Another Perspective on Gender Specific Access to Credit in Africa

Arbeitspapier

Using firm level data from eight Sub-Saharan Africa countries we examine credit constraint differentials between male and female manufacturing entrepreneurs. Enterprises owned by female entrepreneurs are less likely to be credit constrained compared to their male counterparts. The magnitude of this credit constraint gap varies with constraint and ownership definitions but the direction of the gap does not. Using a generalized Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we investigate if the gap is due to differences in observable characteristics or to unexplained variations in the returns to these characteristics. We find the gap to be associated with the unexplained component. We argue that the finding is mainly due to female gender favoritism in loans to micro and small firms because (i) the gap is reversed for medium size enterprises and, (ii) we find no sign of superior female entrepreneurial performance in terms of capacity utilization, labor productivity or firm size growth.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: FOI Working Paper ; No. 2011/14

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope
• Subject: Credit ; Entrepreneurship ; Gender ; Private Sector ; SMEs

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hansen, Henrik ; Rand, John
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO)
• (where): Copenhagen
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/204330
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET