Abstract:
Literature and the economic environment have emphasized the need for women to venture
into entrepreneurial activities to promote the growth of the country's economy and thus
alleviate poverty through reduction of unemployment. However, women’s participation is
limited due to gender barriers further to entrepreneurship being embedded as a masculine
concept. Furthermore, entrepreneurship studies have not included the aspect of gender as a
sociocultural construct. Hence gender behaviours shaped by sociocultural norms are not
considered in entrepreneurial studies.
Therefore, the study explored gender-specific barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in
mining, established gender barriers due to sociocultural norms and approaches to overcoming
barriers thereof. The study explored the barriers by conducting a qualitative study. Sixteen
(16) in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs running businesses in the mining industry
offering technical services which are regarded as male-dominated, were conducted. The
findings indicated that women entrepreneurs face gender barriers and highlighted the
following key barriers affecting women entrepreneurs in mining as a non-traditional industry:
Patriarchy, stereotyping, discrimination, lack of networking skills, lack of access to finance,
and lack of experience and skills.
On the other hand, it has been established that both mining companies and government
continue with efforts to promote small enterprise development and promote gender equality.
However, efforts have yet to appear effective for women entrepreneurs. Therefore, women
entrepreneurs should first undertake techniques that can strengthen their agency and
legitimacy in order to gain access to even the most basic resources.
A conceptual model was developed based on the findings of research questions anchored in
the empirical study.
