Presented at the July 2012 Meeting of the OECD-MENA Initiative's Working Group on SME Policy, Entrepreneurship and Human Capital Development http://www.oecd.org/mena/investment

1. Women in Business:
Policies to Support Women's Entrepreneurship
Development in MENA
by the OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum

2. Outline of the presentation
1. MENA committments to foster women
enterpreneurship
2. Women's potential to support greater
entrepreneurial activity
3. Targeted action to accelerate women’s
entrepreneurship
– Policies, institutions and supporting data
– Access to finance
– Access to business support services & market
information
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3. Commitments to women’s economic
empowerment
• All MENA governments have ratified the United Nations’
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• At MENA-OECD Ministerial Conferences, ministers
endorsed the :
• Declaration on Fostering Women’s Entrepreneurship in
the MENA Region (2007)
• Action Plan on Fostering Women’s Entrepreneurship
and Employment in the MENA Region (2009)
and
• called for the creation of a supporting network.
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4. Nascent
Infant
Mature
Asia;Hi Inc
Europe
N Amer, Oceania
MENA
Asia: Lo Inc
Latin America
Africa
Men
Asia;Hi Inc
Europe
N Amer, Oceania
MENA
Asia: Lo Inc
Latin America
Africa
Asia;Hi Inc
Europe
N Amer, Oceania
MENA
Asia: Lo Inc
Latin America
Africa
Asia;Hi Inc
Europe
N Amer, Oceania
MENA
Asia: Lo Inc
Latin America
Africa
Proportion of Owners
Absence of women enterpreneurs
impacts enterprise activity rates in MENA
Women
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Young
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5. Low labour force participation impacts
enterprise development
100
90
80
70
60
50
Female (% population 15+)
40
Male (% of population 15+)
30
20
10
0
Source: World Bank (2010), GenderStats, Washington, DC, USA: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank.
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6. Additional factors hampering women’s
entrepreneurship
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High unemployment despite low labour force participation
MENA women are on average twice as likely as men to be unemployed, with much higher ratios in
Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, Jordan, and Algeria. In
Bahrain, for example, women make up 75% of the unemployed.
Necessity and informality
Many of the region’s women engage in marginal labour market activity as unpaid workers or
family helpers (this is particularly noticeable in Djibouti, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine and Yemen)
or work in seasonal or temporary informal activities, including the agricultural sector.
More women than men start their business in the informal sector out of economic necessity,
especially in Egypt and Morocco.
Gender gaps in self-employment
On average, employed men are more than twice as likely to be self-employed as employed women.
The majority of self-employed MENA women are clustered in own-account self-employment (with
no employees) or micro-enterprises. Only one in ten self-employed women are employers,
compared to one in four self-employed men and the larger the enterprise, the fewer women
owners are found.
Gender gaps in education are closing but….
Women now make up over half of all university students. In fact, in the UAE, women reportedly
make up three-quarters of university students and 70.4% of all university graduates
But a large number of women do not have access to quality formal education and are illiterate.
Overall, the region has the lowest regional adult literacy rates worldwide with women accounting
for about 65% of the region’s illiterate population .
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7. OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum
A unique network that promotes women’s economic opportunity in the region.
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Co-chairs: H.E. Ms. Dina Kawar, Jordanian Ambassador to France and
H.E. Ms. Karen Kornbluh, U.S. Ambassador to the OECD
Private sector & NGOs: Businesswomen's associations, business leaders,
entrepreneurs
Government: Policy makers, women’s councils, small business support
agencies
International organisations & experts: ILO, OECD, World Bank, UN,
academia
Local task forces from 18 MENA economies provide regional input and
guidance and strengthen impact on the ground.
Over 300 representatives of government, private sector and civil society from
MENA and OECD economies seek to help improve policies and legislation
impacting women’s economic integration.
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8. Policy and programmes to promote women’s
entrepreneurship
First comparative assessment of in 18
MENA countries which :
• takes stock of the important policy
commitments and institutions put in
place by governments to improve
women's economic opportunity;
• identifies efforts by
businesswomen’s associations,
financial institutions and the
international community to catalyse
support for women entrepreneurs;
• proposes avenues for further action
to accelerate women's
entrepreneurship levels.
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