Gender differences in self-employment characteristics in post-apartheid South Africa : a detailed analysis of the self-employed.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Casale, Daniela Maria. | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Posel, Dorrit Ruth. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Gordon, Steven Lawrence. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-01-26T07:09:35Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-01-26T07:09:35Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2010 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010. | en |
| dc.description.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. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10413/4893 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en |
| dc.subject | Self-employed--South Africa. | en |
| dc.subject | Self-employed--Sex differences. | en |
| dc.subject | Theses--Population studies. | en |
| dc.title | Gender differences in self-employment characteristics in post-apartheid South Africa : a detailed analysis of the self-employed. | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |