer to the lack of funding, staff and facilities/infrastructure. The finding shows that financial constraint affects the capabilities of the organisation in providing support programmes for women. The representatives of the women’s organisation stated that: “only if we have enough funding… then we can extend the duration of our training programmes.” Prior to this view, the same representative has shared her concern on the issue of the limited duration of the sewing training programmes that she designs for women. In addition, other representatives also stated: “the best thing is to provide different level of training programmes … starting with basic skills, then… intermediate and advance …unfortunately, the funding that is allocated to my unit is only adequate for basic skills training.”
The lack of funding of the women’s organisation becomes more critical as it leads to other challenges in operating the organisation. One of the representatives stated: “We plan as well as implement… we have very limited staff … So, it becomes a great challenge for us especially when we have to reach women out there.” In addition, another representatives shared their views by saying: “it is almost impossible to reach the targeted women with the current number of staff in my unit” and “you need adequate funding to hire more staff.”
In addition, all the representatives of the women’s organisation in this study agree that due to lack of funding, the organisation has limited infrastructure in providing support for women.
For instance, in order to facilitate women, the women’s organisation will organise programmes in a location that is easy to be accessed by women. However, always the issue that confronts the staff of the women’s organisation is related to the use of equipment and vehicles for the programmes. They all agree that facilities such as “vehicles” are inadequate, thus causing trouble to reach women at their locations.
6. Discussion and Conclusion
The initiative to establish women’s organisation as part of government machinery for women can be regarded as a strong commitment by policymakers to improve the status of women in society in all areas, including their economic positions. However, based on the findings of this study, it can be seen that to establish a women’s organisation is one thing and to ensure the organisation can maximise their roles in facilitating women’s involvement in the public sphere, thus improving their economic status, is another thing. The findings have shown that women’s organisations face challenges that limit their potential in providing support for women. On one aspect, women’s organisations are constrained by the issue of weak internal structure of the organisations. This finding is consistent with previous research that highlights structural weakness can influence the effectiveness of women’s organisation (e.g. Cheng, 2004). Within this context, it becomes apparent that lack of funding affects the operation of women’s organisations in various aspects. Firstly, lack of funding has caused women’s organisations to limit the scope of their programmes for women, an issue that is highlighted in the women’s literature (e.g. Walsh, 2000). Not only the financial issue has discounted the quality of the programmes, the need to incorporate the gender issue in the support programmes for women is also overlooked.
Secondly, the lack of funding also creates the issue of understaffing in the women’s organisations. As a consequence, job specification is difficult to be implemented and any effort to strengthen the capabilities of each staff in the organisation becomes a challenge. In this situation, the main concern is for the existing staff to implement activities that have been scheduled. The experience of the representatives of the women’s organisation in this study shows that too much concentration has been given to operationalise the programmes, thus giving them with less time to thoroughly plan their activities, particularly in incorporating strategic issues for the sustainability of the women’s organisation in the future. Therefore, it can be argued that the implementation of support programmes for women in general and women in business in particular by the women’s organisation in this study is more likely to give less attention on the issue of women’s practical and strategic needs (Walsh, 2000).
Furthermore, a greater outreach programmes for women are difficult to be implemented due to the lack of funding faced by women’s organisations- an issue that has long been debated in previous research (e.g. Clarke, 1986). The study revealed that the structural weaknesses faced by the women’s organisation in this study is related to the issue on the extent to which power or autonomy has been granted to the organisation (Bradley, 2007; Debusscher, 2011).
Although the women’s organisation in this study has a full control in designing and implementing activities or support programmes for women, the organisation has no control over its resources. In this sense, this study shows the presence of power relations in the women's organisation that has caused difficulty for the organisation to maximise its functions in facilitating women to improve their positions in the public sphere. This finding supports the argument that the presence of power that can be exercised by women at each stage of a project implementation process is crucial in determining the effectiveness of the project directed to women (Kabeer, 2010). This study also highlights that the sustainability and visibility of women’s organisation is much being influenced by its leader. The finding shows that the leaders of women’s organisations provide continuous emotional support to their staff particularly due to the fact that they have to confront with structural weakness while performing their duties (Kabeer & Huq, 2010).
What can be concluded from this study is that women's organisations must continue to strive for power and resources in carrying out their operations to assist in the economic development of women. In this process, the major hindrance to the effectiveness in performing their roles is related to the issue of power relations. It is suggested that the issue of power relations is too complex to be resolved immediately. To confront with this situation and to strengthen their positions, it is suggested that all women’s organisation expand their networking activities with various local and international organisations. This strategy could help women’s organisations to establish their visibility and sustainability in the long run.
Furthermore, to be effective as women’s organisations in dealing with gender issues, it is not always appropriate to exclude men from the process. It is suggested that there is a situation where the involvement of men in a women’s organisation could reveal the reality that is faced by the organisation, thus helping to improve the understanding of men towards the gender issues. After all, gender issues are not only women’s issues.
7. Suggestions for Future Research
This study adopts a qualitative approach in investigating the extent to which women’s organisations has successfully facilitated women’s entrepreneurial activities through the provision of support programmes intended for women. Although this study has incorporated
the views of women who lead various units within the organisation, future research should consider to expand the composition of participants from employees at all levels of women’s organisations. Following this new composition of participants, a case study approach can be used as it helps to provide a holistic view about women’s organisation under study. This study is based on the data collected from a women’s organisation. Taking into consideration that a similar organisation also exist in other states in Malaysia, future research that can capture those organisations from other states could help to reveal better understanding about the current state and achievement of the organisations in strengthening women’s economic position.
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