CALL FOR PAPERS: Female Entrepreneurship - Constraints and Opportunities

The purpose of this conference is to examine the gender dimensions of entrepreneurial choice and performance.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the analysis of entrepreneurship and self-employment as an employment choice of men and women, different patterns of sectoral concentration by gender, differential access to credit and gender-specific business and institutional constraints, the determinants of performance of individuals and firms by gender, and gender patterns in investment decisions, business growth, export, innovation and R&D. We welcome papers that focus on formal firms as well as informal businesses, family firms, and individual self-employment. Preference will be given to papers on developing countries, however interesting and original research on developed countries will be given full consideration.

PROCESS & CONTACT

We invite submissions of papers and extended abstracts – extended abstract should be 500-600 words and should include a description of the data used, the methodology and preliminary findings. Deadline for submission is April 3, 2009.  Please send your paper or extended abstract to cwe@worldbank.org. Questions may also be directed to this email address. Acceptance of the paper will be communicated by April 25, 2009.

One presenter for each accepted paper will receive funding for travel expenses and accommodation. There is no registration fee for participants to the conference, but registration has been extended to May 10th, 2009.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITEE MEMBERS

Elena Bardasi (Gender and Development Unit, World Bank),
Mary C. Hallward-Driemeier (Development Research Group, World Bank),
Simon Parker (Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario),
Jan Svejnar (Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan).