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The Self-Employment Choice in Portugal: How Different are Women from Men

Author

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  • Aurora Galego

    (Department of Economics, University of Évora)

Abstract

Female self-employment has been increasing steadily over the last years in many countries. However, not much is know about women?s decision to become self-employed, especially in Europe. Some few studies typically conclude that most women choose self-employment because it offers more flexibility to combine work and family responsibilities or because of discrimination. Portugal displays one of the highest rates of self-employment in Europe and is one of the countries where the number of self-employed women has increased more. This paper studies gender differences in the determinants of self-employment in Portugal. Unlike other countries, there is no evidence that women choose self-employment because of family reasons. However, there are some suggestions that the choice of self-employment is driven by economic necessity, particularly in the case of women.

Suggested Citation

  • Aurora Galego, 2006. "The Self-Employment Choice in Portugal: How Different are Women from Men," Economics Working Papers 3_2006, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
    • Handle: RePEc:evo:wpecon:3_2006
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/8444
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Maryia Akulava, 2012. "Choice of Becoming Self-Employed in Belarus: Impact of Monetary Gains," BEROC Working Paper Series 18, Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC).
    2. António B. Moniz, 2008. "The transformation of work? A quantitative evaluation of changes in work in Portugal," IET Working Papers Series 07/2008, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, IET/CICS.NOVA-Interdisciplinary Centre on Social Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Occupational Choice; Self-employment; Gender differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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