Promoting female entrepreneurship:
European Union Strategy and Greek experience.
Sofia Boutsiouki, PhD
Department of International and European Studies
University of Macedonia
Thessaloniki, Greece
e-mail: btsofia@gmail.com
Abstract
Entrepreneurship is considered one of the most vital forces for the economic
development and growth of all countries. Especially in times of financial crises and
social uncertainty it is expected to regenerate hope and offer vision. At the same time
it can project innovative ideas, create opportunities and exploit human potential and
abilities for the attainment of economic and social aims. European Union included the
promotion of entrepreneurship in its main strategic planning many years ago in an
effort to enhance the European economy and to promote the employability, social
inclusion and equality of European citizens. This paper draws information from
European Union and Greek statistical data in order to approach the issue of women
entrepreneurship both in the context of relevant European guidelines and funding
and in the Greek socioeconomic structure. Women entrepreneurs are expected to
influence the economy significantly, because they are able to create jobs both for
themselves and others. The paper describes the share and performance of
entrepreneurial activities in the Greek labour market. In this way it is possible to
explore the potential of entrepreneurship in terms of economic ability and job
creation. Then, the paper especially focuses on women entrepreneurship. The
exploration of the issue of women entrepreneurship in the Greek society not only
shows the situation of women in it, but also describes the role of entrepreneurship in
general in the same society. Although this group was often neglected in the past,
today it is considered an important factor for the achievement of greater economic
development and competitiveness and of broader social cohesion and stability. Apart
from the fact that the majority of women seek for some form of dependent labour,
women entrepreneurs are much less than men, they mostly engage in
entrepreneurial activities in the services sector, in SMEs and at an older age than
men, and often get involved in an enterprise which already exists or is ‘silently’ run by
a man (usually a member of the family). Finally, the paper attempts to determine
whether E.U. motivating policies and funding programs actually contributed to this
purpose. This knowledge would offer important help towards the improvement of
women’s social position in general and would establish better understanding of
women entrepreneurship, thus securing better support for women entrepreneurship
from the state and the E.U. and broadening their possibilities to engage in
entrepreneurial activities.
2
Introduction
What makes the study of entrepreneurship interesting is that it is considered to
influence the national economy and the broader development decisively not only in a
quantitative way, through the increase of entrepreneurial activities, but also through
the qualitative development of the labour force. For this reason it is very important to
study the dynamics of the entrepreneurial attempts, in order to determine the degree
to which they can actually affect and alter the system of production. Entrepreneurship
in general has got certain characteristics: it is a vital factor of production and owns
the know-how which determines the effective combination of the rest of the factors of
production; it is also strongly related to innovation, which is an important competitive
advantage, and to flexibility, which allows the company to keep up with the modern
advancement of technology and management as well as with the intense
competition; finally, it can shape the special nature and capacity of a national
economy. The issue of increasing women activation as entrepreneurs is essential in
the modern context. Enhancing female entrepreneurship is more important than ever
especially for Greece, which faces particularly difficult circumstances and strives for
the resurgence of the economy and the preservation of its social stability and justice.
This paper has a dual aim. First of all, it presents the general guidelines and the main
characteristics of the European Union strategy, that is associated with female
entrepreneurship, and the basic characteristics of it in Greece. Then, the paper
describes the employment status of women and explores the issue of female
entrepreneurship focusing on the gender perspective of it in an attempt to reach
quantitative and qualitative conclusions. The paper utilizes recent statistical data
referring to the present circumstances in Greece; data from previous years are also
presented, in order to make a comparison between the conditions before the
economic crisis reached its peak in Greece and the ones the country is currently
experiencing.
Literature review
An intense debate on the issue of promoting entrepreneurship exists for several
years, since it is generally considered to have significant socio-economic benefits
(Carree & Thurik, 2006). The impact of entrepreneurship on an economy can be
quantitative –through higher numbers of entrepreneurs– or qualitative –affecting
growth, innovation and internationalization–; therefore, it is essential to enable people
3
to start a new business, even if they have other work options. People launch
businesses for a variety of reasons. They may be necessity-driven, when the lack of
options for better work pushes them to pursuit self-employment, or opportunitydriven, desiring to improve their income or to increase their independence. The initial
motivation is supplemented by their aspirations to produce innovative products or
services, to expand their activity abroad, to create new employment and to contribute
to national growth. Besides their aspirations, individuals need to have developed
certain personal characteristics; entrepreneurship needs dynamism, stability and
diversity in the types of entrepreneurs and businesses; they also need to value the
entrepreneurial concept, to be willing to take risks, to have an optimistic view of the
existing opportunities and their own ability to exploit them (Kelley, Bosma & Amorós,
2011).
No one can deny the importance of the initial motives which define the creation, the
efficiency and the future potential of a business. These may be either ‘pull-factors’ or
‘push-factors’; the most common ‘pull-factors’ which lead an individual to the choice
for entrepreneurship are the desire for independence and achievements, the need for
personal development through the exploitation of existing experience, knowledge and
skills, and, finally, the desire to acquire profit and wealth; the most common ‘pushfactors’, which enhance or oblige someone to become an entrepreneur in order to
survive, are unemployment or job insecurity, blocked promotion or dismissal,
economic recession and ‘glass ceiling’ (for women). (Hansemark, 1998; Glancey,
Greig & Pettigrew, 1998; Watson, Hogarth-Scott & Wilson, 1998). Although there is
not enough documentation, it is widely argued that individuals guided by ‘pull-factors’
create businesses that are more productive and have bigger growth rates (Storey,
1994; Glancey, Greig & Pettigrew, 1998).
International studies indicate persistent gender differences in starting or running a
business; the number of women involved is significantly and systematically lower
than that of men (Langowitz & Minniti, 2007; Bosma & Levie, 2010). Research also
shows that female intentions to start a new business might differ from those of men
(Carter & Brush, 2004), but gender differences in self-employment choices can be
explained by different perceptions concerning motivation, personal capability, work
values and aspirations.
A comparison of the entrepreneurship rates of both genders indicates that over the
previous decade women typically had a lower average score on the Total
Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) index as compared to men and that, even though this
4
difference has decreased over the years, a gender gap still remains. The results
reveal that the gender gap in TEA is larger in high-income countries, in which men
are almost twice as likely to be early-stage or established business owners (Allen,
Elam, Langowitz & Dean, 2008).
In general, men are more active in starting and owning a business than are women
(Minniti, Bygrave & Autio, 2006; Langowitz & Minniti, 2007). Research supports the
supposition that men and women follow different business start-up processes.
Women are more likely than men to balance work and family roles, to handle conflict
and to consider time and space constraints as they create an enterprise (Brush,
1992; Carter, Gartner, Shaver & Gatewood, 2003). Several studies focusing on
women entrepreneurship investigate gender differences in terms of business
management, finance, business networks and performance. Generally, most of them
found more similarities than differences between women entrepreneurs and their
male counterparts (Carter, Anderson and Shaw, 2001; Gatewood, Shaver, Powers &
Gartner, 2002).
