Female entrepreneurs who succeed in male-dominated sectors in Ethiopia

Abstract

The challenges Ethiopian women face in getting jobs and earning income come from a range of sources. Women start from a more difficult situation than men: they do not have easy access to finance, land, training, education or effective business networks'. The share of women in Ethiopia without education is almost twice that of men, which in turn limits women entrepreneurs' ability to grow their businesses. Reducing gender inequalities in education and the labor market could increase annual GDP growth in Ethiopia by around 1.9 percentage points.

Occupational sector selection has been identified as an important determinant of returns for female entrepreneurs. If sectors that are traditionally male-owned provide an opportunity to earn higher returns then why do women continue to work in lower return sectors? Here we examine this question in a bid towards encouraging the productivity of female businesses and closing the gender gap.

Citation

Alibhai, S.; Buehren, N.; Papineni, S. Female entrepreneurs who succeed in male-dominated sectors in Ethiopia. World Bank, Washington DC, USA (2015) 5 pp. [Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) Policy Brief 12]

Female entrepreneurs who succeed in male-dominated sectors in Ethiopia

Published 1 January 2015