Entrepreneurship and women's empowerment in gateway communities of Bardia National Park, Nepal

ABSTRACT

Protected areas of Nepal, especially those situated in the lowland areas, have current and future growth prospects for ecotourism with opportunities in tourism and hospitality business operations in the buffer zone communities. This study explored the benefits and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs along with the potential role of empowerment in the buffer zone communities of Bardia National Park. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with women entrepreneurs involved in hotel and homestay enterprises. Findings suggest that women accrued various individual-level benefits from involvement, such as enhanced self-confidence and personal skills, increased access to cash income, and decision-making role in the family. Some of these benefits were related to empowerment. However, in order to better link ecotourism entrepreneurship with women’s empowerment, the gender-specific challenges in patriarchal society of rural Nepal needs to be addressed. This study highlighted the need for capacity building programs that focuses on enhancing women’s non-traditional roles, and wider programs to increase family/community support to promote their participation in tourism as entrepreneurs.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurship
• women
• empowerment
• ecotourism
• national park
• buffer zone

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Dr Sandra L. Russo at the University of Florida as well as the two other anonymous reviewers for their time reviewing this paper. They would also like to thank Bina Bhattarai and the entire team of National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) for their support during the data collection. Special thanks to women entrepreneurs of Bardia who participated in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Nepal stands with lowest score on the Human Development Index (HDI) (0.458) in South Asia, aside from Afghanistan (Government of Nepal & United Nations Development Program, 2014). Nepal ranks at 98th position in the Gender Inequality Index in the world (UNDP, 2014). Nepal has lowest sex ratio (male:female) in South Asia (Adhikari, 2014).