In Viest African cities, as we have seen, women dominate market places. An ILO study (date-Bah) on women workers in the informal sector in Banjul, Freetown and Monrovia, indicate, as numerous other studies had previously, that women are. the undisputed operators of markets in that region: They constitute anywhere between 60"80' per cent. of all marketeers, Not so in Mauritius. In fact women in Mliurlthis are vlrtually'ubsenr'Inmarket places. '
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We observed, with incredibility, havinrt carrie:' C'Jt major research works on market tradinc in NiGeria, ano brief observations of other market places on the West african Coast (Karanja, IG89, 1984 and UJ86) the virtual absence of female traders in practically all the major markets in Mauritius. In two different markets near Port Louis, we counted, with the assistance of a female officer from the Ministry of Women's RiGhts and Family Welfare, less than 50 women traders. In one market place at Curepipe, a careful count yielded 26 women, all of whom were 'trading with the assistance of their male relatives, mostly male children according to the information offered by these traders. In both markets, we estimated the number of traders to be well Over one thousand.
In the central market in Port-Louis, which is also the oldest market in the entire area, we counted 3 female traders who owned and operated 3 stalls. The Municipal Officers in charge of the market 'confirmed the figure to be correct. They also said that there were more than 500 sheds in operation at the time of our visit. A large section of the market had burned down earlier which meant that many stalls were not in operation. But we were informed that the section which had experienced a fire disaster had no female operators.,
The sum total of this is that out of probably well over a thousand market operators in Port-Louis Central market, there were only 3 female traders. One had been there for 62 years.
Her daughter, now in her sixties, was one of the other 2 traders. This anomalous situation, at least in African cities, led us to extensive interviews with this oldest trader. The one who had spent 62 years in Port-Louis Central. Neither the interviews carried out with her nor extensivelntetviews with Mauritians from all walks of life could resolve this incongruity. Thus, the women did the buying while the men did the selling, even of. cooked food: Even in Zambia and Swaziland where we found that the informal sector, including market place trading, was in its infancy, the retail trade, especially that having to do with foodstuffs, such as vegetables, fruits, cooked food, and the like, is a female domain.
Of course the absence of women in market places as operators is entirely in consonance with their general absence in the "visiblerJnformal sector. This state of affairs was all the more intruiging given'the phenomenal participation of Mauritian women in formal sector wage-earning employment, especially in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), which surpasses that of women's participation in the Far Eastern newly industrialised countries.
It is hoped that the f'ollowlng case histories will throw some Iight - albeit tentative on the inertia that may possibly be responsible for the absence of Mauritian women in tne informal .sector.
A. Case Histories
Here we present summaries of five case histories of Mauritian women currently operating small-scale enterprise. Time and space constraints do not ailow a lengthy discussion of .thetr operations. Also, in order to protect their identities, we have used fictitions names. Two of the five women said they definitely did not mind if their real names were used. We have nonetheless decided that it might he to their advantage if their real names were not disclosed.
Case I
Anne-Marie, new in her early forties, operates a thrlvin, boutique and hair dressing saloon.
All the clothes sold in the boutique are made in 11 small factory in the basement of the same building. Her operations lire convcniontlv lo""tcc1 on a major rood, She and her 2 children
live in a house next door, which she has built without outside financial assistance. She combines her business with another fulltime job. She says that at least for the time being, she must have the security of paid employment, Consequently, this woman said working 18 hours a (Jay, seven days
a
week, somctirnesIonger, was not at all unusual for her. From .our interview, we got the distinct impression that she had to prove to her bust-and that she can make it in business, even thourrh she is a woman. Disagreement over her operatinE' this business led to her husband walking out on her and their two children. Her operations employ a total of 11 workers, excluding herself and her two teenage children who also work part-time (they are both ,?;Cing to school) in the shop. She started her business with a loan of Es. 50,000 which she was able to obtain t,y using her mother's piece of land in the city as collateral. An additional loan of Rs. 85,000 was secured 'oy using her life insurance policy as security. By the time of the interview she said she had invested a total of ;::;s. 300,000 in her !)usin.;ss.Order for school uniforms have been the greatest hreak-through for her business. She says that a dress-making business without sul.stantial orders from a bip: company is precarious indeed because of the intense competition both from bi,:! companies and small-scale enterprises.
Many women in private businesses in Mauritius, according to this woman, are engaged in dressmaking carried out from their homes fine] their returns m'" extremely rneapre she contends.
To succeed, you must have something to offer, that other entrepreneurs in this activity lack.
