Post by Ralph De Haas

📢 Just wrapped up a fascinating two days at EBRD HQ, where we hosted the 3rd "Accelerating Growth for Women Entrepreneurs" research conference, together with our fantastic partners Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), Imperial Business School, IDB Invest, and Inter-American Development Bank 📢 We explored the latest research on what's holding back women entrepreneurs in emerging markets—and more importantly, the evidence-based policy solutions that can help to slowly but surely break down these barriers. A particular highlight was the keynote by Marianne Bertrand (The University of Chicago Booth School of Business) on "Gender Inequality, Stereotypes, and Identity." Some key insights: 1. The motherhood penalty remains the single biggest driver of the gender pay gap worldwide, even among highly educated professionals. 2. Most people dramatically underestimate public support for working mothers and fathers taking leave. Surveys show 70% support these policies, but people guess only 40% do. When researchers simply show people the real numbers, it changes minds: support for family-friendly policies jumps and more fathers actually take paternity leave: https://lnkd.in/ePUkSzk2 3. The equality paradox: Countries with the most gender equality "on the books" often have the fewest women in STEM. As societies remove obvious barriers (like banning women from certain jobs), subtler stereotypes may intensify as social groups self-separate. When explicit rules disappear, implicit biases ("girls are verbal, boys are math") can paradoxically grow stronger to maintain group identities. More research needed here... Another missing piece in gender research? A better understanding of how masculinity norms evolve as women advance. A sharper focus on men may be essential for achieving true gender equality. Music to my ears 👉 https://lnkd.in/ejShq6EF Sebastian Edreira Diego Ubfal Sofia Amaral Maria Paula Gerardino G. Claudia Martinez A. Wendy Teleki Patricia Yanez-Pagans Felicia Siegrist Francesco Loiacono Barbara Rambousek Dana Kupova Ksenia Yakustidi Selim Gulesci Youngjoo Jung Tanvi Jaluka Russell Toth Alejandro Becerra Ornelas Miriam Bruhn Fiona Clark Sonia Jordan-Kirwan Elizabeth Koshy Ieda Matavelli Victoria Baranov Jihane Hakimi Monomita Nandy Maxim Chupilkin Zsoka Koczan Alexander Plekhanov Helena Schweiger Tim Deisemann Anton Grahed Victoria Marino Pablo García Guzmán