This commendable article was produced by the African Development Bank (AfDB) back on 26 November 2015 and considering that it is still very actual. Here it is below :
Promoting North African Women’s Employment through SMEs
In its latest analysis on North Africa, “Promoting North African Women’s Employment through SMEs”, the African Development Bank points to a host of significant challenges facing women who strive to set up and own SMEs in the region. These include women’s multiple burdens, legal and cultural barriers, lack of access to training and business related support, limited access to property and credit, absence of effective social networks, and problems associated with economic infrastructure.
The Bank underlines in particular, seven major challenges.
First, while in North Africa there are no direct laws preventing women from owning businesses and the property rights under marriage are even-handed, many legal rules emanating from tradition or civil and religious codes restrict women’s asset accumulation and economic and financial activity.
Second, traditional social and cultural norms and perceptions reinforce the constraints on women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, formal education plays a key role in enabling women to seek employment and engage in entrepreneurship. North African countries have had some achievements in this regard, but the educational attainment so far has provided more impetus for women to seek more part-time or full-time employment and engage less in self-employment or firm ownership. In addition, governance deficiencies tend to affect entrepreneurship negatively,
