Transcript Document
ISTANBUL 18 November 2008
Alexandra Nemes
Counselor for European Affairs
National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men
Ministry for Labor, Family and Equal Opportunities
ROMANIA
Characteristics of Romanian women labor force
– second part of 2008
Total employed women –
4.265.000, representing - 45% of the total employed persons
by status in employment (percents of total number of
employees):
29,5% employees
0,4% employer
5,7% self-employed
9,6% contributing family worker
Female employment rate – 53,1% vs. male employment rate
66,4%
Female unemployment rate – 4,6% vs. male employment rate
6,5%
Gender pay gap in 2007 – 13% under the European level of
15%
The social pattern of Romanian women entrepreneur
In Romania, the enterprises made by women - regarding small and
medium enterprises (SME) - play an important role (34% of all
enterprises, especially in the field of services and in the retail
trade)
well established associations of WEs with very efficient initiatives
women are under - represented in mainstream business
associations, in general and in leadership position
most of the questioned women entrepreneurs, with different types
of studies have already done or are willing to do entrepreneurial
training
women appear to participate less than men at business
development services training
THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN WOMEN’S LIFE - a study
made in 2007 by International Centre for Adult Education and Centre
d’Information du Droit des Femmes Phocéen – an Excellence Research
Partnership for Development of Entrepreneurial Aptitudes and of Competitive Human
Capital inside the Economy and the Society Based on Knowledge and Innovation
women entrepreneurs start an affair not necessarily because of their
experience and talent in running a business, but more often by the
need of material compensation and independence
the advantages that women think that entrepreneurial activity brings in the order of importance: consciousness, responsibility, dynamism,
tenacity, intelligence and intuition, a good entrepreneurship, requires
discipline, organized work and capacity of adaptability to social
changes
level of education and training of the interviewed WEs - 65.3% of
them have superior studies, most of them economics ones
family situation - 72.75% of interviewed WEs have children , 74.28%
of them personally look after them, only 14.28% have chosen to hire
staff trained in child care to look after their children
Difficulties during the business
lack of experience in the financial planning - 27.55%
influence over the personnel - 24.48%
Discrimination against WEs when doing business
in the industry sectors
constructions sector
the transport and telecommunications sector
the hotel and restaurant sector
the smallest number of discrimination cases is found in the agriculture sector
Difficulties at the initiation of the business
lack of training in the business - 29.59%
getting the credits - 27.55%
lack of experience in the financial planning - 20.42 %
lack of the guaranties - 21.42%
lack of guidance and consultancy - 1.02%
The motivation of starting an enterprise
the need of extra income - 35.71%
the need of gaining higher independence - 28.57%
alternative against unemployment - 22.44%
positive entrepreneurial examples - 7.14%
expertise in a certain domain - 5.10%
keeping a family tradition - 1.04%
Relevant social actors in promoting women entrepreneurship
The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Tourism, Trade and
Liberal Professions has an active role in promotion of women
entrepreneurship Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men,
responsible for gender mainstreaming in all national policies
Some15 microfinance institutions are active, including a specialized bank -
ProCredit Bank
Association for development of WEs – established in 2001, by a group
of WEs, as a result of an analyze of problems of WEs. This association
promotes the active role of women in the context of economic globalization
and the encouragement of this to involve in economic development by
using the most modern informative and communication instruments and
the management ones.
ADAF is a founding member of the Coalition of Women Business
Associations (CAFA) and member of Romanian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry
The Coalition of Women Business Associations (CAFA)
since 2004 - an important partner in the decision making process concerning
the business environment, in present it has 19 members.
involved in major initiatives and events: public hearings, public debates,
legislative proposals, amendments, and participation in governmental
dialogues
advocacy efforts - CAFA supports the development of entrepreneurial spirit
of women who want to start a business.
promote women in management positions, in government, public offices,
administration and politics through lobby and advocacy activities
establish partnerships with other Romanian and international associations or
business support organizations
supports the interests of the business community based on the principle of
equal chances
annual awards for personalities who observe this principle
partnership with the media
lobby and advocacy activities during the election campaigns in order to
contribute to an increased number of women in local government
Social policies for promoting women entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is one of the 8 Key Competences meant to
assure the building of the European Knowledge Based Society
by 2005 first law on microfinance issued, ensuring the
consolidation of the sector streamlining of procedures to start
and run a business
since 2005 - reduction of taxes
National Development Plan for Medium Term Economic
Development 2004-06
Government Strategy for Supporting the Small and Medium
Enterprise Development 2004-2008
The National Program for entrepreneurship culture of
manager women from small and medium enterprises, an
annual program for the period of 2005 – 2011 - the Ministry
for Small and Medium Enterprises
The scope of this program - promoting of an informative and training system to
facilitate the women’s mobility on labor market and to develop the women
entrepreneurial aptitudes in view to involve them within the private firms.
