Development Economics

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Gender and Firm Performance in Cameroon
(2022) Steve Douanla, Meli
This study analyses the contribution of women to the performance of Cameroonian companies. Based on data from the Cameroon Enterprise Survey, carried out in 2016 by the World Bank Group, the analysis focuses on three levels in organisations: the level of employees, of management and, finally, of business ownership. Existing literature on this subject supports the idea that there is a simultaneous effect between the presence of women at all levels in the company and performance. The results of a linear regression reveal a positive and significant effect of the presence of women in management positions on business performance as measured by the growth in turnover. Indeed, a one percentage point increase in the number of women in corporate leadership contributes an average of 61% to improved corporate performance when measured by growth in turnover. However, whichever performance measure is adopted, the analysis does not reveal any significant influence of the presence of women at the employee level on the performance of Cameroonian companies. Finally, the analysis of the differences in performance between companies owned by women and those owned by men indicates a performance gap, an average of 2.2% in terms of turnover growth, and an average of 0.8% in terms of growth in the number of employees, in favour of female-owned businesses.