Enterprising women : : expanding economic opportunities in africa / / Mary Hallward-Driemeier

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910823205703321
• Autore: Hallward-Driemeier Mary <1966->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Washington, D.C. : , : World Bank, , 2013
• ISBN: 0-8213-9809-1
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: pages cm
• Disciplina: 331.4096
• Soggetti: Women - Africa, Sub-Saharan - Economic conditions; Women - Africa, Sub-Saharan - Social conditions; Businesswomen - Africa, Sub-Saharan; Women - Employment - Africa, Sub-Saharan
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Part I. Where women and men work -- 1. Self-employed, employers, and wage earners in the formal and informal sectors -- 2. The size, formality, and industry of enterprises -- Part II. Why women work where they do -- 3. Country patterns in income, human capital, and assets affect where women work -- 4. Sorting into entrepreneurial activities: individual patterns -- Part III. How women perform--and the constraints they face -- 5. Sorting drives gender gaps in productivity and profits -- 6. After sorting, constraints depend on the type of enterprise -- Part IV. Shifting women to more productive work -- 7. Increasing the right to own and control assets -- 8. Expanding women's access to finance -- 9. Enriching managerial and financial skills -- 10. Strengthening women's voices in business environment reforms -- 11. Toward an action agenda.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book brings together new household and enterprise data from 41 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to inform policy makers and practitioners on ways to expand women entrepreneurs’ economic opportunities. Sub-Saharan Africa boasts the highest share of women entrepreneurs, but they are disproportionately concentrated among the self-employed rather than employers. Relative to men, women are pursuing lower opportunity activities, with their enterprises more likely ; to be smaller, informal, and in low value-added lines of business. The challenge in expanding opportunities is not helping more women become entrepreneurs but enabling them to shift to higher return activities. A central question addressed in the book is what explains the gender sorting in the types of enterprises that women and men run? The analysis shows that many Sub-Saharan countries present a challenging environment for women. Four key areas of the agenda for expanding women’s economic opportunities in Africa are analyzed: strengthening women’s property rights and their ability to control assets; improving women’s access to finance; building human capital in business skills and networks; and strengthening women’s voices in business environment reform. These areas are important both because they have wide gender gaps and because they help explain gender differences in entrepreneurial activities. It is particularly striking that while gender gaps in education tend to close with higher incomes, gaps in women’s property rights and in women’s participation in reform processes do not. As simply raising a country’s income is unlikely to be sufficient to give women equal ability to control assets or have greater voice, more proactive steps will be needed. Practical guidelines to move the agenda forward are discussed for each of these key areas.