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Reproducibility package for Closing The Gender Gap In Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Challenges In Law And Practice For Female Entrepreneurs

2025
Get Reproducibility Package
Reference ID
RR_WLD_2025_504
Author(s)
Daniela M. Behr, Yue Sophie Xi
Collections
World Bank Policy Research Working Papers
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Dec 15, 2025
Last modified
Dec 15, 2025
  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata

    • Overview

    Abstract

    Despite significant strides toward gender equality, women around the world continue to encounter systemic obstacles that hinder their entrepreneurial success. This paper systematically reviews the literature on the barriers female entrepreneurs face and the solutions proposed to overcome these challenges. It discusses institutional factors, financial factors, human capital factors, and social and cultural factors. The literature overview is complemented by a series of stylized facts that illustrate how overcoming some of these existing barriers is correlated with improved women’s entrepreneurship and female labor force participation, drawing on the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law database as well as the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys. The findings underscore the need for creating an enabling environment where women can thrive as entrepreneurs.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    Get Reproducibility Package
    File name
    RR_WLD_2025_504
    Zip package
    RR_WLD_2025_504.zip
    Title
    Reproducibility package for Closing The Gender Gap In Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Challenges In Law And Practice For Female Entrepreneurs
    Date
    2025-12
    Dependencies
    Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder.
    Instructions
    See README in reproducibility package.
    Notes
    Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    Stata
    Version
    18.5

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced in one computer with the following specifications:
    OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
    Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 5218 CPU @2.30GHz
    Memory available: 6 GB
    Software version: Stata 18.5 MP
    Technology requirements

    ~5 minutes runtime
    Reproduction instructions

    To reproduce the findings in this study, please follow the steps below:

    1. Acquire the limited-access data and place it in /input folder. (For details please refer to the README file or the individual data entries).
    2. Set the username and the global paths in Part 2 of “0_Master.do”.
    3. Run main do-file sequentially, and switch from 0 to 1 to run the Part 3 of “0_Master.do”.

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    Women, Business and The Law 1.0 (WBL) Data for 1971 - 2024
    Note
    Access date: October 2025. Files location: /input/WBL1-0-1971-2024.dta.
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data
    Citation
    World Bank. (2024). "Women, Business and the Law 1971-2024" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data.
    Name
    Women, Business and the Law 2.0 (WBL) Data for 2024
    Note
    Access date: October 2025. Files location: /input/WBL2024_LEGAL_EconLevel_ToPublish.dta and /input/WBL2024_SUPPORTIVE_EconLevel_ToPublish.dta.
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data
    Citation
    World Bank. (2024). "Women, Business and the Law 2024" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl-data.
    Name
    World Bank Official Boundaries
    Note
    Access date: September 2025. Files location: /input/World Bank Official Boundaries. The raw shapefile used is “WB_GAD_ADM0_complete.shp” and then stored as “WB_GAD_ADM0_complete_shp.dta” for use.
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038272/world-bank-official-boundaries
    Citation
    World Bank. (2025). "World Bank Official Boundaries" [Dataset]. World Bank Development Data Hub. Available at https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0038272/world-bank-official-boundaries.
    Name
    World Development Indicators (WDI)
    Note
    Access date: January 2025. Files location: /input/WDI_Raw data.xlsx”.
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators
    Citation
    World Bank. (2025). "World Development Indicators" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators.
    Name
    World Development Indicators (WDI) (GDP per capita)
    Note
    Access date: November 2025. Files location: input/API_NY.GDP.PCAP.CD_DS2_en_csv_v2_134819.csv
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
    Citation
    World Bank. (2025). World Development Indicators [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD.
    Name
    World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) (Economy Level)
    Note
    This is an economy-level, aggregated dataset and can be downloaded after selecting all economies and “Gender” as a topic. Access date: November 2025. Files location: input/CustomQuery-Nov-6-2025.xlsx.
    Access policy
    Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
    License URL
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Data URL
    https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data
    Citation
    World Bank. (2025). "World Bank Enterprise Surveys" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at www.enterprisesurveys.org.
    Name
    World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) (Firm Level)
    Note
    This dataset is firm level micro data and can be accessed after selecting the page “Access microdata”. Access date: October 2025. Files location: Data must be saved as input/New_Comprehensive_October_6_2025.dta
    Access policy
    Data access requires approval, therefore data is not included in the reproducibility package. (Limited-access)
    Data URL
    https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data
    Citation
    World Bank. (2025). "World Bank Enterprise Surveys" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at www.enterprisesurveys.org.
    Data statement

    Some data sources are accessible but not redistributable and limited access, therefore not included in the reproducibility package.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Working Paper
    Title
    Closing The Gender Gap In Entrepreneurship: Overcoming Challenges In Law And Practice For Female Entrepreneurs
    Description
    Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Daniela M. Behr World Bank dbehr@worldbank.org
    Yue Sophie Xi World Bank yxi@worldbank.org
    Date of production

    2025-12-02

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    World WLD
    Keywords
    Entrepreneurship Gender Equality Women-Led Businesses
    Topics
    ID Topic Parent topic ID Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    J16 Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination J1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    J21 Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure J2 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    K38 Human Rights Law • Gender Law • Animal Rights Law K3 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    L26 Entrepreneurship L2 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development O1 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    Modified BSD3 https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Daniela M. Behr World Bank dbehr@worldbank.org
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DECDI World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2025-12-02
    Document version

    1
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