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The Gender Bias Burden on Business: Women’s Access to Credit in Bahrain

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Keywords

Businesswomen--Bahrain; Credit--Bahrain; Capital--Bahrain;

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is essential to virtually every economy; however, Bahraini women face many challenges accessing business development. In particular, a major constraint for these women is their access to capital support. In 2020, the government signed a law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in access to credit to help the issue; nonetheless, its effectiveness has yet to be systematically examined. Using data from several sources, I test whether the law significantly affected the gender gap in borrowing for business purposes while controlling for other variables. Importantly, I find that women’s labor force participation is a significant factor in reducing the borrowing gap between men and women, and removing traveling restrictions on women positively affects their labor force participation. These results are robust across multiple regression models. Hence, a culture supporting women’s economic involvement is the foundation for their credit access.

Start Date

12-4-2022 10:00 AM

End Date

12-4-2022 10:50 AM

Faculty Advisor

Brian Warby

Faculty Advisor

Evan Renfro

Department

Department of Political Science

Student Type

Undergraduate Student

Comments

Award: Fruehling Undergraduate Research

This entry was a part of the following session:

  • Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
  • Time:10:00 to 10:50 a.m.
  • Moderator: Emily Machen

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Apr 12th, 10:00 AM Apr 12th, 10:50 AM

The Gender Bias Burden on Business: Women’s Access to Credit in Bahrain

Entrepreneurship is essential to virtually every economy; however, Bahraini women face many challenges accessing business development. In particular, a major constraint for these women is their access to capital support. In 2020, the government signed a law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in access to credit to help the issue; nonetheless, its effectiveness has yet to be systematically examined. Using data from several sources, I test whether the law significantly affected the gender gap in borrowing for business purposes while controlling for other variables. Importantly, I find that women’s labor force participation is a significant factor in reducing the borrowing gap between men and women, and removing traveling restrictions on women positively affects their labor force participation. These results are robust across multiple regression models. Hence, a culture supporting women’s economic involvement is the foundation for their credit access.