Gender differences in self-employment characteristics in post-apartheid South Africa : a detailed analysis of the self-employed.
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Date
2010
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Abstract
This study investigates gender differences in South African self-employment,
focusing particularly on earnings differences. The study identifies a large earnings
gap in favour of men in self-employment, and it explores how the determinants of
female and male returns to self-employment differ. Using a combination of
descriptive and econometric methods and data from the Labour Force Surveys for
2001-2007, I find that female self-employment is more likely than male selfemployment
to exhibit characteristics that are associated with low returns. The
female self-employed tend to work part-time, be home-based, have own account
enterprises and work in unskilled occupations in the informal sector. The data also
suggest the presence of gender discrimination among the self-employed which may be
the result of consumer discrimination and discrimination in access to credit or product
markets. Focusing on the non-agricultural informal sector, I construct a more detailed
gendered profile of the self-employed using a household survey from October 2005,
namely the Survey of Employers and the Self-Employed. This survey captures a
wealth of information on the self-employed and their businesses which is not
available in the Labour Force Survey data. The analysis reveals that, in comparison to
men, women are more likely to enter self-employment out of necessity, spend less
starting a business, have poorer access to transport and report lower overheads. In
light of the key constraints identified particularly by women in self-employment, the
analysis suggests that assistance with marketing, better access to raw
materials/supplies, provision of an alternative location, and better access to credit
markets would help improve the profitability of their businesses.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.
Keywords
Self-employed--South Africa., Self-employed--Sex differences., Theses--Population studies.