WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND IN DECISION MAKING

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND IN DECISION MAKING

• A SURVEY ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
• (WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS SURVEY RESULTS)
• Athens, Greece
• 10 December 2004
• Leonidas Paschalides, Director, Department of
  Education and Development,
• Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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INTRODUCTION

• The survey was conducted in the framework of the
  E.U. project Women in Business and in
  Decision-Making that is co-funded by DG
  Employment and Social Affairs of the European
  Commission
• Project Consortium
• Eurochambres-Eurochambres Women Network (EWN)
• Union of Hellenic Chambers of Commerce and
  Industry (UHCCI)

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INTRODUCTION

• Project Consortium (continued)
• Association of Italian Chambers of Commerce,
  Industry, Craft and Agriculture (UNIONCAMERE)
• Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  (CCCI)-Cyprus Federation of Business and
  Professional Women (BPW)
• Hamburg Chamber of Commerce
• The Consortium is led by Eurochambres/EWN
• The aim of the survey was to find out what
  problems hinder women entrepreneurs...

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INTRODUCTION

• ... from taking part in economic decision making
  processes in the E.U. member-states but also to
  identify the problems they face when starting up
  an enterprise as well as in the day-to-day
  running of their businesses. In addition, to find
  out various facts about their enterprises and
  about themselves and raise awareness
• 52 of Eurochambres member organisations carried
  out the survey in their respective country, with
  a varying success rate

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INTRODUCTION

• Some 6000 questionnaires were sent to women
  entrepreneurs across Europe and 1356 replies were
  received
• Considering the varying reply rate, the survey
  results are regarded from a qualitative point of
  view with less emphasis placed on statistical
  aspects. Since awareness raising is an important
  aim of the survey, the statistical relevance of
  the survey results is less important than the
  qualitative aspect

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MAIN FINDINGS

• The main findings are that the typical female
  entrepreneur
• Is educated (tertiary education)
• Runs a micro enterprise
• Has a husband and children but no help at home
• Creates the enterprise before the age of 35 after
  gaining some experience elsewhere
• Creates her enterprise out of desire for control
  and freedom to take own decisions but also for
  making money

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MAIN FINDINGS

• The main findings are that the typical female
  entrepreneur (continued)
• Dedicates over 48 hours (typically around 60
  hours) to her business activity per week
• Has made it thanks to hard work, perseverance,
  family support and solid self-confidence
• Faces financial and combining work and family
  problems both at the creation stage of the
  enterprise and in its daily running

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MAIN FINDINGS

• The main findings are that the typical female
  entrepreneur (continued)
• Has no easy solution for the work-family issue
  but can overcome the financial issue through
  loans and alternative finance sources (family or
  savings)

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Type of enterprises
• The large majority (87.4) of women entrepreneurs
  have micro enterprises
• 10.1 have small enterprises
• 2 have medium sized enterprises
• 0.5 have large enterprises
• This tendency is to be found in all participating
  countries except Poland where more women
  entrepreneurs own small rather than micro
  enterprises

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman
• Educational background
• 44 have tertiary education
• 39 have secondary education
• 17 have primary education
• In all participating countries except Italy and
  Greece, the level of tertiary education exceeds
  50 of the replies. In both countries women
  entrepreneurs with secondary education outweigh
  the other categories

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman (continued)
• Family background
• 76 of women entrepreneurs have a partner
• 74 of women entrepreneurs have children
• The only countries where the majority does not
  have a partner are Belgium and Hungary
• The only country where the majority does not have
  children is Germany

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman(continued)
• Help at home
• 57 of women entrepreneurs do not have help at
  home
• Finland is the country with the least help at
  home and Malta the country with the most
• Working for oneself
• 38 of women entrepreneurs have always worked for
  themselves whereas 62 have become entrepreneurs
  after having occupied various jobs

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman (continued)
• Age for starting a business
• Over 70 of women started their business before
  the age of 35. Around 15 in the age range of
  36-40 and around 14 later on in life
• Time dedicated to the business
• 62 of women entrepreneurs work over 48 hours per
  week, 25 work 40-48 hours and 13 less than 40
  hours. Out of the 13 who work less hours, 6
  dedicate less than 35 hours. Most of the women in
  this category are to be found in Germany,
  Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman (continued)
• Reasons for starting a business
• 47 of women because they wanted to control and
  take their own decisions, 46 because they wanted
  to make money, 42 because of the search for
  self-achievement, 37 because they did not want
  to work for others, 25 because they had
  confidence in the products/services offered and
  15 for social status purposes. 17 quoted other
  reasons

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman (continued)
• Origin of business
• A large majority (70) of women created their
  enterprises from start-up, 22 inherited them and
  8 bought them
• First enterprise or not
• 86 of the respondents stated that their current
  enterprise was the the first one they owned. The
  countries where this tendency could not be
  observed were Hungary and Malta

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Profile of the businesswoman (continued)
• First enterprise or not (continued)
• To the question what happened to businesses
  previously owned, 48 stated that they are still
  successful, 21 did not specify what happened to
  the enterprises previously owned by them, 19
  declared that they had gone out of business and
  12 stated that they had been sold

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Obstacles
• When starting business
• The most severe obstacle are financial questions
  (50 of the responses) followed by the
  combination of work and family life (31) and and
  the lack of information and advice (28). 17 of
  the respondents stated they did not face any
  problems when starting their business
• Day to day operations
• Liquidity and financial questions come first
  (50) followed by combining work and family life
  (45) and lack of time for training/skills
  upgrading (28). 12 stated that they face no
  problems

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Obstacles (continued)
• Day to day operations (continued)
• To the question how the obstacles have been
  overcome, the replies vary. There is no quick fix
  but hard work, perseverance, family support and
  solid self-confidence were the most recurrent
  answers
• On the financial side opinions were split. Some
  received support from their banks, others relied
  on own capital (savings) or family support.
  Building up a solid knowledge base was also
  quoted frequently (building management
  capabilities and relations)

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Participation in decision-making
• Participation rates are quite low
• 18 of the respondents stated that they take part
  in the Chambers decision-making bodies and 23
  that they take part in the decision-making bodies
  of other organisations. These include clubs and
  associations ranging from social/community
  activities over economic/professional activities
  to political roles

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

• Participation in decision-making (continued)
• When considering the main obstacles preventing
  women from participating in decision-making
  bodies (Chamber or other), lack of time is the
  most important one (50 of respondents), followed
  by family obligations (36) and by others
  (15). 14 state that they have no interest to
  participate and another 14 see no obstacles in
  participating

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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
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CONCLUSIONS/POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Financial aspects Women in general request
  smaller loans from banks than men when creating
  an enterprise. This is not attractive for banks.
  Special schemes should therefore be implemented
  with a guarantee mechanism whereby extended
  credit terms are offered in case the business
  takes longer than foreseen to take off or
  unforseen events lead to financial pressure

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CONCLUSIONS/POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Childcare Many such facilities should be
  provided to fit women entrepreneurs needs. This
  would entail extended or flexible opening hours.
  Alternatively, measures should be taken for
  fathers to be in the position to take parental
  leave and men should be encouraged to take this
  leave

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CONCLUSIONS/POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Household It should be made easier for women
  entrepreneurs to get help for their households
  and initiatives like the cheques services
  implemented by the Belgian government should be
  copied. This would alleviate the workload of the
  female entrepreneurs and at the same time
  decrease the number of unemployed persons

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CONCLUSIONS/POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Working time Self-employed women should be
  encouraged to employ on a part-time or full-time
  basis at least one person so that they have more
  time for their family and can take interest in
  other occupations but also participate more
  actively in decision-making bodies

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH!