Growing inequalities in the Covid-19 pandemic and their effect on women entrepreneurship: A case of Vietnam

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to provide a general overview regarding the increased inequality due to Covid-19 in various areas and this all had an integrated effect on women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe and in Vietnam.

Research Design & Methods: The data is collected using various research papers and the reports accessing the inequalities across the world and in Vietnam. The methodology used is compiling the various reports to provide general overview as how Covid-19 has fuelled existing inequalities and providing overview of the situation the women-owned SMEs are facing in this challenging time of pandemic.

Findings: The results from the study suggest that the inequalities in various areas have increased such as inequality between and within different countries, employment sector inequalities, gender inequalities, educational inequalities, age-related inequalities and all these has created a wider gap between the barriers faced by men and women across the globe. The women-owned SMEs has found to have the higher challenges in Vietnam as compared to men-owned SMEs.

Implications & Recommendations: The current literature identified the increasing inequalities of women in various countries and particular in SMEs in Vietnam. There are several studies conducted in developed countries to determine the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, but there is dearth of studies conducted in Vietnam, especially to study the effect of Covid-19 on the women entrepreneurs. It is important to conduct this kind of study in Vietnam on women SMEs to study the impact of Covid-19 to understand the barriers the women might have faced and how the government can provide the appropriate support to women entrepreneurs in the future which further can help in empowering the women in Vietnam and helping the economy to grow.

Contribution & Value Added: This paper provides the general overview of increased inequalities in various areas and in particular women-owned SMEs in Vietnam which is not summarized in earlier studies conducted in Vietnam and hence this study aims to contribute to fill this gap in the literature and provided an avenue for the future research.

Keywords

Covid-19, inequalities, women-owned SMEs, economic impact, entrepreneurship, Vietnam

Author Biography

Greeni Maheshwari

Lecturer at RMIT Vietnam in School of Business and Management since February 2008. She completed Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) in Global Business and Leadership from California, USA. She teaches and coordinates quantitative courses like Business Statistics, Quantitative Analysis, and Basic Econometrics. Greeni has been the recipient of “Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Innovation” in 2020, “Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Learning and Teaching: Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, Higher Education” in 2018, “Excellence in Teaching Award” in 2017 at RMIT University and “Award for excellence in Learning and Teaching” in 2016 at RMIT University, Vietnam. She has been awarded two gold medals during the engineering studies. Greeni is the Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) received in 2018 and Senior Fellow of Higher Education (SFHEA) received in 2020 from the Higher Education Academy, UK. Her research interest lies in leadership, educational and finance related topics.

Anika Maheshwari

Student at an international high school in Vietnam. A scholarship winner in IGCSE results. She holds a deep interest in economics and business issues and would like to start the university career in economics and business degree

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