Work

Persistent yet ameliorable shocks to female entrepreneurship: Experimental evidence from Kenya

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: While female entrepreneurs face multiple obstacles, it is unclear whether gender gaps worsen during economic crises: women, especially married women, may be more affected than men due to these obstacles, but could also be less exposed due to their specialized sectors, or if a crisis flattens everyone together. Leveraging on a unique timing of collecting baseline data just before COVID-19, we examine the impact of randomized grants and business training of partnered female and male microentrepreneurs two years after the crisis. We find that women were more severely impacted by the pandemic, but that the grants significantly helped mitigate the crisis impacts on business ownership, sales, profits, income, and well-being. In terms of channels of impact, the grants increased women's labor supply, at the expense of domestic work, leisure time, and childcare hours, while, for men, time is reallocated from wage employment to their business.

Source: Journal of Development Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103546

Authors: Francisco Campos, Maria Hernandez-de-Benito, Julian C. Jamison, Abla Safir, Bilal Zia

Institutions: World Bank, CUNEF Universidad, University of Exeter, Duolingo (United States)

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Gender equality, No poverty, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,590