Women Owners Research Articles

Direct or Indirect Exporting? The Joint Influence of Gender and Immigration Background on Export Strategies of Canadian SMEs

Given the challenges women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face in global markets, we investigate the effects of gender and immigrant background on their direct versus indirect export strategies. Drawing on insights from social capital theory, our analysis consists of a sample of 109 Canadian SMEs. We found that although women-majority-owned SMEs are less likely to export directly compared to their men-majority-owned counterparts, women owners with an immigrant background have the potential to overcome network-related barriers, thus weakening the negative effect of gender on direct exporting. These results point to the significance of having access to international networks and the necessity to leverage this linkage to support the direct exporting approach for women-majority-owned SMEs. Our research guides SME owners and managers with global aspirations. We suggest policymakers develop initiatives to encourage women owners to identify, build, and cultivate international business relationships and improve the design and implementation of policies targeted at immigrant export businesses.

Home Peers, Business Owners’ Gender, and the Export Intensity of SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can improve their export performance by co-locating with export firms from the same industry and country. However, the export implications are yet to be addressed systematically. This study investigates when and how women-owned SMEs convert their geographic proximity to home peers through social proximity and cognitive proximity into high export intensity. We develop a nuanced knowledge spillover perspective incorporating gender mechanisms to clarify the relationship between home peers and SMEs’ export intensity at the regional and national levels. To test our hypotheses, we designed quantitative research using a survey database from Statistics Canada, Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SFGSME), with a sample of 9,977 Canadian SMEs. Our study shows that, among other things, home peers’ positive impact on SMEs’ export intensity is more significant when their owners are exposed to a larger number of relatively close same-gender home peers (i.e., same-gender regional home peers). Moreover, we show that such positive home-peer effects on SMEs’ export intensity are even stronger for women business owners than men business owners. We clarify our contributions by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. By demonstrating the significance of same-gender regional home peers for women owners, we contribute to the knowledge spillover perspective on exporting, emerging research streams on home peers, and women entrepreneurship research in the international entrepreneurship field. Our findings also suggest that women entrepreneurs can particularly benefit from government-funded export promotion programs when the programs are appropriately designed and promoted to women entrepreneurs.

Effects of Product Innovation on the Performance of Women-led Micro and Small Enterprises in the Food Processing Industry, Tanzania.

Product innovation is an important factor for the performance of enterprises. Based on the Schumpeter’s New Combination theory, this paper analyzes the impact of product innovation on the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the food processing industry, specifically those led by women. The study utilized a cross-sectional design, and employed stratified random sampling, whereby a total of 297 women entrepreneurs from Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Morogoro, and Dodoma regions participated by completing a structured questionnaire. Additionally, seven (7) women owners of business from each of the involved regions were selected through purposive sampling for Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and one SIDO officer for structured interview. The collected data were analyzed using the Smart PLS Version 3 Software, employing Structural equation modeling (SEM) for measurement purposes. The PLS Algorithm was employed to establish the reliability and validity of the data through a measurement model. Subsequently, the Bootstrap method was utilized in the structural model to assess the relationship between product innovation and the performance of women-led MSEs.The results showed a significant positive effect between product innovation and the performance of food processing women-led MSEs (t=4.261, p=0.000). Furthermore, the study revealed a significant mediating effect of innovative performance between product innovation and women-led food processing MSEs (t=1.981, p=0.006). In conclusion, the study highlights that product innovation enhances the performance of women-led food processing MSEs. This contributes to the theoretical understanding of product innovation and women-led MSEs in the food processing industry, while also providing empirical evidence to support promotion of product innovation by the government agencies responsible for managing women's businesses, with a view to improving their performance.

