An appreciation of gender issues is important when considering strategies to improve Africa’s competitiveness in the world and ways to promote private-sector development.There are three main reasons why gender matters.
First, women are major players in the private sector, particularly in agriculture and in informal businesses.
It is estimated that women-owned businesses account for over one-third of all firms, and they are the majority of businesses in the informal sector in African countries.
Second, the ability of women to formalize and grow their businesses, to create jobs, and to enhance productivity is hampered where legal and institutional barriers exist that affect men’s and women’s enterprises differently.
Third, there is evidence—especially at the micro level—to indicate that gender disparities not only disadvantage women but also reduce the growth potential of the region as a whole.
The existence of genderrelated barriers can thwart the economic potential of women as entrepreneurs and workers, and such barriers have an adverse impact on enterprise development, productivity, and competitiveness in Africa.
Consequently, addressing gender-specific barriers to entrepreneurship and leveraging the full participation of both men and women in the development of Africa’s private sector together represent a significant opportunity to unleash Africa’s productive potential and to strengthen economic growth.
This chapter aims to shed light on the nature of men’s and women’s enterprises in Africa, to assess the extent to which the constraints and obstacles faced by women and men entrepreneurs may differ, and to address whether the constraints and obstacles entrepreneurs face affect the productivity and performance of men’s and women’s businesses differently.We begin with a brief overview of gender in the economy, followed by a more detailed analysis of available Enterprise Survey data where key characteristics of businesses can be disaggregated by the sex of the business owner.1 This allows us to look at various characteristics of men’s and women’s businesses, including perceptions of obstacles and constraints, and to assess productivity differences. After briefly placing this analysis in a wider context, the chapter concludes with some recommended actions to address the gender dimensions of entrepreneurship more systematically in policy and programs aimed at supporting private-sector development, along with suggestions for further data collection and analysis.
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 1.0 Overview: Gender Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness in Africa, 2007
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