Economic crisis, women entrepreneurs and bank loans: some empirical evidence from Italy

This paper presents the main findings from an empirical research project, whose aim was to answer the following research questions: (1) Did men and women entrepreneurs ask for new bank loans during the crisis? (2) Did they obtain required bank loans at the same conditions? (3) Which variables, other than gender, influence access to bank credit? The empirical research is based on a questionnaire survey involving a sample of 300 sole-proprietors (150 men and 150 women) and owners of Italian micro-enterprises. The purpose of the questionnaire was to identify the existence of any gender differences in access to credit during the crisis, and to check whether other variables, selected from those emerging from prevailing literature on the subject, affected access to credit. Data show that firms were very cautious in access to finance during the crisis and female-led firms asked for bank loans more rarely than male-led ones. Entrepreneurs’ gender, age and education, banking history and industry only slightly affected access to credit during the crisis.