Women dominate small-business sector

Swazi women own nearly three-quarters of the country's small businesses, according to a study by the Ministry of Enterprise and Employment. The figure flies in the face of conventional wisdom that Swazi women, because of their legal status as minors, are economically disenfranchised. "This goes to show how clever Swazi women can be, because we have found ways to achieve, despite cultural and legal obstacles that do not hinder men," lawyer Fikile Mthembu told IRIN. The government study found that 71 percent of small businesses listed with local and national tax authorities were registered under women's names. The survey was conducted for a draft policy on small and medium enterprises. "It is recognised that women married in the civil code under community of property are disadvantaged, as they are minors in law and have very limited contractual capacity," the study said. Women cannot own property in their own names, enter into contracts, or secure bank loans without the sponsorship of a male relative. "I have had women clients lose their businesses because their husbands have used them to settle gambling debts. The husbands legally 'own' the businesses, on paper, even though they contribute nothing financially, and do no work whatsoever," said Mthembu. The Swaziland branch of Women in Law in Southern Africa has in place a programme to inform Swazi women of such options as establishing a property-owning corporation that would legally own land and buildings. Because it is a corporation and not a woman that is the property-owning entity, the government's land board can approve the ownership, even with a woman listed as the corporation director. "Property-owning corporations are one way women have been able to own houses of their own in Swaziland," said Mthembu. Janice Simelane, a developmental officer with the women's empowerment group, Umtapo WaBomake, was not surprised to learn that women own the large majority of small businesses. "We are capable business people, but we have been kept from advancing in big corporations. Small businesses allow women to apply their business skills, and prosper, and these type of businesses also offer time flexibility," she said. Simelane noted that the hours are long and it is hard work running a small business like a general store, poultry farm, beauty salon, dressmaking shop or clothing boutique, but the woman in charge can choose when to work, and when to tend to family needs. "My organisation deals mostly with financing women's cooperatives, mostly in agriculture. But many Swazi women are finding their own financing, and they are opening newer types of businesses. We find women heading real estate agencies, private schools, public relations outfits and even their own law firms," she said. Women's empowerment groups give anecdotal evidence that women are taking over the businesses of their deceased husbands in increasing numbers as the AIDS epidemic raises the mortality rate. The government seems committed to women's empowerment, as evidenced by a draft constitution that would remove legal barriers now hindering women from property ownership. "A sizeable number of middle class and informal sector businesswomen are in the position of seizing opportunities when legal constraints fall," an official with the finance ministry told IRIN. King Mswati is expected to ratify the draft constitution next year. But a number of women are not waiting for constitutional permission to achieve their goals. Despite a traditional prohibition against such activity for widows, Amanda Matsebula owns a general dealer's shop in rural Lubombo. "By custom, I must observe a two-year mourning period for my late husband. But this custom was meant for another time," she said. "Modern women must work, or they and their children will starve. This is particularly true because of our country's inheritance laws that customarily award everything to the dead husband's family. Greedy relatives give nothing to the widow or surviving children," explained Mthembu. No Swazi woman heads a major corporation. However, the third-ranking financial official in government, behind the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Swaziland, is a woman: Musa Fakudze, principal secretary at the finance ministry. "Women apply themselves to their businesses. They have a work ethic because they are used to working hard at a household. They have been given equal opportunities in education. It is no secret why they are flourishing in business, where they have been permitted," Fakudze told IRIN.