nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2016‒11‒13
six papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Stockholms universitet

  1. Start-Up Capital and Women's Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Swaziland By Zuzana Brixiová; Thierry Kangoye
  2. Understanding Gender Differences in Leadership By Alan, Sule; Ertac, Seda; Kubilay, Elif; Lóránth, Gyöngyi
  3. Profile of Educational Outcomes by Gender: An Age Cohort Analysis By Madeeha Gohar Qureshi
  4. The impact on wages and worked hours of childbirth in France. By Bruno Rodrigues; Vincent Vergnat
  5. Gendered analysis of the demand for poultry feed in Kenya By Macharia, John; Diiro, Gracious; Busienei, John R.; Munei, Kimpei; Affognon, Hippolyte; Ekesi, Sunday; Kassie, Menale; Muriithi, Beatrice; Nakimbugwe, Dorothy; Fiaboe, Komi
  6. Beyond a unitary household measure: Does Gender matter in Legume Seed Systems among Smallholder Farmers? By Njuguna, Esther; Mwema, Catherine; Kandiwa, Vongai

  1. By: Zuzana Brixiová (SALDRU, University of Cape Town); Thierry Kangoye (African Development Bank)
    Abstract: This paper examines gender differences in entrepreneurial performance and their links with start-up capital utilizing a search model and empirical analysis of survey of entrepreneurs from Swaziland. The results show that entrepreneurs of both genders with higher start-up capital record better sales performance than those with smaller amounts of capital. For women entrepreneurs, formal finance sources of start-up capital are also associated with higher sales. However, as in other developing countries, women entrepreneurs in Swaziland have smaller start-up capital and are less likely to fund it from formal sources than men. Among women entrepreneurs, those with college education and confident in their skills tend to start their firms with higher amounts of capital. Professional support also matters, as women with such support are more likely to fund their start-up capital from the formal financial sector.
    Keywords: women's entrepreneurship, start-up capital, search model, multivariate analysis
    JEL: L53 O12 C61
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:192&r=gen
  2. By: Alan, Sule; Ertac, Seda; Kubilay, Elif; Lóránth, Gyöngyi
    Abstract: We study the evolution of gender differences in the willingness to assume the decision-maker role in a group, which is a major component of leadership. Using data from a large-scale field experiment, we show that while there is no gender difference in the willingness to make risky decisions on behalf of a group in a sample of children, a large gap emerges in a sample of adolescents. In particular, the proportion of girls who exhibit leadership willingness drops by 39% going from childhood to adolescence. We explore the possible causes of this drop and find that a significant part of it can be explained by a dramatic decline in "social confidence", measured by the willingness to perform a real effort task in public. We show that it is possible to capture the observed link between public performance and leadership by estimating a structural model that incorporates costs related to social concerns. These findings are important in addressing the lower propensity of females to self-select into high-level positions, which are typically subject to greater public scrutiny.
    Keywords: leadership; gender; risk taking; social confidence; experiments.
    JEL: C91 C93 D03 I28
    Date: 2016–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11596&r=gen
  3. By: Madeeha Gohar Qureshi (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad)
    Abstract: How do we achieve target of universal primary education in Pakistan and how do we keep students that have enrolled to continue with schooling to higher levels are the most important policy questions which can only be effectively answered if one is well-informed about the trends in educational outcomes and of proportion of students indulging in continuation or discontinuation of schooling at critical transitions say from primary to secondary benchmark and higher. Hence an accurate description of patterns in educational achievements is crucial for both understanding the dynamic of low human capital stock build up and also for finding ways of getting out of such low-educational trap. In this context gender discrepancy in human capital building process plays an important role and in this paper an attempt is made to examine in-depth how gap in attained schooling measures for males and females at different levels of education have evolved in Pakistan through analysing the varying behaviour over age cohorts by gender. Further not only patterns of gender gap in achieved education are formulated for overall economy and across rural-urban divide both at national and provincial level but a rough estimate for attrition or continuation in studies as one move from lower to higher educational level for males and females within age cohort 15–19 are also evaluated so as to capture in totality the gender dynamics in education sector. Our findings show that though there is conspicuous deviations in percentage shares of population with completed grades by gender in favour of the males and against females at all levels of education from basic to higher studies within each province (only exception to this trend is at tertiary level of education within urban Punjab where females are in slightly higher proportion), however the analysis by age cohort show that as one move from oldest to youngest age group with individuals belonging to attained education from primary to tertiary level of education, there is a present a tilt towards university level of education for females within their own attainment distribution indicating that there is emerging a tendency of break in patriarchal force against female education. Further such tendencies are more apparent in urban parts of Pakistan and that too from mainly Province Punjab.
