Gender Considerations in Youth Enterprise training
Hi All,
On gender constraints in my country, one aspect that female youth face is actually not in starting a business, but in sustainability. Most female youth, (18-35yrs), when they get married are unable to sustain the business they started as singles, because of the demands of raising children in the early childhood stages, they either have to abandon the business or the business may not be run successfully as it was before. This is further compounded by the slow pace of growth of online business in my country. Therefore one of the gender considerations in youth enterprise will be to inform and enlighten the youth, particularly the female youth to take advantage of the internet to promote their business.
Another issue on gender constraints is the issue of networking, for business to be successful, it is important that the entrepreneur be engaged in a number of social and business networks. Female youth may be constrained in this area, because of the perceived notion that women should not be as ‘outgoing’ as the men and also for safety reasons, as a result, they tend to limit the number of activities that they engage in. A way out will be to encourage the female youth to take the lead in establishing these networks, that way, they will have greater control of the activities, location and time , which may limit some of the safety and image perception issues associated with these networks.
Gender considerations should also focus on building the confidence of the female youth through provision of information and services that will limit the constraints they face in business, the male youth should also be enlightened on the need to incorporate gender considerations into their business networks and activities.
Shining Star, to add to your point on constraints faced by young women, in my country (Zambia) my Ministry arranged some Skills and Entrepreneurship training for women among whom was a young woman. She was very promising in this women's group. But as you have put it, she got married and had to relocate and abandon the small scale mining business that she was engaged in.