For example, a [':ood personality which helps you to retain ano easily add to your clientile and extra skills. She says she had been trained by a Parisian trained (]esir;ner for 2 years, which was initially. good publicity for her. When asked what hue] been the greatest obstacle to her business operations, she reflected,
"My nust.ano constituted the biFf'est problem initially, since I could raise the initial capital with my mother's piece of land. Initially, it was a question of mild discouragement with, women cannot make it in l.usiness sort of argument but as the business picked up and profits started coming in, he t.eccrne frantic, Qunrrels mounted, until he finally moved out. NoW I live alone with my children. he is neither interested in them nor my c·usiness. He contributes nothing".
According to this woman, husr-nnds arc the sincle most Important obstacle to Mauritian women's participntiivatc enterprise, She feels that husbane with mds find it difficult to deal with this kind of female independence, especially if they themselves are not in a private business•.
They oon't mind wives helpirur them if they are operating a business, [,ut fur a woman to operate an indepenrtent enterprise, is bound, sooner than later, to cause marital riff. She says that a friend who is operating a similar business from her home is having similar problems with her husband even though they are notseparatec',
Case II
Josephine, now in her mid-thirties operates a successful shoe manufacturing business owned jointly with her husbanc'. Her case is rcportec here because she is the total brain behind this business. Her husband's unemployment prompter: her to start 0 small dressmaking Lusiness which She combined with her full-time joi. as a secretory.
With a machine siven to her by her mother While she was in her teens, she starter] making·
Jresses for sale from her mother-in-law's kitchen, since they did not have enough room where they lived. The husband would then use his bicycle to hawk the dresses she had made. However, this was not enough to compensate for her husband's loss of income, especially as they also had 3 chiloren to feed,
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Her husband had skill in shoe making but when he was laid off, he would hear nothing about starting a small business in shoe-rnakinc, lie was frightened of failure. The interview was carried out in the presence of her husband who participated actively. She relentlessly continued to persuade him to start Il business until he finally acquired.
The initial problem was capital investment as no lending institution would hear the case as they had no financial security or collateral. Eventually, they were able to raise Rs. 50,000 from friends and relatives, on which they were forced to pay income tax.
A feasibility study, technical advice on shoe manufacturinc and recommendation to a bank, all by centre de Promotion de la Petite Entreprise (CPPE) discussed in the last section, led to a loan from the Development Bank of Mauritius (DMB). She says from there on, getting additional loans became Iess difficult. This business now employs 2 workers, excluding the husband anc herself. The former designs all the shoes and maintains the machines. The business operates from a building and premises owned by Josephine's mother. While the building, which has, among others, an office and a reception room used by her secretary, was built entirely with profits from the business. Askec how much the business was worth, Josephine said she was not exactly certain but that the fir:;ures on ham] indicated that by the end of July 1987, the business was worth almost half a million Hupees.
Asked what she should consider to have been the bip:gest problem in starting this business (she now works there full-time) she declared:
"Capital for investment. definitely. Also being a woman since my husband could not be, persuaded to go from one bank to another. H? was ready to cooperate, but made it clear that he would net be party to chasing bank officials. My husband said government and red tape intimadated him, so he could not help even with licenses which everyboby knows to be difficult and tirinG to obtain".
What are the biggest problems now? She continues:
"Raw materials. To produce shoes that are competitive, you need excellent leather.
Better than what your competitors are using.•. Then the question of credit facilities.
"You have to sell shoes onrcredit which may be up to six months or more. If you don't sell on credit, somebody else will. And so, you lose market. But this also means that your capital, without interest, is tied up some place for six months. This is a great operational constraint to small entrepreneurs. Another problem is the fact that you have to produce the shoes in the name of your clients' company which means that independent consumers cannot buy from us directly which would greatly improve our profits",
This dynamic female entrepreneur has a high school certificate she came from an extremely poor family. Both her. mother and her older sister worked as house maids to send her to school, which might explain why she built her mother a home before she ano her husband could own a home. They live in a .rented house. She concludes, "At first, there were many times I became so desperate I almost gave up. Being a woman and attempting to starta business was not easy".
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Case III
Patricia says she is 46. She has 4 children and a husband who works in a private company.
She has only primary education and says she would not ;:>;0 out to work repardless of the pay 'offered. She says a woman with children has to stay home to see to the children's welfare.
Patricia operates.adressmaking business and handbags. She has recently rented a boutique not too far from home. 'Her 19 year old son assists her in making dresses. She has a female employee who looks after her boutique located not far from one of the main streets in curepipe.
She says the business is picking up despite numerous problems, mostly having to do with capital formation but also the fact that her husband is not interested in her business operations. But unlike Anne Marie, he does hot p:ive her any trouble. He is interested in the financial contribution she makes to household finance, but not how she makes the money. She says he never discusses her business with her anel she would not dare because she knows he is not the least interested. He feels that it is her problem and therefore, there is no question of him offering financial help.
She started her business by sewing a few dresses at a time for shops in the neighbourhood.
