1.1 Archives and censuses can provide quantitative data on self-employed women

3National, regional, local and private archives can be surveyed to collect records of business licences so that a history of this field can be constructed by quantifying the documentation. Census data gives a background to the history of women as self-employed workers and entrepreneurs. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) was established in 1960, and its surveys have not yet been used in our field of inquiries. The first census was published on May 9th 1984, and though it did not offer complete coverage (only 85% of the population, the rest being estimated), it still shows that women participated in business in both rural and urban areas, especially in sales businesses and the retailing of food and beverages. In fact, the nationalisation of companies by the Därg, allowing private sectors only to participate in small-scale industries and handicraft activities, contributed to this trend. In 1984, more than 57.6% of the active population was self-employed and only 1% consisted of employers. In urban areas, people working in sales constituted the second major group consisting of 23.5% of the economically active population. Among the urban female workers, 43.6% were self-employed. It also has to be noticed that in rural areas, sales activities were the only type of professional activity that occupied more women than men (0.3% of male and 2.4% of female workers), while in urban areas, about 30% of women were working in the sales sector (vs 11.4% of men). This type of data therefore needs to be analysed in detail, to be put it into context and crosschecked with other available sources.

1.2 Qualitative data sources available

4Many sources of qualitative data are available though not yet used. A study of the history of the women who participated in the Women Welfare Work Association, or who have been trained by the Women’s Institute for Vocational Training can provide some clues for our study. In the same manner, conducting an exhaustive survey of women’s associations related to work and business, or of female cooperatives could also be fruitful as an approach. Finally, an attentive rereading of newspapers should also be carried out, as the Ethiopia Observer, Addis Zämän or more recently Addis Fortune or Capital have brought to light some information that had been left out.

5Following the oral history approach, conducting interviews with former and current women entrepreneurs can also shed light on the history of the field. They can reveal not only facts and data but also the life experience of women entrepreneurs. These sorts of sources are particularly relevant for analysing the perceptions of discrimination, the difficulties of juggling a business with a household and family responsibilities as shown by Singh and Bewal in 2008 or by Gudeta and Van Engen in 2018. All these factors depend on the historical context, as well as the social position. Biographical interviews could also be tools for observing changes over a lifetime and identifying the effects of political events on professional choices (migrations, professional changes…). By comparing different life stories, there are chances to highlight generational effects, as has been demonstrated by Perrin-Joly and Kushtanina in 2018.

6All these sources can help to trace the history of women’s entrepreneurship. However, recent research gives us some insights into the current issues under scrutiny in women’s entrepreneurship studies.

2.1 Female entrepreneurship in Ethiopia: History and state of the art

8The gender gap in labour participation in Ethiopia is quite low, compared to other developing countries. This is a historic inheritance. According to Richard Pankhurst (1968), Ethiopian women “played a major role in agriculture, handicraft, and trade” in the Middle Ages but also have done so until contemporary times. This low gender gap can also be attributed to the country’s poverty (female work is necessary for the family’s survival) and to the past communist regime, which promoted equal work for men and women.

9Female entrepreneurs can even have a dual activity, frequently named in the urban areas as “side-business,” which is very hard to measure, as it is an informal (according to an ECSA survey of 2004, 65% of the informal activities in 48 Ethiopian towns are run by women) and irregular activity. In the rural areas, self-employment in non-farming enterprises is a way to supplement farm earnings. Most of the time, the businesses run by women are small. Some studies also show that these female businesses are less successful in terms of performance and in terms of longevity. Women encounter indeed specific difficulties in setting up and maintaining a business.

2.2 Female entrepreneurship in Ethiopia: Resources and Constraints

10According to the report by CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) in 2009, several barriers prevent women from accessing loans: women’s lack of information on the availability of credit, women’s lack of economic stability (a criterion required to access a loan) and a general lack of trust of women in society.

