A Sectorial look at Female Firm Ownership in Ghana

This paper uses firm-level data for 708 firms in Ghana drawn from the World Bank enterprise Survey conducted between the period 2007-2009 to analyze how the likelihood of a firm having female vs. male top manager varies across sectors. The service sector which is often considered to be more favorable toward women is compared with men vis-à-vis the manufacturing sector. Applying a logistic regression model in exploring the data, the study focused on the wholesale and retail sub-sectors of the service sector to examine the likelihood of having a female top manager relative to a male. The study finds a significantly higher presence of female managers in wholesale firms compared to retail firms and the manufacturing at large. The analysis also finds that the higher presence of female managers in the wholesale sector relative to manufacturing is much higher among the relatively small firms and firms that exported part of their produce. These findings could serve as useful inputs for the design of optimal policy measures aimed at promoting gender equality in a country.