Women Entrepreneurs’ Strategies and Tourism Development in Zanzibar

Abstract

This article uses the concept of enactment to determine how the strategies women adopt to work in the tourism industry contribute to the development of the industry in Zanzibar. The article positions women as capable of negotiating with the structures that constrain their participation in the tourism industry and that they are an integral part of the environment they live or operate in. It identifies the strategies they use and their coping mechanism. As women in the Zanzibar archipelago have generally been limited in their exposure to formal education, they deploy their household competence to thrive in the industry. In addition, they play a balancing act to ensure they accommodate the needs of their marriages and societal culture while engaging in the tourism industry. Besides they trust and act upon their own choices. The strategies they adopt are either for maintaining respect by conforming to the established norms and values or getting more benefits from tourism by neglecting complying with those traditions. As such, women choose to work as producers, retailers or distributers. Through their work choices, the women in Zanzibar have added value to the distribution chain and contribute by supplying crafts and cosmetics that help to foster cultural tourism.