11These difficulties are a symptom of a lack of social support in general and from the government in particular, as well as a lack of suitable public policies. Women fail in their businesses more quickly than men, and they suffer from lack of managerial and technical skills. Scholars confirmed that women still have difficulties in accessing finance from the traditional banking system, such as commercial banks, and they would rather use local networks, by borrowing money from their neighbours and relatives or self-help associations such as Iqqub.

12In this context, actions by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, as well as international organisations, promote microcredits. In 2011, women constituted 64.44% of microfinance borrowers from different institutions (Microfinance Information Exchange). More recently, since 2017, the programme “Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women,” led by UN Women, WFP, FAO and IFAD and supported by the governments of Sweden, Norway and Spain, has given rural women access to small loans and has also provided training courses in basic business skills and financial management.

2.3 Microcredit: a wrong solution for developing female entrepreneurship?

13The field of microfinance in Ethiopia has grown rapidly over the last decade and a half. Today, nearly two million poor people have access to microcredit in Ethiopia. The participation of women in these services, however, has been a gradual process. While microfinance institutions have shown interest by providing loans to women, in Ethiopia women constitute only 45% of those concerned by microloans.

14Studying microfinance by interviewing workers within 20 branches of activity in early 2010, Belwal, Tamiru and Singh show that most of the loans were attributed to women. However, microloans are first of all quite limited in terms of limits (generally a maximum of 5,000 ETB) and repayment period (around 1 year).

15In conclusion, generally speaking, microloans do not seem to be a solution for improving social mobility of the poor, either men or women, but they help to reinforce the responsibility of individuals, according to neoliberal ideology.

16Despite these loans (and sometimes because of them), entrepreneurship does not appear as a way to improve the personal situation of these women. Indeed, they have very low incomes (the survey based on 2 wereda in Addis Ababa, shows that 60% of these female entrepreneurs earn 200 ETB or less monthly. In the same period, average earnings in Ethiopia was 1,000 ETB). It does not allow them to save enough money for investment. Moreover, the bulk of female entrepreneurs do not have the opportunity to improve their level of education. The authors also concluded that microloans do not succeed in empowering the poorest.

3.1 Naturalised skills: Female entrepreneurship and household activities

18As Pankhurst (1990) noticed, “men and women are engaged in different tasks and it was unthinkable even for a slave to engage in the work of the opposite sex.” This rule of the 19th and 20th centuries is still the case in the 21st century. In particular, Ethiopian women tend to invest in activities linked to household tasks, such as preparing food and drink, spinning and embroidery, pottery and basket-weaving (Analysis of Women’s IGA, 1999).

Figure 23. Constance Perrin-Joly, Family Photo in Addis Ababa

19On the one hand, women can reinvest their gender-based skills and know-how in an occupational activity; on the other hand, these activities are flexible enough to be combined with the cultural expectation for women to take care of children, husband and relatives.

20Unfortunately, these activities are less valorising and less profitable; consequently, they do not generate sufficient income. Moreover, this situation promotes blurring between household skills and women’s professional competences, as if women were naturally better (instead of culturally more trained) than men in these activities. Hence, women risk being confined to their household role or work.

3.2 Women’s network: a work in progress

21This persistent division of labour has other concrete consequences: women have limited access to markets and sell above all to their neighbourhood. Linked to their general low level of education, they also encounter difficulties in accessing useful information to extend their business.

22As Zewde emphasises, they suffer from lack of networking. In particular, associations of women entrepreneurs are not strong enough to lobby effectively. Nevertheless, within the last ten years, networks have been developed. We can quote, for example, the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs Program (AWEP), the Association of Women in Business (AWiB), the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) or Women’s Development Initiative Project (WDIP). The creation of the Enat Bank by 3 Ethiopian women in 2013 is also a positive sign. Females are in the majority on the boards of these associations, taking up to six of the 11 seats; women own 64 percent of the bank, which aims to help women to access credit. This case study illustrates a rare situation of women breaking the glass ceiling.