Kasim Ggombe Munyegera on the gender gap in firm productivity: Evidence from Rwanda

WIDER Seminar Series

WIDER Seminar Series - Kasim Ggombe Munyegera on the Gender Gap in Firm Productivity: Evidence from Establishment and Household Enterprise Data from Rwanda


Kasim Ggombe Munyegera, the Country Economist for the International Growth Center speaks about the Gender Gap in Firm Productivity at the WIDER Seminar Series session on 30 May 2018.

Abstract - The gender gap in firm productivity: Evidence from establishment and household enterprise data from Rwanda

Rwanda is one of the countries with the best strategies for women empowerment and gender equality in Africa. Nonetheless, some inequalities exist especially in access to finance which translate into inequalities in business performance.

This study investigates the gender gaps in business performance relying on nationally representative household and establishment surveys. Preliminary results indicate that female-owned business enterprises are significantly smaller by worker size and perform poorer than their male-owned counterparts. Specifically, both turn over and net revenue per worker are significantly lower among female-owned enterprises relative to male-owned counterparts. Surprisingly, the difference does not seem to result from difference in manager characteristics.

The actual pathways of the productivity differential are under investigation, but access to credit seems to be one potential explanation.