Challenging the concept of active forest ownership: the perspective of women forest owners in Finland

In Finland, women comprise 41% of private forest owners. However, studies examining forest ownership from the gender perspective are scarce. Forestry and forest ownership is a field dominated by masculine and techno-economic values. For example, this is manifested in the ideal of ‘active forest owner’ in forest policy documents. Therefore, this dissertation studied the concept of ‘active forest ownership’ from the perspective of women forest owners. Different conceptual lenses were used, such as the gender theory and service-dominant logic. Specifically, the thesis focused on four questions: 1. Are women less active than men when a variety of forestry related activities are studied? (Article I); 2. How do women forest owners understand the concept of active forest owner, how does it differ from the one from Finnish forest policy and what kind of attributes impact women forest ownership? (Article II); 3. Do women forest owners have differing objective structure compared with men? (Article III); and 4. Is the relationship between objectives and activity different between women and men? (Article IV). Both quantitative (Articles I, III and IV) and qualitative (Article II) methods were applied. Articles I and III employ exploratory factor analysis and Article IV confirmatory factor analysis. Two sets of data were used: a questionnaire of the Finnish Forest Owner 2020 research project (n=6558) and 22 semistructured interviews. In this thesis, women were found to be less active than men when a selection of forestry related activities were studied (Article I). Women forest owners also had more diverse objective structure compared with men (Article III). In addition, the relationship between forest owner objectives and activity differed between genders (Article IV). Women also defined the concept of ‘active forest owner’ as a much wider concept than Finnish policies. (Article II). These findings suggest that forest ownership is a gendered performance and that there is a lack of service-dominant logic, that is, value cocreation corresponding to the objectives of women. More specifically, the results indicate that women owners need support, especially when forest ownership is something new. Furthermore, gendering and the prevailing forest values impact the whole forest owner population, their behaviour and forest owner research. Understanding this can enable the design of more equal and inclusive forest policies and services.

Petty Trading and Household Livelihood among Women in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State

The main objective of the study was the determination of the impact of petty trading on household livelihood among women petty traders in Akwanga Local Government Area (LGA) of Nasarawa state. This was achieved through two specific objectives – to determine the contributions of women petty trading on household income, and its role in attaining household living standard. The study relied on the use of primary data, obtained from a random sample of 343 women owners of petty businesses in Akwanga. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey involving the administration of copies of a structured questionnaire with closed-ended items forming each variable scale. The collected data was used to estimate a structural model using the PLS-SEM statistical technique, to test the pertinent formulated hypothesis and evaluate variable relationships. The result obtained showed that women petty trading businesses had positive and significant effect on household income and living standard. in Akwanga. It was therefore, recommended that due to the importance of petty trading into our growing economy, government and non-governmental organization should encourage more women to go into trading by supporting them with adequate finances for development and women petty traders need to analyzed the kind of business they want to engage onto so as to reduce the magnitude of certain uncertainty in the future.

The gender labor productivity gap across informal firms

This study uncovers a gender labor productivity gap among informal firms in 14 developing economies. The mean labor productivity of women-owned informal firms is approximately 15.6 percent (0.17 log points) lower than that of men-owned informal firms. The difference in productivity is larger at the lower quantiles of the labor productivity distribution than at the higher quantiles. The Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder and quantile decomposition methods are used to estimate the aggregate “endowment” vs “structural” effects, and individual factors’ contribution to the productivity gap. Several policy-relevant findings are revealed. First, the labor productivity gap at the mean is significantly larger due to lower education, prior work experience, capitalization, and less protection from crime among women than men owners of informal firms. The smaller size of the women-owned firms and their higher return from operations under contracts narrow the mean productivity gap. Second, the productivity gap at the mean and different labor productivity quantiles can be substantially narrowed by providing more resources to women owners of informal firms, such as education, managerial experience, and physical capital, without improvements in their returns to women-owned informal businesses. Third, overall, there is evidence of “sticky floors” for women owners, but not “glass ceilings”. Fourth, there is heterogeneity in the contribution of individual factors to the productivity gap at different quantiles of the labor productivity distribution. Targeting policies to the relevant quantiles will improve their effectiveness. Fifth, there are important similarities and differences between groups of countries in low-income Africa, middle-income Africa, and Latin America, as far as the gender labor productivity gap and its drivers are concerned. Thus, an eclectic policy approach is needed, combining the broader findings of the literature with the prevailing local conditions. Last, the data do indicate that a majority of women- and men-owned informal businesses would like to formalize.

