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COVID-19 and Women-Led Businesses around the World

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  • Liu, Yu
  • Wei, Siqi
  • Xu, Jian

Abstract

The impacts of crises are never gender-neutral, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Using a brand-new dataset covering 24 countries, we document that women-led businesses are subject to a higher likelihood of closure and a longer closure duration than men-led businesses during the pandemic. Women business leaders are also more pessimistic about the future than men business leaders. The disadvantages suffered by women-led businesses widen in high gender inequality economies and developing economies. Our results further indicate that finance and labor factors are likely to be the major contributors to these disadvantages. We suggest that COVID-19′s policy response should not be gender-neutral.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yu & Wei, Siqi & Xu, Jian, 2021. "COVID-19 and Women-Led Businesses around the World," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:43:y:2021:i:c:s1544612321000933
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2021.102012
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    Cited by:

    1. Zheng, Yi & Ren, He, 2024. "COVID-19 vaccination and housing payments," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Silvia Muzi & Filip Jolevski & Kohei Ueda & Domenico Viganola, 2023. "Productivity and firm exit during the COVID-19 crisis: cross-country evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1719-1760, April.
    3. Hao, Haixia & Dong, Jianwei & Wang, Han, 2024. "Helping women rise: Foreign venture capital and female entrepreneurship," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Lafortune, Jeanne & Pugatch, Todd & Tessada, José & Ubfal, Diego, 2022. "Can interactive online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1041, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Muh. Ruslan Abdullah & Fasiha Fasiha & Abd. Kadir Arno, 2022. "Reincarnation of MSMEs after the Government's Policy on Economic Recovery Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 452-462, January.
    6. Hewa-Wellalage, Nirosha & Boubaker, Sabri & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Verhoeven, Peter, 2022. "The gender gap in access to finance: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    7. Dutta, Nabamita & Kar, Saibal, 2022. "Lockdown and Rural Joblessness in India: Gender Inequality in Employment?," IZA Discussion Papers 15270, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Iyer, Subramanian Rama & Simkins, Betty J., 2022. "COVID-19 and the Economy: Summary of research and future directions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    9. Reddy, Ketan & Gopalan, Sasidaran, 2023. "Gender bias in access to trade credit: Firm-level evidence from emerging markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Kamaha Njiwa, Marinette & Atif, Muhammad & Arshad, Muhammad & Mirza, Nawazish, 2023. "The impact of female dominance on business resilience: A technology adoption perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Fasano, Francesco & Javier Sánchez-Vidal, F. & La Rocca, Maurizio, 2022. "The role of government policies for Italian firms during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    12. Lafortune, Jeanne & Pugatch, Todd & Tessada, José & Ubfal, Diego, 2024. "Can gamified online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    13. Chiara Franco & Filomena Pietrovito, 2024. "Drivers of firms’ digital activities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(3), pages 695-726, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Women-led businesses; Gender inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G39 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Other
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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