Africa-Press – Uganda. More than half of women owning informal businesses and their employees do not have hopes of recovering fully due to the impact of Covid-19 on livelihood, a new study shows.
The study was conducted by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) among 411 women in markets in three Kampala divisions of Kawempe, Nakawa and Rubaga.
It sheds light on the impact of Covid-19 on the wellbeing of women, jobs and businesses. The majority of study participants were self-employed (owing small/micro enterprises).
In the report, which was released in July, researchers asked about the potential for improved livelihoods following the lifting of the lockdown and post-Covid-19. The majority of the women expressed marked bleakness about the future.
“Around 29 percent of informal women workers (IWWs) did not expect a change in their current livelihood…27 percent expected their livelihood situation to get worse,” the report reads in part.
However, the survey also shows that at least 36 percent of the women “felt optimistic about their livelihoods improving”.
The researchers warned that the high number of women expressing hopelessness is concerning because “over 60 percent [of the women] were household heads and over half lived with children” and many of them owned businesses and were employing others.
“Fewer than half of the IWWs (45 percent) lived with a partner, either legally married or cohabiting. Many women (55 percent) were single, divorced, separated, or widowed, making them household heads. Only one percent worked for others as employees,” the report indicates.
The researchers also said commonly reported challenges stemming from Covid-19 included reduced spending power (67 percent), ability to pay bills (66 percent), and opportunity to earn a living (64 percent).
“These challenges led some business owners to lay off employees. Most (89 percent) of the women kept their jobs or businesses during and after the lockdown but with reduced economic activity,” the report further reveals.
Among the 99 percent of IWWs who reported a reduction in income, the report indicates that 48 percent in the food service mentioned it was due to supply chain issues, and 51 percent in the trading service reported that their place of work was temporarily closed.
“IWWs reported coping strategies that included changing their place of residence (93 percent) and spending their savings (87 percent), and just over a quarter of respondents reported sending household members away from home (to upcountry) due to livelihood challenges,” the report highlights.
A similar study was also conducted in Kenya. Ms Peggy Clark, the chief executive officer of ICRW, said: “This is an important moment to address the multi-layered impact of Covid-19 on women in both formal and informal work in Uganda and Kenya – and around the world.”
“We should learn from this experience to create more inclusive, gender-responsive policies to support workers who are often overlooked and undervalued,” she added.
Ms Evelyne Opondo, the ICRW Africa director, said although some women received assistance during the pandemic, the impact of the intervention could not be clearly measured.
“…while non-governmental organisations played a critical role in implementing social assistance programmes, such as cash transfers targeting women in informal settlements and vulnerable households, the absence of a single comprehensive registry made it difficult for the government to account for the reach of those interventions,” she said.
Reacting to this report, Mr Aggrey David Kibenge, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said the government has clear plans and interventions to support women entrepreneurs.
He listed the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship programme which is supporting women groups (Shs20 billion available), and 30 percent of Parish Development Model ring-fenced for women (30 million available for women out of 100 million per parish every year).
He added that there are other programmes under Uganda Development Corporation where there are “post-Covid alleviation fund which is accessible to everybody, women inclusive.”
“There is a big effort on the part of government and there is a recognition that women have a central role in the resuscitation of our economy,” he told Daily Monitor, adding: “They have the discipline to do businesses and you can count on them when it comes to paying back, and they work with interest of the family and children.”
Mr Kibenge said the interventions targeting women include support “to help women transition from informal to the formal economy so their businesses are registered, given loans at low interest rates and in the end government will also charge some minimal taxes on them and grow the economy.”
World bank report
Africa leads the world in terms of numbers of women business owners.
However, a 2022 World Bank report, Profiting from Parity, shows that women entrepreneurs across sub-Saharan Africa continue to earn lower profits than men (34 percent less on average).
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