All Said...All Done
Have Women said more or done more as Entrepreneurs in the Twenty-first Century?
Roxana Bratu 7 March 2011
“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman” the words of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Former Prime Minister. One may agree or disagree with this quote, but if women get so much done then why are there still glaring statistics that illustrate women face more obstacles than men? As we celebrate 100 years of women’s emancipation on the 8th of March, fresh data from Delta Economics indicates that in the United Kingdom, female entrepreneurs are suffering more than their male counterparts as a result of the economic downturn, despite their capacity for innovation and the massive growth potential of their businesses. Delta Economics Managing Director, Dr Rebecca Harding argues, “This is not down to the way women run their businesses, but the competitive sectors they choose, such as retail and consumer or business services, which have been particularly badly hit by the downturn.” Harding said: “UK women tend to take a more idealistic attitude to setting up their business than their EU counterparts, and are more likely to set up their companies to make a difference or to follow a dream as opposed to exploiting a market opportunity.” So are women making the wrong decisions, in their pursuit of upward mobility on the entrepreneurial ladder? Are women Idealists, Realists or Pragmatists? In the light of International Women’s Day celebrations, the World Entrepreneur Society (WES) brings you a special report of The Tale of Two Countries, ‘Rwanda goes Rural’ by Sheenah Khaliisa and ‘Hard Choices for Romanian Women’ by Roxana Bratu.
Hard Choices for Romanian Women by Roxana Bratu
Unlike Rwanda where a woman may not need a man to set up her business, the case of Romania suggests otherwise. For example, a Romanian woman, Mrs M (who prefers to remain anonymous) is a woman in her 50s, married with 2 children. Her husband is a director in the electricity company and owns also shares in another business. Due to the economic downturn, Mrs M, who is an engineer, was made redundant as the company she worked for was liquidated. A few years later, Mrs M set up a hotel in a rural area, however this was due to her husband selling his shares in his old company as well as accessing European Union funds as she was unable to acquire these funds herself. This shows that despite woman being highly qualified and using innovative ways to start up a business, it took a man to get the key ingredient i.e. ‘money’. This is due to Romania being a traditional and male dominated society.
Unfriendly policies towards Small-Enterprises (SMEs) have also affected women entrepreneurs. The Coalition of Women’s Business Associations in Romania have recently submitted objections to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, with reference to a number of unfriendly fiscal and financial measures that the government had adopted which will lead to the closure of around 150,000 SMEs. The Coalition suggested ten alternative measures that should help support the business environment. It was proposed that instead of those measures, which are simply aimed at raising more money now, the government should introduce measures that stimulate work and create more jobs, and allow companies to become stable and even to grow. Such measures include: the elimination of the mandatory income tax, the elimination of the 5 per cent and 10 per cent late penalties that only private companies must pay (as opposed to state-owned companies, which are exempted from paying penalties); increasing the transparency of the laws on public acquisitions; simplifying the procedures for granting European funds to SMEs; introducing VAT deduction procedures for Romanian domiciles; eliminating the tax on reinvested profit.
Head of Household or Head of Business?
Romania’s population is around 21.5 million people, of which 51.3 per cent are women, of which about half live in rural areas. The labour market distribution indicates that one fifth of women are contributing family members, but are not being compensated. However the number of men in the same position is three times less. The biggest proportion of contributing family members is to be found in agriculture (with 63% women). In Romania 30 per cent of the population has agriculture as its main occupation; this is five times more than the EU average. At the same time, the sizes of Romanian family farms are very small, with an average of three hectares per family unit and 2.6 million households with less than 1 hectare. Consequently, the biggest rural population in Europe is working in small un-economical farms; producing only for their own consumption, hence they are unable to grow more to financially underpin business ventures which will help to climb the agricultural entrepreneur ladder.
Women appear to participate less than men at business development services training. The Romanian government is aware that women are under- represented in mainstream business in general and also in leadership positions. Indeed women face many difficulties in business with approximately 30 per cent lacking the experience in financial planning and often needing guidance to set up a business. However, the government has provided initiatives to improve women entrepreneurs and established organisations which assist women in business. In addition to this there are about fifteen microfinance credit institutions; however there is still a tendency by some women to use these institutions as a gateway to leaving the unemployment line rather than set up their businesses.
But the quest for finance is indeed a delicate balancing act for women universally. Universally women who opt for business micro-finance ask themselves, should I pay my debts and then think about starting up my business later? When all is said and done, universally women face the battle to climb the entrepreneurial ladder, but as the tale of two countries indicates, challenges will always exist but it’s up to women to try and overcome those hurdles. Maybe International Women’s Day will help to place focus on helping them even more and release more of their potential.