This study investigates the impact of school closures on female entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile, an emerging economy that experienced one of the longest periods of school closures worldwide. Building on institutional theories of gender inequalities in entrepreneurship, we argue that schools are an important formal institution affecting the entrepreneurial process. Using administrative data from different public agencies, we show that school closures disproportionately affected women, reducing their probability of starting a business by 38%. The effects were even higher for women with younger children and from lower-income backgrounds. We contribute to the literature on female entrepreneurship by showing how school closures amplify entrenched gender-based disparities in entrepreneurship. We discuss the need for societal changes to reduce the uneven distribution of household responsibilities and cultural expectations regarding childcare, and the need of targeted policies to support female entrepreneurs.