Important differences between the two genders seem to exist in career choices,
because women are obliged to balance their family roles and their work, a fact which
makes their career choices more complex than those of men (Carter, Gartner,
Shaver & Gatewood, 2003). These differences seem to affect the context of the
entrepreneurial activity itself, as women entrepreneurs usually set up their
businesses with a lower start-up capital than do men and their ventures are generally
smaller in size in comparison with those owned by men (Brush, 1992).
In terms of education, in some countries insufficient education and training are
important obstacles to entrepreneurial development (Driver, Wood, Segal &
Herrington, 2001). Women are also less likely to pursue technical disciplines –such
as engineering and computer science– which would provide them with important
skills for launching successful businesses in manufacturing and high-technology
sectors (Carter & Brush, 2004).
Female attraction to entrepreneurship is usually considered to be greatly influenced
by various demographic and economic factors. Apart from them, women have very
different attitudes than men and these differences play a crucial role in their intention
to become active entrepreneurs. Women tend to perceive both themselves and the
entrepreneurial environment in a less favourable light than do men across countries,
regardless of their entrepreneurial motivation. This finding suggests that variables
5
related to perceptions might influence entrepreneurial behavior; any positive
entrepreneurial perception would probably increase female propensity for activation
(DeTienne & Chandler, 2007; Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007).
The broader societal acceptance of entrepreneurship and the construction of an
entrepreneurial mindset are also essential both for entrepreneurs and for other
groups of people, who can stimulate, support and cooperate in an entrepreneurial
effort. Potential and established entrepreneurs are influenced by the attitudes of
those around them, who shape the climate for entrepreneurship in a society. At the
same time, they need supportive families and investors, willing customers and
vendors and positive societal perceptions (Kelley, Bosma & Amorós, 2011).
European Union strategy for female entrepreneurship and Greek adjustments
E.U. and national economic growth, competitiveness and welfare are strongly
connected to the effective exploitation of the capabilities of the entire active
population. The promotion of entrepreneurship has always been one of the main
objectives of the European Union. Despite their weight in the population, women are
less likely than men to create a business; a major reason is that women face
different, additional barriers to starting a business, such as balancing family and
work. The E.U. acknowledges the need to form a strategy which confronts this
insufficiency. The greater incorporation of women in economic and social activities
would satisfy the need for equality, secure the common future development, help to
the equitable distribution of wealth and strengthen social cohesion (Council of the
European Union, 2011). According to the European Union Employment Strategy
which was launched at Lisbon in 2000 and was reconsidered in 2005, the E.U.
member states were enhanced to implement employment policies intended to
achieve full employment, to improve quality and productivity at work and to
strengthen social cohesion. These policies should help to achieve an average
employment rate for the European Union of 70% overall -at least 60% for women and
50% for workers aged 55 to 64- and to reduce unemployment and inactivity. At the
same time the member states were able to set their own national employment rate
targets that could be accomplished (Council Decision 2005/600/EC; Council Decision
2006/544/EC; Council Decision 2007/491/EC). The European Employment Strategy
(EES) (Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European
Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions,
6
2003; Council Decision 2005/600/EC), which aims at encouraging member states to
build
employment
policies,
focused
on four
pillars,
namely employability,
entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities. ‘Entrepreneurship’ is the
second of these four pillars and aims at promoting the development of new
businesses, in general, and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), in particular. This is to be achieved through the creation of a ‘new culture of
entrepreneurship’ in Europe. Entrepreneurship is seen as a driver for economic
growth, competitiveness and job creation, as well as a vehicle for personal
development and for resolving social issues. The Green Paper on Entrepreneurship
(European Commission, 2003) focused on stimulating the debate among
policymakers, businesses and representative organizations on how to promote
entrepreneurship and shape policy for the future. Priority points for policy action
included liberalizing regulations which enhance the start-up and running of
businesses; the simplification of administrative burdens; the improvement of access
of start-up enterprises and SMEs to financial markets; reducing costs for new
enterprises
and
SMEs;
improving
innovation;
supporting
cooperation
and
strengthening of networks between innovative enterprises and research and
knowledge institutions; promoting the implementation of innovation and ICT
applications by start-up enterprises and SMEs; and improving services provided by
the authorities to start-up enterprises and SMEs.
The European Union in an effort to accomplish its main socioeconomic targets
according to the Lisbon strategy identified various reasons which hamper the
expansion of entrepreneurial activity in it1. Many of the problems faced by start-up
companies and entrepreneurs are common to both genders, but some of them are
magnified in the case of women entrepreneurs. The European Commission (2008) in
an effort to provide policy recommendations that promote female entrepreneurship as
a way to reach the goals of the Lisbon Agenda noted three types of obstacles to
innovative female entrepreneurship:
a) Contextual obstacles: educational choices, traditional views and stereotypes about
women, science and innovation.
b) Economic obstacles: innovation sector requiring substantial investment and
women being seen less credible financially than men.
1
E.g. figures from 2003 show that only 4% of Europeans had started a business within the past three years or had
been engaged in starting one, while in the United States the percentage had been 11%.
7
c) Soft obstacles: lack of access to technical scientific and general business
networks, lack of business training, role models and entrepreneurship skills.
For this reason the European Union focused on building new more positive
conditions for female entrepreneurs, on sharing experience and ideas, on
encouraging and facilitating more women to try out their business ideas. The
European Union underlined the need to improve the business environment, to make
it simpler and more attractive for entrepreneurial activity; at the same time it
understood that these changes call for both administrative development and cultural
changes at national and community levels (European Commission, 2004). Measures
to assist women entrepreneurs are introduced in different member states with some
countries placing greater emphasis on specific measures especially planned for
women, whilst others prefer to mainstream support for women into general
entrepreneurship-support measures.
Access to finance for new or established firms is also an essential problem for
women; it is linked to their limited personal assets and to a perception of
discrimination -whether intended or not- exercised by potential financial providers.
The European Commission (2009) shows special interest in identifying a range of
support services in the field of investment readiness for female entrepreneurs in
Europe and in adapting existing investment readiness schemes to the needs of
women entrepreneurs.
Lack of awareness about entrepreneurship averts a lot of women from becoming
successful business owners; that is why raising awareness is a critical first step to
encourage female entrepreneurship. Among the measures which appear to be
effective are those which involve mentoring2 and showing role models (other women
running successful companies3) to women, since they already have the necessary
qualifications and skills. These practices enable women to overcome their lack of
confidence, when they consider starting a business. The successful implementation
of mentoring and showing role models depends mainly on media and governments,
which can play a key role in raising awareness, demonstrating the possibilities for
women in business and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in female population
(European Commission, 2004).
2
Mentoring is about building personal capacities by introducing a new entrepreneur into a peer group, sharing know-
how and motivating by showing that, despite the hurdles, success is possible.
3
Role models can demonstrate that entrepreneurship is not exclusively a male world and that women can do
business on their own terms.
8
Another initiative of the Commission is to support networking amongst women
entrepreneurs or potential women entrepreneurs, and amongst government agencies
and other support organizations which can play a role in encouraging women
entrepreneurs. Women usually have less opportunities to participate in formal or
informal networks (e.g. chambers of commerce or men-dominated ‘business clubs’),
thus missing the opportunity to meet potential partners or clients (European
Commission, 2004). So, networking actions can have significant results. In an effort
to support women entrepreneurs the European Union created the European Network
of
Female
Entrepreneurship
Ambassadors
(European
Commission,
2009).
