Women's entrepreneurship and waged employment

attended a very interesting day-long seminar organized by the Gender and Development group from the World Bank yesterday.  Lots of interesting presentations and discussions...but what I'm taking away most, over and above all the extra barriers we see facing women entrepreneurs, is the tiny portion of women in waged employment in emerging markets, relative to men.  This is a real concern for many reasons, not the least of which because we see a relationship between waged employment experience and success in high-growth SMEs (whether women or men-run).  But it got me thinking - what about those countries where there have been booms in women's waged employment, such as all those manufacturing enterprises in southern China (Shenzhen and Guangdong), or in the garments sector in southeast Asia, Africa and central America?  Anecdotally, and through works like Leslie Chang's Factory Girls, we know that women work in these jobs for a while, and often move on to other things.  But what is the impact of this waged work experience on women's business development?  what are the potential implications for policy of having these sizeable (and often migrant) workforces getting skills training?  are we seeing more women breaking off to start businesses in these regions?  and what do we know about the performance of those businesses?  this pool of factory workers seems a valuable potential source of entrepreneurs...of course most will prefer to stay employees, but those that show initiative might be far better targets for support (finance and other) than those still staying behind in the villages...would be great to hear if anyone's working in this area, and has anything to share. matt