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Are There More Female Managers in the Retail Sector? Evidence from Survey Data in Developing Countries

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  • Mohammad Amin
  • Asif Islam

Abstract

Using firm-level data for 87 developing countries, the paper analyzes how the likelihood of a firm having female vs. male top manager varies across sectors. The service sector is often considered to be more favorable towards women compared with men vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector. While our exploration of the data confirm a significantly higher presence of female managers in services vs. manufacturing, the finding is entirely driven by the retail firms with little contribution from other service sectors such as wholesale, construction and other services. We also find that the greater presence of female managers in the retail sector vs. manufacturing is much higher among the relatively small firms and firms located in the relatively small cities. These findings could serve as useful inputs for the design of optimal policy measures aimed at promoting gender equality in a country.

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  • Mohammad Amin & Asif Islam, 2014. "Are There More Female Managers in the Retail Sector? Evidence from Survey Data in Developing Countries," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 213-228, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:17:y:2014:i:2:p:213-228
    DOI: 10.1016/S1514-0326(14)60010-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Pastore, Francesco & Webster, Allan & Hope, Kevin, 2020. "Assessing the role of women in tourism related sectors in the Caribbean," GLO Discussion Paper Series 599, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Islam,Asif Mohammed & Muzi,Silvia, 2020. "Mobile Money and Investment by Women Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9338, The World Bank.
    3. Jesica Torres & Franklin Maduko & Isis Gaddis & Leonardo Iacovone & Kathleen Beegle, 2023. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(1), pages 36-72.
    4. Lai Van Vo & Hazel Thu‐Hien Nguyen & Huong Thi Thu Le, 2021. "Do female CEOs make a difference in firm operations? Evidence from Vietnam," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1489-1516, April.
    5. Prince Adjei & Sonal Agarwal & Isaac Doku, 2016. "A Sectorial look at Female Firm Ownership in Ghana," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(5), pages 131-140, May.
    6. Charles Ackah & Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Cecilia Hornok, 2024. "Africa’s businesswomen – underfunded or underperforming?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1051-1074, March.
    7. Feng, Cong & Xiang, Kexin, 2023. "Structural power of female executives and retailer profitability: A contingent resource-based perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Islam, Asif M. & Amin, Mohammad, 2023. "The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Asif Islam & Mohammad Amin, 2016. "Women Managers and The Gender-Based Gap in Access to Education: Evidence from Firm-Level Data in Developing Countries," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 127-153, July.
    10. Sekkat, Khalid & Szafarz, Ariane & Tojerow, Ilan, 2015. "Women at the Top in Developing Countries: Evidence from Firm-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 9537, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Hyland,Marie Caitriona & Islam,Asif Mohammed & Muzi,Silvia, 2020. "Firms' Discriminatory Behavior, and Women's Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9224, The World Bank.
    12. Charpin, Agnès & Szafarz, Ariane & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "Female corporate owners and female CEOs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    13. Franque Grimard, 2019. "The Services Industry and its Potential for Youth and Women Employment in an African Context: A review of the literature," Working Papers idrcdpruservices, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    14. Asif M. Islam & Silvia Muzi, 2022. "Does mobile money enable women-owned businesses to invest? Firm-level evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1245-1271, October.
    15. Romina Kazandjian & Lisa Kolovich & Kalpana Kochhar & Monique Newiak, 2019. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-24, April.
    16. Romina Kazandjian & Ms. Lisa L Kolovich & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak, 2016. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," IMF Working Papers 2016/140, International Monetary Fund.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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