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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Africa, Sub-Saharan--Economic conditions.

Women.

Women--Africa, Sub-Saharan--Social conditions.

Women--Employment.

Businesswomen.

Economic conditions.

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Social conditions.

Businesswomen--Africa, Sub-Saharan.

Women--Employment--Africa, Sub-Saharan.

Physical Description:

pages ; cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : World Bank, 2013.

Summary:

Sub-Saharan Africa boasts the highest share of women entrepreneurs in the world, 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. This book analyzes four key areas for expanding women's economic empowerment in Africa: 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. Hallward-Driemeier focuses on these four areas to explain gender differences and gaps across a spectrum of enterprises, analyzing the latest data from household and enterprise surveys in 41 Sub-Saharan African countries. She also provides practical steps for policy makers and practitioners on how to close these gender gaps and enable more women to shift to higher return activities. Enterprising Women: Expanding Economic Opportunities in Africa is the companion volume to Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa. Book jacket.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780821397039

0821397036

9780821398098

0821398091

OCLC:

823014143