Successful entrepreneurs campaign on the ground across Europe to inspire,
encourage and make women more confident to become entrepreneurs.
In Greece the difficulties for entrepreneurship are many and affect female
entrepreneurship as well; these are shown in the findings of international institutions
and organizations4. For many years Greece has devoted specific policy measures
and a lot of resources to the promotion of female entrepreneurial activities in an effort
to increase women employment and national growth. The obstacles that hinder
female entrepreneurship in Greece do not differ from those which women face
globally: the conflict between the professional and familial obligations of women; the
traditional stereotypes about male and female roles especially in the professional
field; the lack of capital; the insufficiency of skills in modern specialities; the fear of
failure. Finally, networking of women entrepreneurs is not always effective, as it is
generally left on private initiatives; unfortunately a lot of women (especially these
living away from big cities) do not have either enough information or access to them.
The Greek State currently attempts to improve the ambience for potential
investments, which is essential for the increase of entrepreneurship in general.
Among others, it aims at increasing the number of actions for the promotion of female
entrepreneurs mainly by enhancing the support of entrepreneurial attempts by E.U.
financing sources or by banks. It also tries to issue new legislation or to simplify
already existing regulations, in order to decrease taxation on enterprises and
facilitate the necessary procedures for their creation or development. The state
efforts also focus on the transformation of female entrepreneurship from ‘necessity’
4
Greece is ranked in the 109th place among 183 economies on the ease of doing business according to the latest
World Bank report. This report focuses on the interrelation between the enterprises and the public administration. Of
course, this rank is owed not only to the fast development of the economic performance of other countries, but also to
serious weaknesses and complexities of the regulatory framework (World Bank & International Finance Corporation,
2010).
9
to ‘opportunity’ driven attempts based on innovation and knowledge. At the same
time the long-term planning involves the implementation of actions enhancing the
entrepreneurial spirit and skills of women mainly through education and training.
Supporting female employment and promoting equal access to the labour market
(either as an employee or as self employed) is a major policy priority (Hellenic
Ministry of Economy and Finance, 2008); it can be achieved by improving the
legislative framework, enhancing and improving available infrastructure (childcare,
social care), as well as by elaborating and implementing targeted Active Labour
Market Policies (ALMPs). Particular emphasis is placed on the development of Social
Care Units5. Unfortunately these institutions continue to be relatively few and often
insufficiently organized in relation to women’s actual needs. Integrated interventions
have also been designed and implemented, in collaboration with the Research
Centre for Equality Issues (KETHI) and the Organization for the Employment of the
Labour
Force
(OAED),
combining
support
services,
advisory,
social
and
psychological support for women entering the labour market, activities for acquiring
work experience, employment subsidies and start-up subsidies. The responsibility for
the dissemination of measures facilitating female self-employment has been given to
the National Organization of SMEs (EOMMEX), which finances female enterprises in
all sectors and of all legal forms via full subsidies. The interventions are implemented
through specific Operational Programmes6 that draw the necessary financial
resources from E.U.7 and Greek state funds.
Women in the Greek labour force
Female employment
It would be useful to make an overview of the Greek labour force and the female
participation in it, before the situation of women entrepreneurship in Greece is
examined. The gender gap still exists, although female employment has been
gradually increasing.
5
These include kindergartens, day nurseries, Centres of Creative Employment for Children, Centres of Daily Care for
Older people, Units of Social Assistance, in-house support.
6
Such as ‘Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship’, ‘Employment and Professional Training’ and ‘Development of
Human Resources’ (for the period 2007-2013).
7
The E.U. funding largely comes from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF).
10
First of all, men and women still have great differences in their participation in
employment; employed men are much more than women and unemployed women
exceed men by far. Secondly, there is a payment gap between them, as men are
often paid in average 22.2% more than women and this percentage is much bigger
than the E.U. average (17.5%) according to Eurostat data for the year 2010. Men and
women are employed in different economic sectors and production activities, too.
Finally, differences in the professional advancement of each gender still exist in the
corporate environment with men having more opportunities than women.
Female employment plays an important role in the E.U. efforts to raise
competitiveness and at the same time to preserve the European social model, which
is under reconsideration for some years now; for this reason there is a great effort to
incorporate more women in the active workforce and to take advantage of their
professional and social skills. The aims of the E.U. for 2010 in reference to the
Lisbon criteria were to raise the average employment rate in the E.U. as close as
possible to 70% (it succeeded to reach 64.6% in 2009), as well as the increase of the
women employment rate to an E.U. average over 60% (it succeeded to reach 58.6%
in 2009) (Cedefop, 2010). In Greece female employment rates are left behind
compared to the aims that were set by the Lisbon criteria.
Statistical data from the Greek Statistical Authority8 show that, although women are
more than men in net numbers in the total Greek population, they participate in
employment much less than them. Women comprise up to 50.8% of the Greek
population, but they constitute only 42% of the total workforce and 40.2% of the
active labour force, whereas men are almost 1.5 times more than women comprising
59.8% of the active labour force. On the contrary, 54.5% of the unemployed persons
are women, while the percentage drops to 45.4% for men. It is obvious that
employment in Greece has a male character, but unemployment clearly has a female
face with women being definitely more ‘sensitive’ to unemployment than men (Graph
1).
8
The data from the Greek Statistical Authority (if it is not mentioned otherwise) refer to the third semester of 2010,
which is the latest period from which official statistical data are available.
11
Graph 1. Employment situation of Greek labour force
59.8%
54.5%
60
45.4%
50
58%
42%
40.2%
40
30
20
10
0
Employed
Unemployed
Men
Total Workforce
Women
Women enter employment later than men and retire earlier than them. They are
much more than men in the group of economically non active persons of every age,
which is another strong indication that female employment faces significant
disadvantages (Table 1). These conditions should be mainly attributed to the fact that
–apart from other gender related difficulties– women themselves connect their
employment options-choices with their personal obligations and family roles. This
situation not only excludes a large number of individuals from the actively working
population, but also deprives the country of their dynamics and strength.
[Table 1 about here]
The total unemployment rate of the country amounted to 12.4% during the third
semester of 2010 and female unemployment rate is more than 1.6 times higher than
male unemployment (16% to 9.7%) (Graph 2).
12
Graph 2. Employment situation by gender
87.6%
90
80
59.8%
70
60
40.2%
50
40
30
20
12.4%
9.7%
16%
10
0
Total
Men
unemployment
Women
employment
An overview9 of the last six years (2005-2010) shows that there have been
interesting changes in the employment and unemployment status of the Greek labour
force. There was a significant decrease of unemployment for four years (2005-2008),
which was followed by a dramatic increase of it during the last two years (20092010), when the economic recession actually burst in the country (Table 2). It is
evident that since then the Greek labour force is under heavy pressure because of
the deterioration of the economic situation in the country; these unfortunate
conditions certainly influence both self-employment and dependent labour negatively.
[Table 2 about here]
Females had been positively affected by the decrease of unemployment during the
period 2005-2008 and in fact they took advantage of it more than men did;
unfortunately, they are more affected than men by the rapid change of conditions.