The bir;gest problem, was tryinc to recover the money for dresses sold this way. The arrancement was that she would rive dresses to shops 4-5 at a time who took commission (10 per cent) for selling each dress. 'Frequently she would be told some dresses had got lost or sold for less or simply not given money for lone periods when dresses are sold. This led her to changing her marketing strategies - e.g., opening her own boutique. It took her 10 years to save [(s.
10,000 with Which she was able to rent premises. To increase the chances of her business success, she decided to utilise a skill she had acquired in the family in her youth , namely, handbag making. Today, this woman makes beautiful handbags which are sold in her boutique.
She estimates that she makes Ics, 1300 a months in profits, we suspected that she probably makes more than this, because of the reported daily sales in her boutique which we visited.., . - .
Her biggest problems has :)een raisinr; capital for expansion. Perhaps because of her low educational background and lack of support from her husband, she knew nothing of the lending institutions and seemed timid about the whole question of borrowing money for her business. She also complained of lack of market for her products. Small-scale operations also lead to problems of raw materials since she haC: to buy in small quantities in order to make sure that all the material was used. This led to reducec profits than would have been the case if she had been able to buy wholesales.
Case IV
Mme Pierre is the oldest female trader in Port-Louise Central Market. A fact confirmec by the officials of the market she claims to be 82 years old and says she has been a trader in this market for 62 years. She has 9 llving children DUt of an original 13 and 37 fSl'and and ,;;reat grand-children. She had married twice, both her 2 husbands are dead. The death of the last husband led to market trade. First she hawked vegetables from her home, to support her children, then she sought a stall in this market, a most unusual move for a woman. Asked Why she did this, she said she had little choice since her 2 husbands left nothing with which to support a large family and she was illitrate.
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She said even though women do net trade in markets in Mauritius, she had to ignore her male co-traders who were not initially friendly. Acc0rdinl; to her, they eventually got used to her presence, At the time we interviewed her she traded with male grand children with whom she shared the profits accruing the business. Two of these e;ra""ildSons are married with children. One of her daughters who she said was 60 years old traded in a stall next to hers.
She too was aided by male grand children.
According to Mme Pierre, market trading' was very difficult initially but had become very lucrative with time. She says it was particularly difficult when children were small as she had to pet to the market ~y 5 a.m, this meant waking up at 2 a.rn, to perform household chores, and taking care of the children's needs. She claims to have built a L,ig two storey house in Rose-Hill and to have donated 14 statutes to a temple. The fact that she employs fulltime 2 grand sons who are married shows that market trading for this woman is profitable indeed.
She said she has travelled to France, Belgium and England to visit her children who live permanently in these countries.
Asked how she expanoec her business, she said she borrowed Rs. 100,000 from a customer without interest which she repaid within 5 years.
The DBM female officers who assited us with this interview said that the residential area where Mme Pierre claimed to have built her large home was one of the richest neighbourhood in urban Mauritius. Asked when she was going to retire, she said that would bore her to death. She goes home by 3:30-4 p.rn, and comes to work late. She wished more women could enter market trade but feored that they might not be able to withstand male pressure which disapproves of women traders in market places.
Case V
Marie is 30. Her main business is sellinr- a variety of beautiful dolls which she also exports to Europe. She produces these dolls with the help of 8 workers most of whom she said; were paid apprentlces. She also operates a boutique where shc sells dolls and ready made Clothes produced by herself. She was previously a primary SChool teacher. She is married with 2 children.
Financial difficulties, she says, led her to her current trnde, The husband was away on a government assignment and remittances took for too long to reach her in Mauritius. She started'augument her income by hawking flowers in her neighbourhood and selling dresses she made in the night. When she wrote the husband to tell him of her plans to start a business selling dolls and ready made clothes, he anfTily wrote back to say that "decent" women did not go into trading and that he would not have a wife who is an entr-epreneur; He seems to have changed his mind butcnly very reluctantly. She went ahead without his consent. Today, her husband, who is permanently back to Mauritius accepts, albeit with some trepidation, that her Judp,ement might have been correct •.
Where did the idea of trade in dolls come fr~m? She retorts:
- I had small children and no money for dolls. I started making scrne for them. I talked tc friends who thought tourists might have an interest in' traditional dolls. A trip to the handicraft centre showed not many people were in this busin';:ss.,
After this, she started making a few dolls which she would hawk around. To improve her business, she decided to take a course in business management which she says helped her a lot. She also got additlonal training from the Handicraft Centre in Port-Louis.
A Loan from a commercial bank for Rs~ 16,000 at 16t per cent to 17 per cent Interest,
·guarantee by relatives helped in buying raw materials and opening: a store. She also obtained,
·guarantee by relatives helped in buying raw materials and opening: a store. She also obtained,