Employment Vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Digital Entrepreneurship as a Tool for Women’s Economic Empowerment

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Approach

In a world where societies are increasingly benefiting from new waves of
technological progress and transitioning towards a digital economy, women’s empowerment remains a global priority. In many Sub-Saharan
African countries, high levels of women’s economic participation often imply “quantity over quality”, reflecting their “engagement” in vulnerable employment. Women’s economic emergence is crucial to ensuring human rights and sustainable development.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Internet and ICT advancement on vulnerable female employment. Digitalization represents a powerful tool for empowering women through better integration into local and international markets, particularly through digital platforms. The study explores how digital entrepreneurship can empower women in lower-income Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries economically, transitioning them from vulnerable employment to more secure and sustainable economic activities.

Design/Methodology/Approach:
The empirical investigation aims to determine the relationship between digitalization and vulnerable female employment in lower-income SSA countries, utilizing a panel ARDL approach to distinguish between short- and long-run effects. This methodology allows for an exploration of how digital platforms can empower women.

Findings
Evidence indicates that while combined, Internet and ICT advancement estimators (Internet penetration, mobile phone ownership, and fixed broadband) exhibit weak predictive power. Empirical findings have demonstrated that women in vulnerable employment are most likely to be positively impacted by mobile technology. These findings suggest that digital entrepreneurship can provide economic agency to women in these regions.

Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of digitalization and its potential to empower women economically in Sub-Saharan Africa. It recommends that policymakers formulate policies to create a supportive environment for digital entrepreneurship; to raise awareness of digital opportunities; and to accelerate ICT development. By doing so, women can gain better access to and benefit more effectively from the digital economy, thereby reducing their economic vulnerability.

Questions and comments to the author/s

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October 22, 2024 at 9:10 am

Many thanks for your presentation, Nancy and Monique. Most certainly digital entrepreneurship presents a great tool aimed at female empowerment. Based on your presentation I was wondering to what extent are African women forced to become entrepreneurs or are survival entrepreneurs for that matter. We have recently published on the subject regarding Uganda and found that actually about a third (31,25%) of women entrepreneurs do so for survival reasons and other 18,25% are really business women in transition towards opportunity entrepreneurship (Soledad Vieitez-Cerdeño, Roser Manzanera-Ruiz & Olga Margret M. M. Namasembe (2023): Ugandan women’s approaches to doing business and becoming entrepreneurs, Third World Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2023.2189580). Many of them are already using digital technologies in their business and thus we argue that sociocultural values and specific ways of doing business and become entrepreneurs have to be taken into consideration.
Thanks again and congrats on the presentation!!

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November 10, 2024 at 6:25 am

Thank you very much for your comment Soledad. Digital entrepreneurship can indeed constitute a powerful tool for women's empowerment. In many Sub-Saharan African countries, women tend to take part in entrepreneurial activities for survival purposes and are often operating in the informal sector. For instance, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, estimates show that more than 80% of women partake in the informal economy, and only 8% of registered firms were female-owned according to the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) conducted a few years ago. Nevertheless, as you mentionned, an increasing number of women entrepreneurs, from both sides, are increasingly integrating digital components in their way of doing business. We need to create an environment that will unleash digital entrepreneurship for women in Africa.

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October 25, 2024 at 1:35 pm

Thank you for this very thorough presentation, Nancy. It may have been unexpected that increased internet penetration did not reduce vulnerability for women entrepreneurs. Many African countries continue to face challenges in providing accessible internet access and reliable power supply to their citizens and all of this at an affordable cost. What challenges do you foresee for the effective implementation of the recommendations you and Monique make in your presentation?

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November 10, 2024 at 6:33 am

Thank you very much for your comment, Agnes. Indeed, the results seemed unexpected, at the same time, it reveils the urgent need to accelerate digital infrastructure development in many African countries in order to unleash the transformative potential of digitalization. Financing digital infrastructures and creating adequate legal framework that also take into consideration the gender component require well-tailored strategies. For instance, public-private partnerships can constitute a venue to be explored when developing digital infrastructures, and specific policies aimed at women digital empowerment can be created.

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