The situation aggravated for women to a greater extent than for men, when the 20082009 economic crisis hit Greece and the labour force severely came face to face with
9
Hellenic Statistical Authority, Labour Force Survey (November 2010).
13
the increased unemployment. The existing gap between male and female
unemployment widened as female unemployment escalated to 17% (the respective
male percentage being 11.6%) and there are many indications that the situation will
worsen in the next years (Table 3).
There is a supposition that women face unemployment more severely due to their
preference for (or in some cases their obligation to accept) a job which combines
their family affairs and obligations with the working conditions; otherwise they chose
not to (or probably cannot) be employed. We must also keep in mind that the Greek
social care system does not always function effectively; this situation results into
women often undertaking the care of their children and of elder relatives, pushing
aside their potential professional ambitions.
[Table 3 about here]
Finally, unemployment rates are much higher for younger individuals many of whom
are women; more than one out of three persons aged 15-24 and almost one out of
five of those aged 25-34 are unemployed (Table 4); the unfavourable labour market
prospects call for immediate actions for the promotion of employment in a vivid and
yet unexploited part of the Greek workforce.
[Table 4 about here]
Female employment concentrates between the ages 25-54 (Graph 3); they tend to
enter employment at older ages (usually above 30 years of age) compared to men
(Graph 4), probably because of their family obligations, since most women usually
marry before they reach their thirties. Female employment dramatically decreases
above the age of 54 years, as they retire from their professions earlier than men for
14
various reasons10. Until now favourable legislation permitted their early retirement
with a diminished pension, especially if they had been employed in the public sector
and had a child under the age of 18; since January 2011 this arrangement is
abrogated through changes in the retirement legislation, which demand that both
genders remain employed at least until the age of 65 before they claim their pension.
Graph 3. Employment by age and gender (%)
35
30
25
(%)
20
15
10
5
0
15-24
25-34
35-44
Total
45-54
Men
55-64
65-74
75+
Women
Graph 4. Employment by age and gender (%)
70+
60-69
50-59
40-49
30-39
20-29
15-19
0
10
5
10
15
20
Women
Men
25
30
35
This happens because of lower career aspirations, loss of job, favourable retirement legislation that allows them to
work for fewer years and settle for a lower pension, new family obligations (taking care of grandchildren or old
parents).
15
The distribution of the active labour force (Graph 5) clearly shows that female
employment is concentrated either to the agriculture sector (12.8%, same as men) or
to the services sector of the economy; female participation in the latter (79.6%)
exceeds that of men working in the tertiary sector almost by 20%. On the contrary,
men are 3.5 times more (27%) than women (7.6%) in the secondary sector, which is
considered to have the greatest contribution to the development and growth of
national economies either in terms of the production outcome or the exploitation of
human resources and potential.
Graph 5. Employment by sector and gender (%)
79.6
80
68
60.2
70
60
50
40
27
19.2
30
20
12.8 12.8 12.8
7.6
10
0
Primary sector
Secondary sector
Total
Men
Tertiary sector
Women
The distribution of female employment by production activity reveals some very
interesting issues, which would indirectly determine women’s attitudes towards
entrepreneurship (Graph 6). Besides women working in agriculture (usually in family
businesses), a lot of them are employed in trade, finance and tourism/entertainment
services; nevertheless, they show a preference to work in education, in health and
care system, as well as in public administration (due to the greater stability, to the
16
compensation package, to more flexible working conditions, less work load and more
job security compared to the insecurity and the harder working conditions in the
private sector); these professional choices are greatly affected by their desire to
combine their personal and professional life and by the existing social perceptions
about female roles.
Graph 6. Female employment by production activity
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
The gender differences remain in the type of employment in the Greek labour force.
In addition to their lower employment participation and increased unemployment
rates, most Greek women are employed in low-specialization jobs and much fewer of
them work in high-specialization positions or participate in decision making
processes. They also constitute a large part of part-time employment and are often
uninsured and paid with smaller fees than men, when they work in the private sector;
a strict legislation secures equal fees for both genders in the public sector.
17
Graph 7. Full-time and Part-time employment (%)
93.6
96.2
89.8
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
6.4
20
10.2
3.8
10
0
Full-time employment
Total
Part-time employment
Men
Women
Female full-time employment is significantly lower (-6.4%) than the male one; on the
other hand, female part-time employment exceeds the male one by 2.7 times
(+6.4%) (Graph 7). Men tend to secure full-time jobs and usually accept the more
demanding working conditions easier than women do, because they follow a certain
evolutionary career pattern and aim at higher earnings and job positions, which are
absolutely compatible to the social perceptions about male roles. On the contrary, a
lot of women chose or compromise with part-time jobs, because they prefer more
‘relaxed’ job conditions, in order to cope with their additional obligations in their
personal life, even if this leads to lower fees or limited professional advancement.
An important supplementary remark refers to the fact that women who work in family
businesses as help (sometimes with very low or without payment) are twice as men
(64.1% to 35.9% respectively) (Graph 8). Men tend to become independent from
their family through self-employment or as salaried employees; on the contrary,
women often stay under the family ‘protection’, accept low-paid work in the family
business and suppress any desire for independence achieved through a salaried job
or their own corporate venture.
18
Graph 8. Help in family business
64.1%
70
60
50
(%)
35.9%
Male
40
Female
30
20
10
0
Male
Female
Female entrepreneurship
Men appear to have a more intense entrepreneurial culture, which is supported by
the social environment, in contrast with women, who maintain stronger bonds to the
traditional female role model. Nevertheless, the ratio between men and women
entrepreneurs is not very disproportionate, as one third of Greek entrepreneurs are
women (29.5%) either with or without personnel; the remaining two thirds are men
(70.5%). The gender difference becomes more significant in the case of selfemployment with and without personnel. Only one out of five entrepreneurs with
personnel is a woman (20.5%), whereas four out of five employers are men (79.5%).
Women entrepreneurship increases in the case of business-owners without
personnel; one out of three is a woman (32.7%) and two out three are men (67.3%)
(Graph 9). This situation arises from the fact that women entrepreneurs prefer
smaller businesses and participate mainly in the services sector, in which a large
variety of ventures can exist and function based solely on the work of one individual,
the owner.
19
Graph 9. Self-employment by gender
100
90
80
70
60
(%) 50
40
30
20
10
0
20.5
29.5
79.5
70.5
Self-employed (total)
Self-employed with
personnel
Men
32.7
67.3
self-employed without
personnel
Women
The wide ratio difference between female self-employment without personnel and
female self-employment with personnel maybe due to the multiple obligations a
woman undertakes besides her professional life, such as the obligations of a wife
and a mother, of a housewife, even of taking care of elder members of the family11.
The existence of a common perception which accepts men entrepreneurs easier than
women must also be noted in relation to the intense and widely known debate –in
developed or developing countries– about the so called ‘feminine’ professions.
The development of the total entrepreneurial activity reveals gender differences that
favour women. Their participation in self-employment follows a slightly increasing
trend, which limits the male domination (Graph 10). E.U. funding for the promotion of
female early-stage or established entrepreneurship not only increased women
participation in labour and in entrepreneurship, but also contributed to job creation, to
the country’s economic development and growth and to female socioeconomic
activation in general; thus, entrepreneurship might be an effective solution for their
increased need for employment, since other employment options decrease.
