Ex-garment female workers: a new entrepreneurial community in Mauritius

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of the ex-garment workers that have turned to self-employment either in the formal or informal sector in the wake of the termination of the multi-fibre arrangement, which led to job losses. This move has given rise to a new community of entrepreneurs in the Mauritian landscape. Hence, this paper tells a story of women empowerment to disempowerment and finally the struggle for them to get re-empowered. This study also shows that there has been a limit to which self-employment led to empowerment for these women as their incomes are low, and they remain in vulnerable positions. Design/methodology/approach - – The study analyses the transformation of a sample of ex-garment workers into new entrepreneurs. The analysis in this paper rests on survey data collected from 92 ex-garment female workers, who are presently self-employed in either the formal or informal sectors, in different parts of Mauritius. Findings - – The findings reveal that the self-employed women in the sample, who are also ex-garment female workers, are essentially necessity-driven entrepreneurs. Most of them have only basic primary education and seem to have no other choice than to engage either formally or informally in similar activities, given their prior knowledge and experience in the textile and clothing industries. The authors also find evidence of statistically significant differences across age, marital status and household size between those women in the informal sector compared to those engaged in the formal sector. Research limitations/implications - – Resource constraints aside, this study could benefit from a larger sample cutting across many other sub-sectors. So far, the results of this study are only applicable to the specific sample studied. In terms of implications, the study finds that the relevant authorities should come up with targeted policies to help these women and address and alleviate the barriers that they face. Practical implications - – This study provides an insight to help explain why a large group of women have gone into self-employment in Mauritius in the past 10 years. The authors find that self-employment has provided an empowerment outlet for these women so that they can financially contribute to their household income. From the policy-making perspective, this implies that it is important for the government to support the activities of these self-employed women with conducive policies. Originality/value - – The study helps to advance knowledge on self-employed women in a small vulnerable island economy context. Given that the transition from being employed to unemployed and then the move to self-employment happened in a rather short span of time for these women, the contribution of this study is also to put at the forefront the industrial changes and the individual coping strategies.