    Keywords: Schooling Attainment, Gender, Age Cohort Analysis, Pakistan
    JEL: I21 J16
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2015:125&r=gen
  4. By: Bruno Rodrigues; Vincent Vergnat
    Abstract: Using French administrative data, we estimate the impact of the birth of a first, second and third child on hourly wages, as well as for hours worked, for both women and men. We compute the impact on these out- come variables, two, four and six years after the birth of the child, and focus on the distinction between highly educated women and women with a high school degree or less. We also take the maternity leave (or pa- ternity leave in case of men) duration into account. Estimation is done with difference-in-differences and we compute bootstrapped confidence intervals. Results show both lower and highly educated women decrease significantly their working hours after the birth of their child. Men are, for the most part, not much impacted by the birth of their children. Ma- ternity leave duration influences the magnitude of the impact of the birth, especially on the hourly wages of educated women.
    Keywords: Fertility decisions, Labour Supply, Difference in Differences, Family pay gap.
    JEL: D10 J13
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2016-48&r=gen
  5. By: Macharia, John; Diiro, Gracious; Busienei, John R.; Munei, Kimpei; Affognon, Hippolyte; Ekesi, Sunday; Kassie, Menale; Muriithi, Beatrice; Nakimbugwe, Dorothy; Fiaboe, Komi
    Abstract: The objective of this paper was to estimate the demand for poultry feed among smallholder farmers in Kenya disaggregated by gender. Most poultry enterprises are owned and managed by women even in male headed households. The study utilizes cross-section data collected in July 2015 from a sample 386 poultry farmers randomly selected from three counties including Nakuru, Kisii and Kirinyaga Counties. The feed demand for poultry enterprise was analyzed by estimating a translog cost function and a system of cost share functions for the major feed types used for poultry feeding in Kenya. These include grains, vegetables, and mixed feed. From the study the mean demand of feed per farmer were 55.47 kilograms for grains, 48.37 kilograms for vegetables and 71 kilograms for mixed feed. The variations between male and female farmers were significant at 10% for vegetables. Also the mean costs of feed per farmer were Kshs. 2108.00 for grains, Kshs.1248.00 for vegetables and Kshs 16,214.00 for mixed feed. In addition the results show that feeds are generally price inelastic and price elasticities tend to decrease with rising expenditure level. The study found out that most of the feeds have complementary relationships. For instance grain and mixed feed pair, and vegetable and mixed feed pair all exhibit a complementary relationship. It is therefore recommended that policy makers should develop policies that aim at reducing the prices of manufactured feed through the adoption of alternative ingredients such as insect as a source of protein in feed manufacture.
    Keywords: poultry feed, mixed feed demand, translog cost function, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae16:249279&r=gen
  6. By: Njuguna, Esther; Mwema, Catherine; Kandiwa, Vongai
    Abstract: We employ a non-unitary household model to analyze the main Pigeonpea seed channels for in Kenya. The paper is based on a household survey conducted on a 500 randomly selected households within three counties of Eastern Kenya. The study sites are based on the distance from the main trading center (county headquarters) which informs agro business infrastructure. We assess the participation in seed channels with regards to joint plots, women plots and male plots for Pigeonpeas legumes. More than half of the Pigeonpea plots (>50 %) in the sample are managed jointly by men and women; while around 10% are managed entirely by women. There were very few plots (<1%) managed by men alone. The main legumes seed sources are own saved seeds and cereal stockists. There is very limited sourcing from the certified seed channel (<10%), the certified seeds from agrovets are only acquired for joint plots. Using a multinomial logistic regression, we analyze the factors influencing the choice of Pigeonpea seed channels, encompassing characteristics of the wife of the household head. Literate wives and wives with high exposure to extension services were more likely to access seed from the agrovets, these variables were however not significant for the male head. Other significant determinants were total livestock unit, distance to the source of seed, amount of seed required, location of the household, and occupation. We conclude that targeting women farmers with knowledge and capacity building on the advantages of using certified seeds for legumes has the potential to enhance adoption of legumes in Eastern Kenya, education levels notwithstanding.
    Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries,
    Date: 2016–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae16:246447&r=gen

This nep-gen issue is ©2016 by Jan Sauermann. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.