Womens Leadership for Enterprise:

Differences in Productivity and Earnings

Presented By:
Salma Khan
Chairperson, 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.

Continue.
Proportion of SMEs in ASEAN Economies
Country

Proportion

Indonesia

99.8%

Thailand

99.7%

China

99.2%

Vietnam

96.8%

Proportion of MSMEs in SAARC Economies

Country

Proportion

India

90%

Pakistan

90%

Bangladesh

N/A

Average Annual Growth Rate of

Male/Female SMEs in Selected Countries
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%

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

2011, IFC, World Bank

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
Country Ratio
countries where womens presence
Norway
40%
Required
by law
is mandatory leading to higher
Sweden
21%
productivity and growth.
Japan
2%
Not
In Bangladesh out of 43 Banks, 44
required
Korea
2%
women on board compared to
by law
471 male.

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.

Continue.
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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Special entrepreneurship programmes to transform womens
lives should be developed
Examples of Latin America, through IFC developed Belcorp
Project- 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.
f)