Hired domestic help: Critical factor in women entrepreneurs’ life and business satisfaction in sub-Saharan countries

This chapter focuses on the role of hired domestic help (HDH), viewed as a ‘home resource’, in influencing life and business satisfaction by reducing the family-to-work conflict of men and women entrepreneurs in the sub-Saharan context, where women entrepreneurs face greater challenges of multiple role demands at home, in the community and at work in comparison to men entrepreneurs. Therefore, segmenting business from other life roles through hiring domestic helps at home can be expected to be more instrumental in reducing family-to-work-conflict, thereby enhancing business satisfaction and wellbeing. We review the current debates in the literature on this issue and subsequently showcase a study involving 174 men and women entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which researched how having hired domestic help, as a home resource, can enhance the wellbeing and business satisfaction of both women and men entrepreneurs. The showcase study shows that this appears to be particularly true when hiring domestic help allows for family roles to be separated from interfering with business roles of entrepreneurs. This indicates that the quality of support from hired domestic helps is more important than simply having such helps in influencing business satisfaction and wellbeing. Our chapter concludes by presenting an agenda for research and policy makers that addresses the importance of using HDH to manage work-life-conflict, gender-equal business outcomes and general wellbeing.