Lost in transition : how can emerging economies leverage gender equality for economic transition ?

Summary The thesis explores the links between women's empowerment and economic transition. It examines how increasing the number of women working in the public or private sector can help address some of the persistent transition problems in emerging countries, such as low productivity, innovation, and human development. The thesis is composed of three chapters that draw on economic models of gender equality and transition. The first chapter explores the relationship between the gender composition of firms and the involvement of these firms in innovation activities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The second chapter establishes the analysis of firm performance, and seeks to determine whether female-led SMEs behave differently from male-led SMEs in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia. In particular, this chapter examines activities that improve firm competitiveness: the acquisition of business development services and investment in on-the-job training. Finally, in the last chapter, I examine the links between the number of women in state legislatures in India and the improvement in the status of women in their families, as measured by their age at first marriage and first childbearing. In these three chapters, I conclude that increasing women's participation at all levels of the public and private sectors has a positive effect on corporate and individual outcomes.