Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana

Cash grants often lead to increases in business profits for male entrepreneurs, but not for female entrepreneurs. This study identifies key household-level factors that constrain women’s ability to grow their business. Through in-depth qualitative...

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Main Authors:	Pierotti, Rachael, Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia
Format:	Brief
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	SAFETY NETS MICROENTERPRISES FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS HOUSEHOLD INCOME INTRA-HOUSEHOLD RELATIONSHIPS MARITAL PROPERTY AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMS SOCIAL NORMS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/230751578551115058/Competing-Priorities-How-Household-Income-Management-Affects-Women-s-Microenterprises-in-Urban-Ghana http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33170

id	okr-10986-33170
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-331702021-05-25T10:54:39Z Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana Pierotti, Rachael Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia SAFETY NETS MICROENTERPRISES FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS HOUSEHOLD INCOME INTRA-HOUSEHOLD RELATIONSHIPS MARITAL PROPERTY AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMS SOCIAL NORMS Cash grants often lead to increases in business profits for male entrepreneurs, but not for female entrepreneurs. This study identifies key household-level factors that constrain women’s ability to grow their business. Through in-depth qualitative research, it provides evidence that intrahousehold relationships influence the business decisions of female microentrepreneurs in urban Ghana. Intrahousehold relationships constrain the decisions women make about their businesses in three primary ways: 1) women hide income and sometimes limit investment in an effort to reinforce their husband’s responsibilities as a primary provider and secure sufficient support, 2) women prioritize savings to meet daily household needs, cover shortfalls in their husband’s financial support, and take care of emergencies, and 3) marital insecurity encourages women to dedicate business income to long-term investments independent of their husbands, such as property or children’s’ education. Efforts to support women microentrepreneurs will need to address barriers to women’s ability to meet daily household needs and to plan for long-term security, in addition to relieving capital constraints. Policy responses could include increasing security by improving marital property rights for women or improving social safety nets to change the calculus that leads women to prioritize savings over investment. 2020-01-14T16:08:39Z 2020-01-14T16:08:39Z 2020-01-08 Brief http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/230751578551115058/Competing-Priorities-How-Household-Income-Management-Affects-Women-s-Microenterprises-in-Urban-Ghana http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33170 English Gender Inoovation Lab; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Brief Africa Ghana
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	SAFETY NETS MICROENTERPRISES FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS HOUSEHOLD INCOME INTRA-HOUSEHOLD RELATIONSHIPS MARITAL PROPERTY AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMS SOCIAL NORMS
spellingShingle	SAFETY NETS MICROENTERPRISES FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS HOUSEHOLD INCOME INTRA-HOUSEHOLD RELATIONSHIPS MARITAL PROPERTY AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMS SOCIAL NORMS Pierotti, Rachael Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
geographic_facet	Africa Ghana
relation	Gender Inoovation Lab;
description	Cash grants often lead to increases in business profits for male entrepreneurs, but not for female entrepreneurs. This study identifies key household-level factors that constrain women’s ability to grow their business. Through in-depth qualitative research, it provides evidence that intrahousehold relationships influence the business decisions of female microentrepreneurs in urban Ghana. Intrahousehold relationships constrain the decisions women make about their businesses in three primary ways: 1) women hide income and sometimes limit investment in an effort to reinforce their husband’s responsibilities as a primary provider and secure sufficient support, 2) women prioritize savings to meet daily household needs, cover shortfalls in their husband’s financial support, and take care of emergencies, and 3) marital insecurity encourages women to dedicate business income to long-term investments independent of their husbands, such as property or children’s’ education. Efforts to support women microentrepreneurs will need to address barriers to women’s ability to meet daily household needs and to plan for long-term security, in addition to relieving capital constraints. Policy responses could include increasing security by improving marital property rights for women or improving social safety nets to change the calculus that leads women to prioritize savings over investment.
format	Brief
author	Pierotti, Rachael Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia
author_facet	Pierotti, Rachael Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia
author_sort	Pierotti, Rachael
title	Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
title_short	Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
title_full	Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
title_fullStr	Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
title_full_unstemmed	Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana
title_sort	competing priorities : how household income management affects women’s microenterprises in urban ghana
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/230751578551115058/Competing-Priorities-How-Household-Income-Management-Affects-Women-s-Microenterprises-in-Urban-Ghana http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33170
_version_	1764478163583238144

Competing Priorities : How Household Income Management Affects Women’s Microenterprises in Urban Ghana

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