11
This obligation is generated not only by the moral standards of Greece, but also by the lack of sufficient social
provisions and measures by the Greek State.
20
Graph 10. Development of self-employment by gender
(2005-2010) - (%)
80
73.2
72.6
73
71.7
71.7
70.5
70
60
50
40
26.8
27.4
27
28.3
28.3
29.5
30
20
10
0
2005
2006
2007
Self-employed men
2008
2009
2010
self-employed women
The development of self-employment of both men and women during the last five
years shows that in general self-employment without personnel remains stable,
although there has been a slight decrease during the period 2007-2009. Women
entrepreneurs without personnel increased their participation in entrepreneurship
despite the consequences of the economic crisis. This is mainly attributed to a trend
for necessity entrepreneurship, but it was greatly supported by the existence of E.U.
and Greek State financing for women’s enterprises.
On the other hand, the 2008-2009 economic crisis and the recession that followed
seem to have affected men and women entrepreneurs with personnel more. These
entrepreneurs obviously undertake a heavy burden of financial and operational costs;
they have the responsibility to sustain their businesses coping with the difficulties in
the global environment and to undertake the operational and wage costs of their
enterprise; if these costs become unbearable for them, they prefer to shut down their
business and withdraw from the entrepreneurial activities until better circumstances
have been established in the economic environment (Graph 11).
21
Graph 11. Development of self-employment by gender
(2005-2010) - (%)
81.8
18.2
2010
70.5
29.5
2009
20.1
2008
20.5
2007
20.5
2006
19.9
2005
19.1
79.9
31
79.5
79.5
Self-employed men without
personnel
69.4
30.6
80.1
Self-employed men with
personnel
69.9
30.1
80.9
70.7
29.3
20
Self-employed women with
personnel
67.5
32.5
0
Self-employed women
without personnel
69
40
60
80
100
Entrepreneurial behavior can be characterized depending upon the stage of venture
activity and national performance can be rated according to it. Table 5 shows the
prevalence rates of entrepreneurial activity across several E.U. countries by gender
and refers to the early-stage (nascent and new) and to the established
entrepreneurial activity12.
Although they are high-income countries, a gender gap in the participation rates of
men and women in entrepreneurship of all stages is apparent. Men are more likely to
be involved in entrepreneurial activities than women. This gender gap is partly
attributed to diverse female choices, which are shaped by the institutional structures,
the labour market circumstances and cultural differences.
In Greece women early-stage entrepreneurs (3.46%) are half than men (7.96%), thus
showing a certain female reluctance to proceed to an entrepreneurial venture. The
same happens in most other E.U. countries. There is also a significant difference
12
Early-stage entrepreneurs own and manage a nascent business or one which is in operation for 3.5 years or less;
established entrepreneurs own and manage a business more than 3.5 years, because this period is considered as
critical for the survival or failure of it. These rates offer important indications for a national economy in general; the
first one indicates the dynamic entrepreneurial propensity of a country through the percentage of population willing
and able to undertake new venture creation, while the latter indicates the percentage of population actively involved
in running businesses that have proven to be sustainable (Allen, Elam, Langowitz & Dean, 2008).
22
between the early-stage and the established female entrepreneurial activity (3.46%
vs. 12.04% respectively). Nevertheless, the rates of Greek women who are owners in
established businesses and in the overall business are the highest among E.U.
countries and U.S.A. On the other hand, the rate of Greek women owning nascent
and new enterprises is placed in the middle of the relevant E.U. list. This finding
implies not only the external difficulties and internal uncertainties, but also the
reluctance of women towards the possibility of creating a new business in the Greek
economic environment; on the contrary, the impressive attainment of the established
female entrepreneurship compared to men (12.04% vs.14.59%) can be attributed to
the better conditions for entrepreneurs-to-be in the past and to the practice of women
running businesses that are originally created and ‘silently’ developed by men (often
members of the family), whereas women are actually activated later.
[Table 5 about here]
The distribution of all entrepreneurs by age does not show any differences between
males and females (Graph 12).
Graph 12. Self-employment by age and gender
28.4 28.2
30
28.6 28.4
22.2
25
20.6
20
16.5 16.5
(%) 15
10
5
3.5 2.9
1.7
1.3
0.7 0.5
0
15-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65-74
75+
Years of age
Total self-employed males
Total self-employed females
23
Both men and women enter the entrepreneurial activity at elder ages; during
younger ages they conclude their studies or usually incorporate professional
experience as employees, while they anticipate an entrepreneurial opportunity
(Graphs 13-14).
Graph 13. Self-employed men by age (%)
20
18.4
17.3
18
16
14.9
14.7
13.7
14
13.212.9
12.4
12.1
10.9
10.4
12
11
9.3
10
8
7.1
6.4
6
4.2
4
2.6
2.2
1.8
2
0 0.2
1
0.9 1
0.6 0.8
70-74
75+
0
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
Self-employed with personnel
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
Self-employed without personnel
Graph 14. Self-employed women by age (%)
17.1
18
15.8
16
14.9
14
15.5
14.2
14.1
13.4
12.3
12
11.5
11
10
12
11.1
9
7.7
8
6.6
6
4.6
4
2.5
1.7
1.2 1.3
2
0.8
0
0.6 0.8 0.3
0
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
Self-employed with personnel
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75+
Self-employed without personnel
24
Similarly, there are no significant gender differences in the case of established
entrepreneurs (Graph 15). Women and men owners of established businesses have
almost the same rates; only women entrepreneurs who are 35-44 years old exceed
men by 5% (30.2% vs. 25.2% respectively); the rate difference is smaller in the case
of individuals who are 45-54 years old (32% for women vs. 32.5% for men). The
greater concentration of women entrepreneurs at these ages must be attributed to
various reasons; women often see their family obligations decreasing (e.g. their
children reach the school age); in some cases they enter the labour force for the first
time or lose their job and cannot find a new one, so they turn to an entrepreneurial
activity; finally, a lot of them have the opportunity to exploit certain financial resources
offered by the E.U., the state or their family; some of them start a business keeping in
mind that their children would succeed them to it and avoid unemployment in the
future.
Nevertheless, bigger gender differences exist in nascent and new entrepreneurs
(Graph 16), as men tend to start their business at a younger age than women. During
the period 2003-2006 78% of new entrepreneurs were under 45 years old; the rate
was only 63.6% for women and 77.7% for men (Ioannidis, 2007).
Graph 15. Established entrepreneurs by age and gender
35
30.2
30
32.5 32
25.2
25
18
16
20
(%)
15.4
14.9
15
10
8.4 7.5
5
0
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
Age
Men
Women
25
Graph 16. Nascent+New entrepreneurs by age and
gender
34.5
32.9
33.6
35
30
24.2
24
25
(%)
16.1
20
15
12.2
9.6
6.7
10
6.2
5
0
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
Age
Men
Women
The most reasonable supposition which explains why women tend to start their
entrepreneurial activity at elder ages than men is their devotion to family obligations
(Allen, Langowitz & Minniti, 2007). This is very important for the strategic planning
and the policy implementation aiming at the promotion of female entrepreneurship; it
reveals the need for measures which would lighten their family duties and enable
them to enter the entrepreneurial field earlier; an improvement in personal life
conditions would definitely contribute to the increase of entrepreneurial attempts and
of their potential.
