Female entrepreneurship has received growing attention in recent years, both at the academic and policy level. The role of women in creating, running, and growing businesses is recognized as fundamental for growth and poverty reduction. However, women entrepreneurs tend to face disproportionately larger obstacles in accessing credit, training, networks and information in addition to barriers in the legal and policy framework and as a result may not achieve the same level of performance as their male counterparts. Why is this the case and what type of interventions are most effective in eliminating those gender-based distortions, in order to offer all entrepreneurs - male and female - the opportunities to make their business prosper? How should projects, interventions, and reforms be designed and who should be in charge of it?
This conference will present the latest findings and evidence on female entrepreneurship, particularly in relation to access to business development services, access to credit, institutional/legal/business environment, and policy reforms. It will also present and discuss projects, initiatives, and policy reforms aimed at supporting female entrepreneurship and employment creation, eliminating or attenuating gender-based obstacles to full inclusion into entrepreneurship, and enhancing growth and poverty reduction.
April 6, 2011
8:30 am-5:30 pm
World Bank Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
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