Womens Leadership for Enterprise: Differences in Productivity and Earnings

Presented By:

Salma KhanChairperson, NGO Coalition for Beijing PFA

Also Former

Chairperson, UN CEDAW Committee

Division Chief, Planning Commission, GOB

Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Management

Dramatic Improvement in Womens Lives During Last 25 Years

Unprecedented gains in rights, education, health and employment.

Women have become agents of change in many societies.

More countries than ever guarantee women equal rights to property, marriage and in other domain.

Political participation of women have increased

Shift in Development Approach

Ratification of CEDAW (186 countries) and adoptation of Beijing Platform for Action (nearly by all countries)

helped establishing critical link between gender equality

and development.

Demand for empowering women as economic, political and social actors to change policy choices and make

institutions more gender responsive.

Advances in Female Labor Force

Participation

Labor force participation significantly increased among young women.

Rate of growth of female labor participation in most countries higher then men.

Gender gap in labor force participation rate is declining (Global Gender Gap Repot-2010)

Women now makeup 40% of global labor force and 43% of farmers.

Between 1980-2009 global rate of female labor force participation rose to 51.8%.

Due to tradition of unpaid female labor engaged in informal works, male labor force participation in South Asia is comparatively low.

Role of Women-owned MSMEs in Economic

Development

MSMEs play critical role in poverty alleviation and job creation in developing countries.

Goldman Sach research finds that- as one womans business prosper, so does her family and community.

African women-owned/run MSMEs show great prosperity in food security of the world.

SMEs are recognized as engine of growth generating employment and job opportunities both in developing

and developed countries.

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Proportion of SMEs in ASEAN Economies

Proportion of MSMEs in SAARC Economies

Country Proportion

Indonesia 99.8%

Thailand 99.7%

China 99.2%

Vietnam 96.8%

Country Proportion

India 90%

Pakistan 90%

Bangladesh N/A

Average Annual Growth Rate of

Male/Female SMEs in Selected Countries

Source: Access to Finance for women-owned SMEs in Developing Countries

2011, IFC, World Bank

Country Female Male

Indonesia (2007) 8.1% 0.27%

Malaysia (2008) 9.7% 7.43%

Philippines (2009) 4.2% N/A

Singapore (2009) 4.2% N/A

Thailand (2008) 2.3% 0.31%

Vietnam (2008) 42.5% 40.33%

Feminization of SMEs in Agricultural Sector

Globally 43% farmers are women.

Women are producing even more food.

In agricultural sector- which is largely informal, women face more discrimination.

Women mostly do not own land, have little access to agricultural credit and technology.

Enterprise Leadership, Productivity and

Income Differentials on the Basis of Gender

Womens organizations productivity and income is lower compared to men-run organizations.

Leadership implies being control of ones life and activities- This independence is often denied to women.

Productivity and income is a function of size and choosing better options where role of leadership is

critical.

Women are reluctant to choose option for increasing productivity as they have an attitude of risk aversion.

Less Presence of Women in Boardroom of

Enterprises

Though women have gained ground in the SME sector, only a few women are in the leadership.

Except in micro enterprises, women have limited role in leadership.

Few women on Board of Directors or CEOs.

Higher representation of women in

countries where womens presence

is mandatory leading to higher

productivity and growth.

In Bangladesh out of 43 Banks, 44

women on board compared to

471 male.

Country Ratio

Norway 40% Required

by lawSweden 21%

Japan 2% Not

required

by lawKorea 2%

Major Barriers to Womens Leadership for Enterprise

a) Cultural Practice

Leadership involves a process of social influence which is often based on patriarchal power model.

Typical masculine behaviour of management is expected by workers.

Burden of traditional gender roles- women bear the brunt of housework, men do market work

b) Access to Finance

Women mostly do not own lands or other family assets.

Can not offer collateral against loan.

High risk and operational cost for Bank.

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c) Legal and Regulatory Constraints

Women prefer to operate in a more transparent business environment.

Ease of doing business matter more to women entrepreneur.

Lacks information on legal and financial regulations and market incentives.

d) Lack of Market Interaction and Networking

Lack of mobility- social and occupational segregation.

Due to motherhood and domestic burden women are reluctant to join trade unions and professionals bodies.

Employees prefer engaged male workers compared to unengaged female workers.

e) Lower Education and Technical skill

Increase in brain requirement and decrease in brawn requirement over past two decades.

Recommendations

a) National income account system must be changed to reflect

womens unremunerated works.

b) Adding value to womens unpaid work will make womens contribution to GDP visible, which will help to change social

perception on womens contribution in the economy and role in leadership.

c) Attention should be paid to law enforcement and improve

business environment and ease of doing business.

d) Affirmative policy should be introduced to create more

access to women to training and skill development.

e) Discriminatory laws of inheritance and womens access to land and family assets must be reformed.

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f) Special entrepreneurship programmes to transform womens lives should be developed

Examples of Latin America, through IFC developed BelcorpProject- provided loan, training and management skill to 1

million women beauty consultant to start business)

Examples of Grameen Bank and BRAC ultra poor projects in Bangladesh

g) More opportunities for women entrepreneur should be

created in SMEs in Service sector which have the greatest

potential in job creation and growth.