and poultry (Authors’ calculations, ENMV, Nicaragua 2001). Limited data makes it difficult to report on the incidence of livestock ownership by sex for most countries.

_Non-Farm Business Assets._ Business assets usually provide a stream of income, which provides security to the owners. Micro-finance programs throughout the world have focused on increasing women’s access to business capital, so that they can purchase business assets. Not withstanding the large amount of research internationally on micro-enterprises and the informal sector businesses, little of this research has focused on whether there is a gender gap in business assets. In Ghana, Doss (2006b) found that although women are more likely than men to own business assets, the mean value of business assets owned by men is much higher than that owned by women.

Recent data for Central America show contrasting patterns. In Nicaragua it was more likely that the household business was owned by women (in 55.5 percent of the households with businesses) than men (43.6 percent) or jointly (0.9 percent). In contrast, in Panama, it was more likely that the household business was owned and/or managed by men (59.2) than by women (29.7 percent); in 11.1 percent of the households both men and women had businesses. This latter survey did not allow for the possibility of joint ownership of the business (Authors’ calculations, ENMV Nicaragua 2001 and ENV Panama 2003). It would be important to further analyze such data to discern the differences in the type of businesses owned and specific assets controlled as well as the value of businesses by gender.

_Other Physical Assets._ Men and women often own different assets, related to either genderspecific income generating activities or gender-differentiated means of displaying status and storing wealth. With respect to transport vehicles, an analysis of data from a UNICEF/IFPRI, UDS (2001) survey in Savelugu and Nanton Districts in Ghana shows that men are far more likely than women to own bicycles, cars, motorcycles or canoes. For example, 72 percent of men owned a bicycle compared to 0.7 percent of women. Women, by contrast, are far more likely to own bowls and _makolles,_ means of production for their own income-generating activities.

Antonopoulos and Floro’s (2005) analysis of survey data on low-income married couples in Bangkok, Thailand, revealed that, whereas men were more likely to own transport vehicles, women were more likely to own jewelry, an important and relatively liquid means of wealth accumulation in Asia. Little empirical information is available to calculate the gender gap in consumer durables, vehicles or culturally specific assets such as jewelry or cloth at a national level.

_Financial Assets._ Relatively little is known about gendered patterns of financial asset accumulation in developing countries. Antonopoulos and Floro’s study (2005) of low-income households in Bangkok found that a higher proportion of women than men owned individual financial assets but the mean value reported was similar. Using LSMS data from Ghana for 1998-99, Doss (2006b) found that among households with savings, more men than women had formal savings accounts (19 percent compared to 12 percent).

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