The Power of Their Will: Slaveholding Women in Nineteenth-Century Cuba

The Power of Their Will: Slaveholding Women in Nineteenth-Century Cuba

Does the Landowner’s Gender Affect Self-Cultivation and Farm Productivity? An Analysis for India

Land ownership has long been argued to enhance farm productivity by improving tenure security. But would this hold for female and male owners alike? The relationship between land ownership and productivity has been investigated relatively little from a gender perspective in most regions, with work on Asia being especially sparse. Even less explored are gender differences in the likelihood of landowners self-cultivating as vs. leasing out their land. This paper uses a unique household-level dataset for nine states of India to first assess gender differences in the likelihood of landowners self-cultivating or renting out their land. It then analyses differences in farm productivity between female and male owners who self-cultivate. The effect of caste disadvantage is also explored. We find that women owners are significantly less likely than male owners to self-cultivate their land. This is linked especially to family labour constraints and regional opportunities. However, among those who do self-cultivate, the annual farm productivity per hectare does not differ significantly by the gender of the owner-cultivator. This holds true with or without controlling for other factors. Caste matters, however: Scheduled Caste owner-cultivators of both genders have significantly lower productivity than upper-caste ones.

Effects of intimate partner violence against women in international micro and small enterprises relationships: The mediator role of capabilities.

While previous studies have explored multiple constraints affecting women exporters, the effects of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) are still unexplored in the literature. Thus, this study aims to probe first whether women owners of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in export markets experience IPVAW. Secondly, it aims to explore the effect of IPVAW on their relationship quality with business partners, mediated by the performance of export capabilities. Using a structured questionnaire applied through personal interviews, we surveyed 57 female owners of exporting MSEs in Peru. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test the model. The preliminary findings indicate that women exporters who experience IPVAW are more likely to face problems performing export capabilities. In turn, these performance problems seem to affect the quality of their relationships with importers and suppliers. Moreover, there is a direct relationship between IPVAW and problems in performing export capabilities and between issues performing capabilities and the relationship quality. Our theoretical contribution is a conceptual model that proposes the variable “Problems Performing Capabilities” as a mediator to measure the effects of IPVAW on exporting MSEs owned by women. Our findings urge policymakers and trade organizations boosting women-owned export enterprises to include initiatives that address and prevent IPVAW in their export promotion programs.

Navigating the digital informal economy during the COVID-19 pandemic: vignettes of Sri Lankan micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT Globally, women have been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact has varied between groups of women, women in the informal sector, mainly those managing micro- and small-scale businesses, have been severely affected. Drawing on the case of urban Sri Lanka, this paper explores the challenges that women owners of micro- and small-scale businesses faced during the pandemic and how they leveraged digital technologies to overcome these challenges. The paper adopts a feminist intersectional lens, which examines the everyday experiences of women in gendered economies through semi-structured interviews conducted in three phases during the pandemic. The first section of the paper details the challenges that women faced during the pandemic, including issues of mobility, competing care responsibilities, lack of institutional support, financial security, and health. The second section discusses how women used digital tools such as social media to overcome these challenges. The paper argues that although digital tools were initially used in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic, they have been permanently incorporated into everyday entrepreneurial practices of women.

Critical Mass and Critical Representation

Women’s critical mass helps change male-dominated cultures and promote women’s career advancement, but its effects vary across organizational domains and are sometimes constrained by persistent gender structures and power relationships inside and outside workplaces. By analyzing a nationally representative sample of China’s private companies, this study examines how women’s representation, not only in sheer numbers but also in certain powerful positions (e.g., owners or shareholders), affects women’s leadership potential. Despite evidence of positive trends in women’s leadership in the Chinese corporate context, women’s representation has been hamstrung by institutional legacies (e.g., partial state ownership). The effects of women’s representation also differ by industrial sector. Women are more likely to reach senior management in low-tech, labor-intensive industries, where women dominate the workforce, than in industries with higher technological demands, where men dominate the workforce. Women owners or shareholders matter more for the promotion of women CEOs in higher-tech companies. Our study contributes to the literature on gendered organizations by offering insights on how transitional institutional forces and large industrial systems converge and interact with women’s representation to affect their upward occupational trajectory in developing contexts.

