Transcript Women`s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa

Women’s entrepreneurship in the
Middle East and North Africa
Susan Joekes
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Why this topic?
Macro factor: entrepreneurship as precondition
for creation of SMEs that generate bulk of MENA
jobs and counteract inequality
WEE: entrepreneurship as self-actualized
economic activity - within what limits?
Entrepreneurship as agency -self insertion in the
monetised economic/market sphere;
MENA - has lowest levels of female economic
activity by standard measures (low LFPR, high
unemployment). Is involvement in
entrepreneurship similarly low?
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Research sources
Much qualitative social anthropological and
feminist research on MENA countries
Two main quantitative data sources:
• World Bank national enterprise surveys (normally 5+
workers, registered) ; (see World Bank n.d. (c. 2008)
main author Nadereh Chamlou)
• Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) national
survey data; 10 MENA countries 2008-09, (see IDRC
2010 GEM MENA Regional Report 2009; Reynolds,
P.D., 2011, and 2012 IDRC-OECD working paper
forthcoming)
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Definitions and data
SME = small and medium enterprises, not micro
self-employment – i.e. business operations
GEM carries out national population survey
APS; 2000 + sample size (GEM Annual Reports
and Country Reports, 80+ countries over15 yrs)
APS asks representative sample of adults about
their entrepreneurial activities, skills, experience,
perceptions, labour force status, sources of
advice, finance, the age, size, focus of their
business, jobs created and expected, and more
GEM project has no interest in or information on
business registration (i.e. informality)
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Facts of the situation (10+ MENA
countries)
Prevalence of women entrepreneurs varies by
age of the business (cf rest of world) (GEM data)
• Nascent entrepreneurs - 30% (40%)
• Infant businesses – < 30% (> 40%)
• Young and mature businesses - < 20% (40%)
These levels generally higher than the share of
women in paid employment in MENA countries
Fewer women entrepreneurs than men overall
and an elimination/evaporation effect at
successive stages of the business ‘life course’
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Facts of the situation cont.
Women entrepreneurs/ventures similar to
men’s at each stage of business life course
• In terms of size, productivity (controlling by sector - sectoral
distribution differs) (WB/Chamlou n.d.), size of team, ability to deal
with ‘regulatory’ (i.e.systemic) problems (GEM)
• Women entrepreneurs say they lack skill, technology, expectations,
finance - but not significantly more than men (GEM)
Women’s lack of confidence/experience is
significantly greater than men’s, a function of
lesser work experience (GEM)
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Explanations?
Not known if elimination effect reflects
persistently low rates of survival of women’s
businesses or a generational change.
Women from previous generations may have
been less likely to be entrepreneurs in their early
adult years (and so less represented now
among mature firm owner-managers)
 but the new cohort of women entrepreneurs have low levels of
education whereas established women entrepreneurs relatively well
educated (but biased by Moroccan data).
May be a stable phenomenon related to sociocultural norms and household income
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Evidence gaps and inferences
Selection bias in data means characteristics of
drop-out firms unknown
• GEM question on causes of ‘discontinuance’ of business - higher
reports of ‘personal incidents’ among women
Variations in distribution of entrepreneurs by
household income:
• Morocco, Yemen – relatively high share of women are from poor hhs
• Lebanon, UAE – relatively high share of women are from richest hhs
• Poorest can’t afford to observe social norms, richest have social
power to ignore them; in between, women’s agency is denied
Re business entry: legal/regulatory framework
seems non-discriminatory; but 2nd order effects?
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Information gaps and policy
challenges
 Need panel data to assess dynamics
 Need more on reasons for ‘discontinuance’ (extra GEM
modules/questions?); more research on legal/framework
issues by gender and on the interplay between ‘market’
and ‘social’ spheres.
 Determinants of SME growth include a large random
element; policy controversies around the time point of
interventions and macro/public vs micro program
supports. How to locate WEE policies in that context?
 How to ensure that the SME sphere resists the gender
unequalizing trends seen in labour markets in India,
China? Desirable outcomes for WEE:
• probabilities of business entry and progress not gender biased
• women entrepreneurs don’t perpetuate gender discrimination in their
employment practices.
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