Specific objectives:
increasing of the number of women entrepreneur at the private business
level
improvement of economic performance of enterprises managed by women
by increasing the professional formation of them
ensuring the equal access of both women and men to the knowledge based
economy
sharing of good practices between the business women and establishing a
strong network and possibilities of partnerships
sustaining of economic independence of women
valorization of innovative abilities of women and consolidation of an
economic field with powerful business women as competitive actors
reducing of gender pay gap
increasing the number of women in the political decision making process, as
a direct consequence of increasing the number of women in top position
management
4 Components of the program
1. Elaboration and dissemination of informative materials regarding:
the ABC of finance sources for small and medium enterprises
public acquisition process and the state aide
business strategies – corporative entrepreneurship
communication and negotiation in business
2. Informative campeign “ Entrepreneur Women’s Days” – making - up of
workshops in 11 important towns from Romania
3. Implementing of entrepreneurial courses of 6 days made in 11 towns
for a total of 275 participants
Courses are related to: legislation, business plan elaboration, business
financing, basic accountancy and cash flow, risk management, financial
management, human resources management, e-commerce, business
transfer, public procurement, implementing quality standards.
4. “The Entrepreneurial Women Forum” which represents an opportunity
to promote the best practices in the field of women entrepreneurship at
national, international level, business women and top management
women, the graduated of entrepreneurial courses since 2005 promotion
Recommendations
Conducting of surveys with a socio-cultural institutional approach in
view to identify the specific factors that influence women
entrepreneurship as:
importance of entrepreneurial self-confidence
the presence and the type of female entrepreneurial role models
their distinctive entrepreneurial characteristics (motivations,
personality traits, experience)
features of women’s firms (size, goals and strategy, management,
performance)
financial constraints or other barriers that women face in the start-up
process or development of their businesses
the institutional framework and its socio-cultural factors
informal institutional factors such as the positive examples that make
entrepreneurship a more credible alternative; the social attitudes
towards entrepreneurship
type of support received by women initiating businesses
the relationships that women entrepreneur establish with
governmental and non-governmental institutions
Drawing a comprehensive analyze of the status of women’s
entrepreneurship in every territorial region
Assess the policies, programs, and project
Identifying the economic, social, and cultural difficulties met by
women entrepreneur at local level
Dissemination of local and international good practices
regarding successful business developed by women
Development of a network of experts from different
organizations
Development of Entrepreneurship and Business Management
Training and improving the access of women with all
educational background, from urban and also from rural area.
It is important to integrate entrepreneurship training in college
and university programs, combine with technical programs for
women and offer ongoing targeted training programs for
women entrepreneurs at various stages of business
development (start-up, early development, growth planning
and export readiness)
develop research on women’s access to commercial credit and how
to make it more attractive for Wes
allocate targets for WEs in government financing programs and track
take-up by WEs in government financing programs
mandate financial institutions to do gender disaggregated portfolio
data and report annually to government
developing women’s enterprise centers in NGOs organizations and
universities
encouraging WEAs to disseminate business information to both rural
and urban members and nonmembers
implement a high profile awards program for women entrepreneurs
use local media in to profile women entrepreneurs and their
enterprises within each region
introduce gender disaggregated statistics regarding women’s
entrepreneurship in line with worldwide practices.
development of entrepreneurial education as part of the curriculum
at all education levels
define measures to promote business support services (financial
and no financial) targeted to the women entrepreneurs profiles
bearing in mind that rural women may need special attention. Idem
for certain minority women
promotion of SMEs engaged in innovation and use of high
technology for SMEs with special including women owned
enterprises
strengthen existing WEAs and address gaps, including in rural areas
foster exchanges of best practices and lessons learned and
common projects between Turkish NGOs and organizations
supporting women entrepreneurs in the EU-27 countries
Thank you for your attention