Gender in Firm-Level Bribery: Differences in Anomie Pressure Perception of Women Owners and Managers

We examine the role of gender in the perception of anomie pressure and how this perception may vary by the position women occupy within firms to explain firm-level bribery supply. Connecting anomie theory to gender inequality research, our arguments deepen our understanding of the role of gender disadvantages and conformity to social and gender norms in the perception of women owners and managers of anomie pressure that encourages bribery. We argue that women-owned businesses are more likely to conform to prevailing anomie pressure and supply bribes while women managers are less likely to do so. Using a rich dataset that combines micro firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) and country-level data from the World Bank (World Development Indicators) and United Nations (the Inter-Parliamentary Union survey), our findings show that women-owned firms are more likely to supply bribes and that women managers tend to mitigate this relationship. Our evidence offers theoretical and practical implications for bribery research that move beyond prevailing assumptions about women's presence as a condition to reduce bribery to consider the connection between gender, prevailing bribery norms, and compliance.

Understanding the diversity of objectives among women forest owners in Finland

Women forest owners control a significant share of private forests in Finland, but they are often underrepresented in forest-related surveys. It also seems that women forest owners are less active in performing forestry work or selling wood; however, the information on women forest owners is sparce. The purpose of this study is to deepen understanding of the association between women forest owners’ activities and their ownership objectives. The study analysed a large survey ( n = 6468) collected as part of the Finnish Forest Owner 2020 research project. Overall, women forest owners were found to be less active in many aspects compared to their men counterparts. With k-means clustering, four different clusters of women forest owners with different ownership-objective profiles were identified. Differences in ownership activities between the clusters were compared using Pearson's chi-square test. Multi-objective women forest owners were more active than other women owners. Moreover, women forest owners who valued nature and recreation were less active than other women forest owners. This might indicate the lack of service-dominant logic in forestry-related services. By providing a more detailed understanding of women forest owners, the results aid the design of more equal and inclusive forest policies and forest services.

Impact of business owner’s gender on the audit firms income: the case of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is characterized by women’s significant representation in the financial industry, including the audit sector, which distinguishes the country from other states and can lay the basis for a competitive advantage of the economy. The literature review on audit firms in Kazakhstan showcases a scarcity of studies about gender’s influence on audit firms’ financial performance. The paper aims to identify the correlation between business owners’ gender and the net income of Kazakhstani private audit firms. The publicly available data on audit companies and the size of their paid taxes were processed and analyzed with the quantitative research method. The data of 117 audit firms for 2021 were scrutinized through the parametric Student t-test for independent samples with the utilization of the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). To analyze and adjust the normal distribution of the studied data, frequency histograms, taking logarithms, and formalized tests by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk criteria were applied. The findings demonstrate the significant correlation between women owners and the size of paid taxes by their audit firms: women positively contribute to audit firms and generate higher net earnings compared with their men counterparts. The paper postulates the necessity of women’s more intensive involvement in higher levels of decision-making to increase the performance indicators of the financial industry in Kazakhstan. The study supports the idea that less gender bias in the expert field can be a good indicator of women's real contribution to Kazakhstan's economy. The auditing field should serve as a solid role model for lowering the barriers to female leadership in other industries.

The impact of lesbian bar ownership on USA lesbian bar geographies: all-gender/straight-integrated LGBTQ places by design

One longstanding explanation for the scarcity of lesbian bars in the United States is the lack of women’s ownership of durable spaces. This study interviewed 15 women owners of lesbian and LGBTQ bars to understand how they conceptualize the queer social spaces they control. Whether they owned a lesbian bar in a big city with a gayborhood or an ‘everybody’ gay bar serving a rural region, no owners prioritized women’s-only places, and all actively refused them. Many nevertheless reported practices to prioritize women in their spaces. Women’s ownership of LGBTQ spaces thus does not produce women’s-only spaces, even in self-described lesbian bars. These findings have three implications for our understandings of the spatial organization of lesbian and LGBTQ socializing. They shed light on the contested decline of women-only spaces, including the congruence between all-gender straight-integrated business philosophies and places that have survived the ‘great lesbian bar die-off’. They underscore the dramatic shift towards all-gender mixed LGBTQ spaces and the decline of gender-segregated socializing. Findings also raise the possible necessity for ‘time-space strategies’ of ephemeral placemaking practices even in erstwhile lesbian spaces due to the erasure faced by lesbians in straight-integrated spaces. Together, these findings underscore the necessary tension in lesbian geographies between a focus on durable places and ephemeral placemaking due to economic and spatial marginalization, time-space strategies that may increasingly be needed by all LGBTQ people in increasingly straight-integrated spaces.

The Effect of Family Support on Owners’ Wellbeing and Performance of Women-owned Enterprises in Pakistan: The Mediating Role of Family-to-Work Enrichment, Complemented by firms and Owners Demographics.

Many women entrepreneurs venturing into the business world, are, however, still responsible for a larger portion of family responsibilities. Consequently, a deeper understanding of the bidirectional effect of family and work on women’s entrepreneurship and its uniqueness is vital. This study aims to explain how family support affects these women's well-being and their firms’ performance. In this regard, Neneh (2017) proposed a mediating role of family-to-work enrichment (FWE) on the relationship between family support and performance. We proposed a theoretical framework, modifying Neneh’s model to include wellbeing as in outcome, as well as demographics in a moderating role in family support and performance nexus. We argue that Family support is measured by 1. Emotional (ES), .2 Instrumental (IS), and 3. Financial Support (FS), leads to better family-to-work enrichment (FWE). FWE was measure by 1. Instrumental FWE, and 2. Affective FWE. Higher FWE would in turn increase the firms’ performance. It would also increase the well-being of these women entrepreneurs. We included four dimensions of Well-being namely 1. psychological (PWB), 2. social (SWB), 3. Workplace (WWB), and 4. subjective well-being (SBB). We also proposed a complementary role of entrepreneurs numbers of children, their education, and age, their firms’ size, and age, in family support and performance relationship, in a way that the effect of Instrumental, and Affective FEW on firms performed in less effective where women owners are more educated, having more age, and having larger firms size and age. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 530 women entrepreneurs as well as some of their family members and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The results showed that ES and IS seem to have a significant positive effect on Affective and Instrumental FWE. FS also seems to affect affective FEW. Affective FWE in turn seems to positively affect firm performance. ES and IS also seem to have a significant positive effect on firms' performance (FP), Hence Affective FEW seems to partially mediate the effect of ES, FS, and IS on FP. Results also suggested a significant positive number of children on FP, whereas firms’ size seems to affect FP negatively. However, a higher firm size seems to make the ES-FP relationship weaker. On the other hand higher education level would strengthen the ES-FP nexus. With regards to wellbeing, ES and IS seems to positively affect all four dimensions of wellbeing i.e. PWB, SBB, SWB, and WWB. Affective FWE also seems to affect PWB, SWB, whereas, Instrumental FWE seems to positively affect PWB and WWB. Hence, Instrumental FWE seems to positively mediate the effect of ES and IS on PWB, and WWB, whereas Affective FWE mediates the effect of ES, FS, and IS on SWB. The findings emphases the need for the current system to take into account the distinctive needs and challenges of women entrepreneurs and provide the necessary support and environment to foster their growth and prosperity.

Experiences of black women adult foster care providers for aging adults: negotiating power and care

ABSTRACT This study explored experiences of 23 Black women owners and operators of Adult Foster Care (AFC) homes for midlife and older adults. Semi-structured interview data focusing on multiple dimensions of the care context were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Women leveraged their resources as they invested their expertise, time, and relationships to support their residents and embraced the value of residents for their contribution to the success of AFC settings. The findings underline the critical roles of these AFC providers in maintaining safe and home-like care contexts for aging adults, in the face of systemic challenges.

Leveraging on the Urban Economy to Promote the Growth of Women-Owned Small Businesses in Bangladesh

