International Journal of Arts and Humanities

The Impact of Domestic Violence on Small-Scale Women Entrepreneurship: A case of Mafinga Town Council, Tanzania

Abstract

Accepted 3^rd March, 2021.

Domestic violence is a social problem that, although well recognized, is still associated with uncertainty and taboos. Many women, in their intimate relationships or immediate social environment, experience psychological and physical violence, which becomes a serious health problem for them. This study from which this paper is based was conducted in Iringa region at Mafinga town Council, Tanzania, with the aim to examine the impact of domestic violence on small scale women entrepreneurship prosperity. Specifically the study aimed at identifying forms, contributing factors, effects of domestic violence to entrepreneurship prosperity and finally exploring copying strategies employed by small scale women entrepreneurs against the situation. Data collection was carried out through Individual survey, semi-structured interviews with key informants and focus groups discussions. A binary logistic regression was used to determine the factors affecting entrepreneurship prosperity. The results show that two independent variables: household poverty and excessive male dominance were significant at p < 0.008 and p < 0.000, respectively. The findings indicate that household poverty and the more women become powerless in decision making on various matters at households, the higher the negative effect on entrepreneurship prosperity. The paper concludes that domestic violence has been an obstacle affecting business environment for small-scale women entrepreneurs at Mafinga town. Generally the business performance to women experiencing domestic violence was poor. It is recommended that, in order to ensure prosperity of women entrepreneurs, community engaging strategies should be employed to create awareness about the issue.  

Keywords: Domestic violence, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship prosperity