Marginalised or not? The impact of gender inequality in the ability of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria to access finance.

Onoshakpor, Chioma; Cunningham, James; Gammie, Elizabeth

Abstract

The primary focus of this research is to explore the role of gender inequality in accessing business finance by female-run enterprises in Nigeria. In such a way, we can better understand the reasons behind the perceived gendered context of entrepreneurship and its implications for business growth. The study further examines the extent to which marginalization occurs due to the interaction of gender with society in accessing finance for business growth. To ascertain the extent of gender-specific differences, a comparative analysis of the data of both male and female-led MSME's will be useful, to identify these differences. Additionally, this study will consider the impact of the over-representation of female entrepreneurs in non-technology sectors by investigating two sectors, the real estate sector and the accommodation services sector which are two dominant sectors of male and female entrepreneurs respectively in Nigeria to identify if sectorial differences in accessing finance exists. It is worth noting that in the past three decades, women in Nigeria were not considered entrepreneurs; this is because many women in Sub-Saharan African countries were still marginalised due to their gender (Kuada, 2009). Society still condones domestic and sexual violence against women and has differential wages for equal or comparable work. Salaam, (2003) has labelled culture and religion as enhancers to this indoctrination of society to believe that the male gender is superior in Nigeria. Gender inequality in the context of Nigeria is deep-rooted and can be traced as far back as the creation of Nigeria in 1914 and has since been a developmental issue. This study will build on the Social Feminist theory and Gender aware 5M framework to understand women entrepreneurial experiences and their ability to access finance to grow bigger businesses. Using thematic analysis, (Clarke and Braun, 2019), we develop a robust understanding of the gender gap in access to finance and the extent to which this gap is influenced by societal characterization and the resulting inequalities. The primary data for this study was collected from semi structured interviews involving 30 men and women Nigerian entrepreneurs. Preliminary findings indicate that there are complexities that come with the social embeddedness of entrepreneurship which creates nuances that must not be overlooked while conducting research such as this. For example, the types of finance accessed by female entrepreneurs were completely different from the types of finance accessed by their male counterparts and a more critical dichotomy exists when you introduce sector into the dynamics. This has implication for practise and policy.

Citation

ONOSHAKPOR, C., CUNNINGHAM, J. and GAMMIE, E. 2023. Marginalised or not? The impact of gender inequality in the ability of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria to access finance. Presented at the 6th Gender, work and organization conference 2023 (GWO2023): marginalised gender identities: how can intellectual activism transform work and organization, 28-30 June 2023, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

• Presentation Conference Type: Lecture
• Conference Name: 6th Gender, work and organization conference 2023 (GWO2023): marginalised gender identities: how can intellectual activism transform work and organization
• Conference Location: Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Start Date: Jun 28, 2023
• End Date: Jun 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2023
• Keywords: Access to finance; Female entrepreneurs; Women entrepreneurship; Gender; Entrepreneurship in Nigeria; Women in business; Business finance in Nigeria
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1893834
• Additional Information: An abstract for this paper was published in a book of abstracts as:; ONOSHAKPOR, C., CUNNINGHAM, J. and GAMMIE, E. 2023. Marganalised or not? The impact of gender inequality on the ability of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria to access finance. In the 6th Gender, work and organization conference 2023 (GWO2023): marginalised gender identities: how can intellectual activism transform work and organization book of abstracts, 28-30 June 2023, Stellenbosch, South Africa. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online], stream 22.16, page 362. Available from: https://tinyurl.com/sefnj3cf