Bridging the Gap : Identifying What is Holding Self-Employed Women Back in Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, the Republic of Congo, and Uganda

Nix, Emily ; Gamberoni, Elisa ; Heath, Rachel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURE;    BUSINESS ECONOMICS;    COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS;    CONSUMERS;    DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6946
RP-ID  :  WPS6946

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper explores the determinants of the gendergap in income earnings in five Sub-Saharan countries:the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, andTanzania. It shows that first, self-employment tendsto provide marginally lower average income (with theexception of Ghana and men in Rwanda) and muchhigher variability in income compared with wage work.Women on average earn less than men when theyare self-employed and in wage employment, but alsohave less volatile earnings. The analysis uses quantiledecomposition methods and finds that the differences inobservable choices and endowments explain the gendergap in earnings for the self-employed who earn the least while the gap for the most successful male and femaleentrepreneurs is largely driven by differences in returnsto observable covariates in the majority of the countries.These results suggest a glass ceiling effect, wherein alarge portion of the income gaps between high-earningmen and women cannot be explained by observablecharacteristics. The paper concludes by looking at thevariables that account for a larger portion of the gendergap explained by observable characteristics and finds thathours of work and industry explain a higher fractioncompared with standard human capital and demographicfactors such as age and education.