Gender differences become wore evident, when we move from the quantitative
approach to a qualitative one. The behaviour of women entrepreneurs is not
irrelevant from the general model of development in Greece. The overview of female
employment indicates that some form of gender division of labour still exists in
Greece, as many women are confined into traditional female functions, in an effort to
make their professional activities compatible with their domestic and reproductive
roles. One out of three employed men is self-employed (35.5%), whereas only one
out of five employed women is self-employed (22%). This finding gives a rather
26
“masculine” character to entrepreneurship and also underlines the urgent need to
increase the number of women entrepreneurs in times of crises. The gender
difference becomes more significant in the case of self-employment with and without
personnel. Only 4% of employed women are employers (for men the rate increases
to 10.4%) and less than one out of five of them (18%) is self-employed without
personnel (for men the rate increases to 25%) (Graph 17).
Graph 17. Self-employment as part of employment
80
70
25
60
50
(%) 40
Self-employed without
personnel
22.2
18
7.9
30
20
Self-employed with personnel
10.4
4
30.1
Self-employed/employed
(total)
35.5
22
10
0
Total
Men
Women
Although one out of three self-employed persons without personnel is a woman
(32.7%, a percentage which is one of the highest in Europe), only one out of five
women is self-employed with personnel (20.5%) (Graph 18). People who are selfemployed with personnel manage bigger companies, many of which play an
important role to the economic development and contribute significantly to the
economic growth of the country; their main clients are other companies in the
industry or the services sector. On the other hand, people who run businesses
without personnel usually exercise a ‘shallow’ entrepreneurship; their businesses in
most cases have limited turnover, belong to the services sector and their clients are
persons and not other enterprises. Self-employed women mainly focus on smaller
businesses and present a shallow entrepreneurship compared to men, so as to
27
undertake fewer responsibilities (e.g. in managing employed personnel or
complexities in competition).
Graph 18. Self-employment with and without
personnel by gender
79.5
80
70.5
67.3
60
(%) 40
32.7
29.5
20.5
20
0
Self-employed (Total) Self-employed with
personnel
Male
Self-employed
without personnel
Female
Women do not appear to be deterred from entrepreneurship by insufficient education
and training (Ioannidis, 2007). Graph 19 presents the educational levels of Greek
women entrepreneurs13. Most of the self-employed women (42.8%) are ISCED 1-2
graduates; therefore they do not have special knowledge and skills in order to create
highly specialized and innovative enterprises. One out of four (25.4%) is ISCED 3
graduate and 7.5% of them graduated from ISCED 4 institutions, which offer
vocational education. One out of four (24.3%) women entrepreneurs in Greece has
an ISCED 5-6 educational qualification; this group consists mainly by university
graduates or post-graduates and only 0.5% holds a PhD. What is more essential is
the observation that women with the highest level of educational attainments
constitute 32.2% of self-employed women with personnel and 22.5% of those without
personnel; so they are qualified with special knowledge, as well as with sufficient
analytical and social skills developed during their university studies.
13
The ISCED 1-2 levels refer to the primary and lower secondary education, the ISCED 3 to the upper secondary
education, the ISCED 4 to the non-tertiary education (vocational training) and the ISCED 5-6 to the tertiary education
(graduate, post-graduate and PhD). (Unesco, 2006).
28
Graph 19. Educational level of women entrepreneurs
(%)
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
46.4
42.8
32.2
31.9
26.9
25.4
24.3
23.9
7.5
Primary or lower
secondary education
(ISCED 1-2)
Upper secondary
education (ISCED 3)
Total self-employed women
9
22.5
7.2
Tertiary non university
education (ISCED 4)
Tertiary education
(ISCED 5-6)
Self-employed with personnel
Self-employed without personnel
As relatively few women have first-hand experience of foreseeing entrepreneurial
opportunities, it is not surprising that more men than women own businesses. Slightly
more female entrepreneurs than their male counterparts have attended vocational
education. But where university graduates start companies there is a sharp contrast
with more female graduates owning businesses compared to male graduates.
Nevertheless, female university graduates are much less likely to become
entrepreneurs than women with lower qualifications. A large part of the female
university students would potentially develop to successful entrepreneurs; therefore,
their training as well as their ideological and cultural preparation for future
entrepreneurial activation would contribute to the creation of enterprises with
activities expanding both in the interior and abroad, to the promotion of employment
growth through new jobs, to the enlargement of the entrepreneurial community and to
its turn to specialized, innovative and dynamic areas.
A parallel approach of the educational level of men entrepreneurs (Graph 20) reveals
that those with a tertiary education degree are much fewer than females, as only one
out of five (18.8%) are university graduates and only 0.2% hold a PhD. The
difference is clearer with reference to self-employment with and without personnel;
men entrepreneurs with personnel are limited to 22.7% (with women rising to 32.2%)
and those without personnel are limited to 17.1% (with women rising to 22.5%).
29
Three out of four self-employed men (75%) are ISCED 1-2-3 graduates, but fewer
(6.2%) graduated from ISCED 4 vocational training programs. These findings, which
have interesting policy implications, may be explained by the fact that highly qualified
women, besides their professional aspirations, chose entrepreneurship more than
men either because they acquire greater flexibility in their personal obligations or
because a dependent job is not always favourable for them compared to men14. On
the other hand, highly qualified men are probably adsorbed in appropriate jobs and
do not need to create their own business.
Graph 20. Educational level of men entrepreneurs
48.9
50
45
40
35
30
(%) 25
20
15
10
5
0
44
37.3
32.3
31
28.4
22.7
18.8
6.2
17.1
7.7 5.6
Primary or lower Upper secondary
Tertiary non
Tertiary education
secondary
education (ISCED
university
(ISCED 5-6)
education (ISCED
3)
education (ISCED
1-2)
4)
Total self-employed men
Self-employed with personnel
Self-employed without personnel
Data (Ioannidis, 2007) also show that new and established entrepreneurs of both
genders have a high educational level and women early-stage entrepreneurs, who
are secondary education graduates, exceed men by 50% (14.3% vs. 9.4%); this
finding probably indicates a greater necessity entrepreneurship for them. In general,
entrepreneurs of both genders have a higher educational level in the present than in
the past; this finding is very hopeful, because better educated people can contribute
to entrepreneurship with fresh and innovative ideas in a more organized way, hence
they can constitute the bedrock of a reformed national economy.
14
E.g. they have difficulty in being hired or being paid properly or experience hard working conditions.
30
Although female entrepreneurship is quite high in Greece compared with other E.U.
countries, it is mainly concentrated in trade (20.8%)15, finance (8.6%) and
tourism/entertainment (7.4%) in which little technology is utilized. More than one out
of three women entrepreneurs (35.8%) own a business in agriculture and mining; in
most cases they help in family agricultural businesses16 or receive E.U. funding17.
Finally, one out of ten women (11.2%) owns an enterprise in various other services
mostly related to scientific professions (e.g. lawyers, architects, accountants, etc.);
they usually create a one-person firm or they cooperate with other colleagues, but
they do not exploit technology and do not have a significant interference with working
with/for other companies; they focus on working with individuals, thus succeeding a
smaller turnover and limiting their potential (Graph 21).
Graph 21. Female self-employment by production
activity
(%)
15
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
35.8
20.8
7.4
3.6
0.1 0.6
0.6
0.2 0.1
3.7 4.8
11.1
8.6
1.5 1.1
We must underline the fact that in Greece the relative specialization by production activity is mainly focused on
wholesale trade (16.7%) and retail trade (12.3%) in terms of value added more than every other European country
(Eurostat, 2010: 46-48).
16
17
Thus, they secure their social insurance and a pension prospect through the Greek Agricultural Insurance Fund.
It is provided in order to support new farmers who transform the traditional and old-fashioned agricultural model of
the past and act as entrepreneurs.
31
A comparison between self-employed females with and without personnel (Graphs
22-23) shows that women contribute to the creation of new jobs especially in trade
(27.5%, one out of three women entrepreneurs offers employment in her business)
and tourism/entertainment (16.9%). On the contrary, in agriculture and mining 40.1%
of women own a business without employing personnel and only 16.3% are
employers. This finding supports the formerly mentioned supposition about the
female role in agricultural businesses; after all, agriculture is an activity which
requires many working hands and, no matter how many technological applications
are used, a woman alone cannot carry out its professional demands. These
observations would contribute to the strategic planning for the idea and practice of
female entrepreneurship in national or regional level; these initiatives, taking into
account the supply and demand aspects of entrepreneurship, would not only facilitate
the female entrepreneurial activity, but would orientate women towards more efficient
fields of entrepreneurship.
Graph 22. Self-employed women with personnel
27.5
30
25
20
(%)
16.9
16.3
15
10
5
11.2
7.7
7.1
5.7
0.4 1.6
1.2
0.3
2.7
1.4
0
32
Graph 23. Self-employed women without personnel
(%)
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
40.1
19.3
3.1
5.3
0.5
0.1 0.4
0.2 0.1
2.9
5.3
10.9
8.8
1.6 1.4
Table 6 presents the reasoning that attracts individuals to entrepreneurship in 13
E.U. countries and USA. The findings actually reflect the broader entrepreneurial
environment of each country especially during current times of economic stress.
Greece has the lowest rate (15.9%) of perceived opportunities for individuals
potentially interested in starting a business compared to other countries; this finding
reflects the broad uncertainty, which deters them from undertaking entrepreneurial
initiatives. On the contrary, Greeks strongly believe that they are well-equipped in
order to cope with entrepreneurial obligations (52.2%); this percentage significantly
exceeds the rates of all other E.U. member states, even these of France (37.3%),
Germany (41.6%) and United Kingdom (51.8%), as well as the average rate of the
innovation-driven economies (44.4%).
[Table 6 about here]
In spite of their strong belief that they have the necessary capabilities to undertake a
corporate venture, Greeks feel a great fear of failure (50.9%), which deters from
starting a new business. Women have a stronger fear than men and hold the second
33
position internationally right after Russian women (Ioannidis, 2007). This fear
appears as an alarming paradox in a country where the percentage of entrepreneurs
is quite high compared to other countries.
Notwithstanding their fear of failure, almost two thirds of the individuals consider
entrepreneurship as a good career choice (65.6%) and have a high esteem towards
it (70.2%); one out of three (34.5%), though, believes that media show a limited
attention for entrepreneurship and this attitude does not contribute to its promotion.
Because of the present unfavourable circumstances, the rate of individuals who
maintain an entrepreneurial intention is much lower (12.8%) and yet, it is much
higher than all other E.U. countries; probably the decrease of employment
opportunities in Greece encourages necessity entrepreneurship (Table 6).
Experts believe that a potential entrepreneurial activity could be affected by a
negative individual mindset and personal attitudes and by cultural practices which
hinder its development. Although female entrepreneurship is relatively high among
Greek entrepreneurs, only 27.3% of Greek women entrepreneurs –in contrast with
36.5% of men–say that they are familiar with entrepreneurial behavior through their
acquaintance with other entrepreneurs. This paradox may be due to the underlying
real intra-family division of labour, where a man starts up a new firm and his wife or
other female member of the family undertakes the management; thus, he is the one
who has better acquaintance with entrepreneurial behavior, ‘feels’ the markets and
has a better conception of future entrepreneurial opportunities; the woman has
limited opportunities to meet with other entrepreneurs and become more familiar with
the broader corporate environment (Ioannidis, 2007).
Participation in entrepreneurship is a continuous process with its own characteristics.
Table 7 not only explores the participation in nascent, new and established
entrepreneurship, but also reveals the motivation of early-stage entrepreneurs
(necessity vs. opportunity), which decisively influences the nature of the necessary
measures for the promotion of entrepreneurship.
[Table 7 about here]
34
Greek economy has the third lowest Nascent Entrepreneurship Rate (2%) among the
E.U. countries and shares the same difficulties with other countries of South Europe
(Italy - 1.3%, Portugal - 1.8% and Spain - 2.2%) with dubious implications. This
implies that the economic environment as well as the attitudes of individuals are not
favourable for new corporate ventures. It is quite understandable that during difficult
periods few people dare the creation of a new enterprise and hope it survives. On the
contrary, the New Business Ownership Rate (3.5%) is much higher than other
countries with a better economic performance (e.g. United States, Germany or
United Kingdom). It is also unknown how many of these new corporate ventures will
survive and enter the group of established businesses, which is impressively big
(14.8%) and double than the average rate and than that of all other countries.
The general socioeconomic uncertainty and the limited employment prospects
influence the TEA indicator for Greece (5.5), which is almost the same as the
average of the innovation-driven economies; it consists mostly of individuals who
take advantage of emergent opportunities (39% of TEA – the lowest of all other
countries) and less of individuals driven by necessity (28% – the highest of almost all
other countries); these findings totally agree to the reluctant climate in
entrepreneurship, that prevails in the country.
Conclusions
The impact of entrepreneurship on economy is very important, as it can contribute to
the personal development of entrepreneurs, to the creation of jobs, to economic
innovation and internationalization, to national competitiveness and growth. For
Greece the promotion of female entrepreneurship is more important than ever, in
order that the country will be able to cope with the extremely difficult economic
circumstances and to preserve its social cohesion and justice.
The overview of female employment indicates that a gender division of labour still
exists in Greece, as many women are confined into traditional female functions, in an
effort to make their professional activities compatible with their domestic and
reproductive roles. A gender gap is also apparent in entrepreneurship of all stages,
as women entrepreneurs are much fewer than men and own mostly established and
less early-stage enterprises. The gender differences become more significant in the
case of self-employment with and without personnel; more women entrepreneurs
35
own businesses without personnel than with personnel. At the same time, women
with personnel are affected more than men by the recent economic crisis.
