Does household poverty affect the participation of women in enterprises? The case of Kenyan slum dwellers

There are large numbers of poor women living in the informal settlements in Kenya despite of the low number of economic opportunities available for exploitation in those areas. Such women find themselves in a vicious cycle of poverty and sometimes intergenerational poverty sets in. Women are born in shanties by poor women, and due to lack of adequate education and economic opportunities, they end up in low being activities or start up small unprofitable enterprises. They thus remain poor and their children face the risk of remaining poor. The key research question that this study sought to answer was the extent to which household poverty affects the participation in enterprises by women living in informal settlements in urban Kenya. The study hypothesized that women living in poverty participate in entrepreneurship because of the need to improve their living conditions and find alternatives to unemployment. The broad objective of the study was to examine the extent which household poverty and other covariates affect the participation of Kenyan women slum dwellers in entrepreneurship. Based on the findings, the study suggested relevant policy recommendations for improving the plight of such women. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for analysis. The study was based on the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) 2005/6 data, complemented by a case study survey of 30 women from Kibera slum, Nairobi, who were interviewed in July 2015. Qualitative and descriptive data analysis methods, a probit model of participation in enterprises and the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method were used to derive the study findings. The findings of this study showed that women living in shanties were less likely to participate in entrepreneurship compared to their counterparts living in other forms of informal settlements (Manyattas and Swahilis). Furthermore, poverty was found to be a key barrier to the participation of women in entrepreneurship. Other barriers included marital status, presence of many children and culture. Household size, transfers and education were found to encourage participation in entrepreneurship. The results also show that differences in participation of men and women in could be due to the differences in age, education, poverty and marital status. The study offered several policy recommendations for enhancing the participation of women in enterprises. First, the study recommended fostering of equity and poverty eradication programmes, especially those targeting informal settlement dwellers. Second, there is need for policies targeting gender and vulnerable groups and the need to address gender bias and differentials in Kenya. Third, provision of functional training in finance, marketing, production and managerial skills among poor women entrepreneurs. Finally the study recommended provision of credit to poor women for both start-up and boosting of enterprises.