The Gendered Aspects of MSEs in MENA: Evidence from Egypt and Turkey

Abstract This study attempts to shed light on the gendered aspect of MSEs (i.e. how the sectors of activities, income, growth, etc. differ by the gender of the entrepreneur) and tests some of the main claims of the rather modest available literature by means of an econometric analysis. The empirical work utilizes nationally representative MSE surveys conducted for Turkey and Egypt in 2001 and 2003 respectively (for brevity, we hereafter use “E&T” to refer to “Egypt and Turkey”). The working sample has 4136 and 4238 permanent establishments located in the urban areas of Egypt and Turkey, respectively. By identifying the sectors and types of activities females are more likely to thrive in, this study calls attention to those sectors where direct intervention by the government will be more effective, and provide some guidance for making proposals to further reduce the extent of gender-differences and practices in MSEs. Arabic Abstract: