"Low female labor market participation is a problem many developed countries have to face. Beside activating inactive women, one possible solution is to support the re-integration of unemployed women. Due to female-specific labor market constraints (preferences for flexible working hours, discrimination), this is a difficult task, and the question arises whether active labor market policies (ALMP) are an appropriate tool to help. It has been shown that the effectiveness of traditional ALMPs – which focus on the integration in dependent (potentially inflexible) employment-is positive but limited. Starting their own business might give women more independence and flexibility to reconcile work and family and increase labor market participation. Based on long-term informative data, we find that start-up programs persistently integrate former unemployed women into the labor market, and the impact on fertility is less detrimental than for traditional ALMP programs."

"The global drive to provide universal access to sustainable and modern energy by 2030 is creating numerous opportunities for energy users and suppliers. However, men and women do not benefit equally from these opportunities. As users, they have different energy needs linked to their different gender roles. Gender blindness in the sector has led to women's needs often being ignored. As suppliers, the energy sector has traditionally been male dominated. Despite stark gender differences in the energy sector, there has been a lack of evidence to inform more equitable policymaking. This issue of the IDS Bulletin aims to fill some of these evidence gaps through five original papers, part of ENERGIA's Gender and Energy Research Programme. The issue pays particular attention to women's involvement in the supply chain as energy entrepreneurs, an emerging area of research in the gender and energy space."

"This report proposes actions that can be taken by ASEAN Governments and key stakeholders to address the constraints facing women entrepreneurs. Two key levers for change are highlighted. These are greater access to and use of innovative technologies, especially those made available through the ICT revolution; and creative approaches to making finance and credit available to women entrepreneurs. As well as being critical in their own right, these two levers also contribute to unlocking progress in other key areas, such as education and training, access to business support and networks and opening market opportunities."

"Does the lack of peers contribute to the observed gender gap in entrepreneurial success? A random sample of customers of India's largest women's bank was offered two days of business counseling, and a random subsample was invited to attend with a friend. The intervention significantly increased participants' business activity, but only if they were trained with a friend. Those trained with a friend were more likely to have taken out business loans, were less likely to be housewives, and reported increased business activity and higher household income, with stronger impacts among women subject to social norms that restrict female mobility."

"With the growing recognition of women entrepreneurs’ contribution to economic growth, there is need to understand the state of their operations in India. A country-level diagnostic of the demand and supply of finance for women-owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is essential to drawing up country specific strategies to improve their access to finance. This report aims to assess the financing gap through a hybrid approach, including both secondary estimation and primary data collection, and identify the key characteristics of women-owned businesses, their need for financial and non-financial services, their uptake of financial products and the barriers to their access. Subsequently, key areas of focus have been identified that will help improve women entrepreneurs' access to finance."

"Gender discrimination in Latin American societies significantly reduces the effective participation of women in the development of new businesses; therefore, it limits their possibilities for professional advancement, as well as development opportunities for their families. In an even broader context, inequality prevents women from efficiently contributing to business development in countries of the region. The possibilities of undertaking new ventures are diminished by this reality. Most of the women surveyed for this study mentioned that they have suffered discrimination while doing business because of their gender. In fact, the results of this research paper show that women perceive greater inequality in opportunities to create companies and face more barriers in accessing resources, mainly financial ones, to develop their enterprises. These barriers have a negative effect on the outcomes and growth prospects of businesses created by women. Indeed, they prevent women, who represent more than 50% of the population, from efficiently contributing to the creation of wealth and jobs in Latin American countries."

"This paper provides a synthetic and systematic review on the effectiveness of various entrepreneurship programs in developing countries It adopts a meta-regression analysis using 37 impact evaluation studies that were in the public domain by March 2012, and draws out several lessons on the design of the programs The paper observes wide variation in program effectiveness across different interventions depending on outcomes, types of beneficiaries, and country context Over, entrepreneurship programs have a positive and large impact for youth and on business knowledge and practice, but no immediate translation into business set-up and expansion or increased income At a disaggregate level by outcome groups, providing a package of training and financing is more effective for labor activities. In addition, financing support appears more effective for women and business training for existing entrepreneurs than other interventions to improve business performance."

"The present "Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Development interventions on Women Entrepreneurs" issue brief is the result of an in-depth review of six meta-evaluations and twenty three rigorous impact satudies undertaken during the past 10 years in women's entrepreneurship development initiatives around the world. It provides a synthesis of impact findings and identifies interventions which seem to have worked more effectively.

The brief corroborates for example that combining finance and business training -although more costly - seems to be more effective in supporting women's business start-up than either finance or business training alone. Also, training packages that combine business and gender knowledge are more likely to lead to women's empowerment. While more evidence is still needed, the brief concludes with a series of recommendations for future interventions and impact evaluations including providing more than access to skills and finance, by also addressing gender-based barriers and women's strategic needs, in order to ensure the business success and consolidation of women entrepreneurs."

"There is widespread recognition that unleashing women's talent as entrepreneurs is an effective way to narrow the current gender gaps in the labor market, and thus contribute to inclusive growth. A number of governments, donors, development partners, investors, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) have geared up to work toward this objective. This report is intended to guide effective decision-making by these stakeholders with regard to supporting women's entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific.1 It provides recommendations for programs and policy changes that will create an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs, as well as strategies for addressing gaps and leveraging opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the region."

"Current women's economic empowerment interventions are not enough to overcome all obstacles facing female entrepreneurs. The emerging evidence from psychology and experimental economics on agency; mindset, and leadership show that for successful interventions to be transformative, they need to move beyond basic access to financial and human capital and also tackle central psychological, social, and skills constraints on women entrepreneurs.

Emerging evidence from recent studies on different capital-based, training-based, and gender based interventions, using randomized control trials, present promising interventions to support women entrepreneurs. An experimental study in Uganda found that Providing financial capital (i.e., subsidized microcredit coupled with Start and Improve Your Business training module), while effective for men, does not have any impact on female owned enterprise profits. Similarly, a randomized control trial on Tanzania's Business Women Connect program found that while the mobile savings program substantially increased savings, it did not have an effect on female-owned enterprise profits or sales even when combined with hard business skills, such as business management, basic profitability concepts, and record-keeping. Both studies, however, show that loans paired with business trainings as well as improved access to mobile savings accounts paired with business trainings had a positive impact on male-owned microenterprise profits or sales. Thus, a successful women's economic empowerment intervention needs more than only access to financial capital and hard business skills."