WHERE DOES ‘GENDER’ MATTER
IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
Enabling Environment and Policy Reforms
to Support Female Entrepreneurship
Mary Hallward-Driemeier
Chief Economist Office, FPD
Where does ‘gender’ matter in
entrepreneurship?

Where do women work? What enterprises do they run?

Which dimension of IC matters most for women?
 Directly
– as women
 Indirectly – where more women work
 Looking beyond levels of IC
Women’s entrepreneurship is high -But concentrated in self-employment
Women’s share in non-agricultural employment averages 38 percent – across income levels
•At low levels of income, women
are disproportionately in selfemployment.
• Greater relative participation of
women in wage work as income
rises
•Women’s share of employers
remains constant
•But 10 percentage points
lower than women’s share in
the non-agric. labor force
Source: Hallward-Driemeier et al. (2011)
Agenda is not to raise women’s entrepreneurship per se – but to
help women move into higher value added activities
Definition of “female enterprise” matters
1.
2.
Participation in ownership
Decision maker

3.
Of those with ‘some female ownership’ – women are a
main decision maker in only half
Sole proprietors – ownership and decision maker
Choice matters:
Performance gaps
using the first
definition are not
significant; they are
using the second and
third.
Direct impact of gender – greater IC
constraints faced by women as women

Property rights:
especially family law


Ethiopia – change of
family law raised share
of women working
outside the home
Shares that have ‘frequently’ heard of sexual
favors being raised in certain transactions
Access to finance
Require male cosignature
 Less access to collateral


Harassment – what is
asked for is not always
money; ‘sextortion’
Source: Hallward-Driemeier et al. (2011)
Variations are greater across sectors
than by gender within a sector
Labor Productivity
Education of the entrepreneur
Source: Hallward-Driemeier and Gajigo (2010)
Source: Hallward-Driemeier et al. (2011)
 But women are more likely to run informal or smaller firms. Indirect gender effects.
 Addressing constraints to smaller firms can disproportionately help women.
 Factors affecting entry and choice of activity / formality / size of enterprise are
key to explaining outcomes.
Which dimension of the IC matters?


Most work has focused on the LEVEL of IC conditions
(days or costs to get things done)
But VARIATION in the IC is also costly
Introduces uncertainty that is associated with lower
investment and hiring
 Opens the door to more corruption


Women’s enterprises are less likely to be ‘favored firms’
Detrimental effects are larger on SMEs
 Undermines government’s credibility
 Thwarts the public interest they were supposed to serve
 May undermine support for reforms by creating different
interests between favored and non-favored firms.

The gap between de jure and de facto measures of regulation
Variations within a country are greater than the
variation in averages across countries
45 degree line
gap between
de facto and de jure
95th pctile
75th pctile
25th pctile
5th pctile
Source: Hallward-Driemeier and Pritchett (2011)
Take away messages


Agenda -- supporting women to pursue higher value
added activities, not raising entrepreneurship per se
Careful how you define ‘female enterprises’


Factors affecting entry and choice of enterprise are key



Bring decision making authority into account where possible
Within sectors and size, gender is less important
Gender can matter directly (restrictions in (family) law) and
indirectly(constraints that hit smaller firms harder)
Look at degree of variation in constraints across firms


Associated with corruption and uncertainty
Women less likely to be ‘favored firms’