A Business to Call Her Own: Identifying, Analyzing and Overcoming Constraints to Women’s Small Businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean

Small businesses are considered to be a major contributor to growth in developing countries. Women’s small businesses in particular are seen as especially critical to the social fabric of developing countries as women are more inclined to use their income for the education, health and wellbeing of their families and communities. Their participation in business leadership is also highly correlated to GDP growth (Bullough 2008). Thus, ongoing gender gaps in business leadership and income limit greater achievements of development objectives and potentially threaten long term sustainable development.