Gender and rural non-farm entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 of 1

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Gender and rural non-farm entrepreneurship

Author:	Rijkers, Bob; Costa, Rita;	Collection Title:	Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 6066Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP)
Country:	World;	Date Stored:	2012/05/08
Document Date:	2012/05/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Major Sector:	Industry and trade
Rel. Proj ID:	1W-Micro Dynamics And Macro Performance -- -- P104056;	Region:	The World Region
Report Number:	WPS6066	Sub Sectors:	General industry and trade sector
SubTopics:	Access to Finance; Economic Theory & Research; Housing & Human Habitats; Population Policies; Gender and Development	TF No/Name:	TF058171-INVESTMENT CLIMATE'S CONTRIBUTION TO GROWTH THROUGH FIRM DYNAMICS AND A; TF090797-MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY; TF097044-Women in Crisis; TF010008-KCP II - Industrial structure, productivity, growth and welfare; TF094566-KCP II COMPARABLE DISAGGREGATED CENSUS DATA ACROSS DEVELOPING COUNTRIE
Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: Despite their increasing prominence in policy debates, little is known about gender inequities in non-agricultural labor market outcomes in rural areas. Using matched household-enterprise-community data sets from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, this paper documents and analyzes gender differences in the individual portfolio choice and productivity of non-farm entrepreneurship. Except for Ethiopia, women are less likely than men to become nonfarm entrepreneurs. Women's nonfarm entrepreneurship isn't strongly correlated with household composition or educational attainment, but is especially prevalent amongst women who are the head of their household. Female-led firms are much smaller and less productive on average, though gender differences in productivity vary dramatically across countries. Mean differences in log output per worker suggest that male firms are roughly 10 times as productive as female firms in Bangladesh, three times as those in Ethiopia and twice as those in Sri Lanka. By contrast, no significant differences in labor productivity were detected in Indonesia. Differences in output per worker are overwhelmingly accounted for by sorting by sector and size. They can't be explained by differences in capital intensity, human capital or the local investment climate, nor by increasing returns to scale.


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