Purpose: The contribution of small businesses to a country’s economic growth is vital. It makes sense to accentuate the small businesses by emphasizing the neglected segments. The present study aims to explore the women-owned small businesses (WOSB) and their various problems. The study also examines if the city-based features of the urban economy can be favorable to promote the growth of WOSB.
 Methods: The concept paper conducts secondary research by selecting sample literature on WOSB of Bangladesh from the manufacturing, and trading sectors. The selection and classification of extant literature were conducted by emphasizing problems faced by WOSB, and the city-based amenities of developing countries. The extracted information is analyzed by categorizing and interpreting relevant issues to create a base-model of venture-growth.
 Results: Based on the literature review, a growth-framework is formulated that reflects the issues faced by WOSB categorized as financial illiteracy, inadequate human capital, insufficient social capital, and business environmental hiccups. Also, the substandard growth of WOSB is envisaged in the model if the problems are not addressed timely. The study also discovers that the urban economy could be leveraged to make these issues less coercing for the women owners.
 Implications: The paper creates a nexus with the WOSB and the privileges of urban platforms to ensure better growth of the firms.
 Originality: As far as authors could determine, the aimed research-domain was mostly covered from the perspectives of developed countries, rarely covered in the context of developing countries, and almost absent in Bangladesh. This paper attempts to fulfill that gap.

Azogueras, trapicheras y dueñas de minas en los centros mineros de Charcas (Bolivia), siglo XVIII

Este trabajo pretende poner en evidencia la participación de las mujeres en la minería colonial andina. En mi trayectoria como investigadora he encontrado múltiples testimonios de mujeres que han tenido la profesión de “azogueras” y “trapicheras” en centros mineros como Oruro, Chayanta, Paria, Carangas, es decir mujeres propietarias de las instalaciones mineras que además ejercían la profesión a la par que los hombres, gestionando las empresas, sacando azogues, negociando con habilitadores y trabajadores, registrando la plata, realizando compañías…etc. En esta ocasión, pondremos especial interés en destacar alguna de estas importantes empresarias mujeres, las cuales suponemos que debieron tener unas condiciones no siempre favorables pero pud y dejar múltiples testimonios de su participación en la minería durante el siglo XVIII.

Microcredit Services and Performance of Women Owned Enterprises in Kilifi County, Kenya

Women owned enterprises play an important role in ensuring the growth of an economy. However, most of these businesses face challenges including limited access to credit facilities and limited skills among women owners. Commercial banks have consistently remained reluctant to advance credit facilities among low income earners who mostly comprise of these women owned enterprises. Majority of the women owned enterprises are still at micro level with limited ability to transact in larger profitable firms because of limited access to financial resources. The main economic activities that the youth and women are engaged in Kilifi County include small scale business/trade, mining industry, bodaboda business, Mnazi tapping, Casuallabour and commercial sex. Despite this, the youth and women are faced with a myriad of challenges which include poor/low pay, exploitation, health Complications, unwanted pregnancies, HIV infections. Some of the ways in which these challenges facing women engaged in business in Kilifi County can be managed include; capacity building/education, government financial support, enforcement of laws of child labour, guidance and counseling and creation of employment. There has been a rise in the number of women owned enterprises in the County with the advent of county government system. The County Government of Kilifi has given opportunities and credit to youth, special needs group and women to start or expand their businesses and also get procurement opportunities. However these women owned enterprises have had challenges with sufficient financing especially from microfinance institutions in the County. The study sought to bridge the gap by establishing the effect of Microfinance Services and performance of women owned enterprises in Kilifi County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives; to establish the effect of loan facilities, saving services, influence of financial literacy and convenience and reputation of credit institutions on performance of women owned enterprises in Kilifi County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the following theories; Resource based view theory and Social Learning theory. The study used descriptive research design. The population of the study was 1281 women owned enterprises. The study applied stratified random sampling technique. The sample size was therefore296 women owners of registered enterprises in Kilifi County. The collected data wasbe qualitative and quantitative in nature. To analyze qualitative data, content analysis was employed. For quantitative data, the researcher employed both descriptive and inferential statistics for analysis that covered means, standard deviations and regression analysis. The study established that microfinance services had a positive effect on the performance of women owned enterprises in Kilifi County. The study concluded that there were significant microfinance services provided by MFIs in Kilifi County for women-owned enterprises in Kilifi County. The study concluded that microfinance services offered by MFIs positively and significantly influenced the performance of women-owned enterprises in Kilifi County. It was concluded further that some of the enterprises were not aware of the microfinance services offered by MFIs in Kilifi County. The study recommends that the women-owned enterprises need to be sensitized on the available microfinance services and how to access them. The study recommends that the enterprises need to improve their saving culture to enhance their capital base and financial performance.