Female entrepreneurial activities are mainly concentrated in trade, finance,
tourism/entertainment and agriculture, in which little technology is utilized. Selfemployed women appear to be more necessity-driven than opportunity driven and
usually exercise a ‘shallow’ entrepreneurship; they focus on smaller businesses,
which in most cases belong to the services sector, have limited turnover and their
clients are persons and not other enterprises. Thus, they undertake fewer
responsibilities and risks, but also impede their professional development, limit their
business alternatives and contribute less to the national economic growth. They
would have more professional prospects, if there was a change in their professional
orientation towards modern and innovative sectors. The fact that many women
entrepreneurs have a high educational level indicates that the promotion of female
entrepreneurship among highly educated individuals (e.g. university students) would
potentially lead to an increased number and an improved quality of future corporate
ventures.
Greek women seem to maintain strong bonds to the traditional female role model and
many obstacles delay or deter them from entrepreneurship: the conflict between their
professional and familial obligations; the traditional stereotypes about male and
female roles especially in the professional field; the lack of capital; the insufficiency of
skills in modern specialities; the fear of failure; the lack of successful role models;
finally, the limited or ineffective networking of women entrepreneurs.
Although Greeks of both genders believe that they have the necessary qualifications
and skills for a corporate venture, consider entrepreneurship as a good career choice
and have a high esteem towards it, a strong fear of failure and a perception of limited
opportunities deter them from starting a business and undertaking investment risks.
Women show rather reluctant to proceed to an early-stage entrepreneurial venture in
an unstable economic environment. On the contrary, their participation in established
enterprises is significantly increased and is the highest among E.U. countries and
U.S.A., although they argue that they have limited familiarization with entrepreneurial
behavior; this paradox is probably related to the underlying real intra-family division
of labour, where women run businesses that are originally created and ‘silently’
developed by men (often members of the family), whereas women undertake the
management later.
36
The promotion of female entrepreneurship needs specific initiatives and measures to
be undertaken. First of all, women should be encouraged to overcome the traditional
gender segregation of professions and to turn their choices to modern and innovative
fields of entrepreneurship with greater potential in the labour market; the projection of
successful businesswomen as role models and training on entrepreneurial issues
can also exercise a significant positive influence; these should be combined with
administrative, financial and networking interventions.
Global economy faces an unprecedented turmoil, which has major socioeconomic
implications for every country. The exploitation of the existing human capital is
essential and women hold a key position in it; therefore, ways to promote female
entrepreneurship have to be found, bold decisions to be taken and best practices to
be implemented, if humanity wants to preserve the vision and the hope for a better
future for all.
REFERENCES
Allen, I.E., Elam, A., Langowitz, N. & Dean, M. (2008). Global Entrepreneurhip
Monitor: 2007 report on women entrepreneurship. Retrieved from the Internet
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40
TABLES
Table 1. Greek population at working age (September 2010)
Employed
Unemployed
Economically
15-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65-74
138,229
652,995
770,437
647,092
366,219
157,225
Women
88,513
456,932
556,889
442,299
200,887
22,867
Males
47,686
98,624
64,288
49,626
21,852
806
Females
61,364
124,685
71,513
51,400
13,550
402
Males
366,236
49,621
31,532
61,868
257,667
436,425
Females
397,387
172,006
198,365
283,566
472,383
564,881
Males
552,150
801,240
866,255
758,588
645,738
485,456
Females
547,264
753,624
842,907
777,265
686,820
588,148
Men
non active
Total
Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority
Table 2. Employed, unemployed and economically non active persons.
Unemployment rates. (2005-2010)
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
4.394.157
4.472.694
4.542.684
4.553.911
4.464.230
4.307.054
485.808
446.936
373.410
384.988
531.953
692.577
Economically non active
4.242.347
4.259.517
4.299.948
4.306.855
4.286.229
4.320.927
Unemployment rate (%)
10.0
9.1
7.6
7.8
10.6
13.9
Employed
Unemployed
Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority (November 2010)
41
Table 3. Unemployment rates by gender (2005-2010)
Gender
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Men
6.1
5.7
4.8
5.2
8.8
11.6
Women
15.4
14.0
11.7
11.6
13.3
17.0
Percentage (%)
10.0
9.1
7.6
7.8
10.6
13.9
Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority (November 2010)
Table 4. Unemployment rates by age (%) (2005-2010)
Age
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
15-24
28.4
28.0
21.5
22.4
27.8
35.6
25-34
12.1
11.3
10.8
10.3
13.5
17.9
35-44
8.7
7.5
6.0
6.3
9.3
12.0
45-54
6.0
5.1
4.2
4.8
7.2
10.1
55-64
3.4
4.1
3.0
3.1
5.5
6.8
65-74
2.6
0.0
0.8
0.9
1.5
1.9
Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority (November 2010)
42
Table 5. Prevalence Rates of Entrepreneurial Activity Across Countries
by Gender 2007 (%)
Early Stage
Established
Overall Business Owners
Entrepreneurial
Business Owners
(Nascent+New+Established)
Activity
(Nascent+New)
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Austria
3.06
1.84
7.25
4.78
10.31
6.61
Belgium
4.30
1.98
1.86
0.93
6.16
2.91
Denmark
6.21
4.56
8.54
3.43
14.75
8.00
Finland
8.96
4.81
10.31
4.80
19.27
9.60
France
4.14
2.21
2.52
0.95
6.66
3.16
Greece
7.96
3.46
14.59
12.04
22.56
15.51
Hungary
9.29
4.52
5.88
3.81
15.17
8.33
Ireland
10.57
5.87
12.66
5.38
23.22
11.25
Italy
6.69
3.30
8.87
2.17
15.56
5.48
Latvia
7.70
1.41
4.90
2.02
12.60
3.43
Netherlands
6.64
3.70
8.59
4.07
15.24
7.77
Portugal
11.70
5.92
9.79
4.44
21.49
10.36
Romania
4.95
3.09
3.34
1.70
8.30
4.79
Slovenia
6.84
2.68
6.84
2.31
13.69
4.99
Spain
9.75
5.48
8.17
4.57
17.92
10.06
Sweden
5.78
2.47
6.87
2.48
12.65
4.95
United
7.41
3.60
7.59
2.55
15.00
6.15
11.98
7.25
6.47
3.48
18.45
10.73
Kingdom
United
States
Source: Allen, I.E., Elam, A., Langowitz, N., Dean, M. (2008: 10).
(The table presents only E.U. countries and U.S.A. and not all the participants in the survey)
43
Table 6. Entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions in the GEM countries in 2010 by phase of economic
development
Perceived
Perceived
Fear
Entrepreneurship
High status to
Media attention
Entrepreneurial
opportunities
capabilities
of
as a good career
successful
for
intentions
failure
choice
entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
Efficiency-Driven Economies
Croatia
23.3
53.2
31.2
67.1
49.9
41.8
7.4
Hungary
33.3
43.4
42.4
55.0
73.7
47.4
13.8
Latvia
29.1
50.7
39.9
58.8
64.8
57.2
21.4
Romania
17.5
38.2
41.1
66.5
65.5
46.9
8.6
Average*
42.9
55.9
31.7
72.8
69.8
62.5
23.2
(unweighted)
Innovation-Driven Economies
Belgium
39.6
44.9
35.1
60.0
51.2
45.7
8.2
Denmark
46.4
40.7
31.5
-
-
-
5.9
Finland
51.1
39.5
28.6
46.1
86.5
71.4
5.9
France
33.9
37.3
40.5
65.2
67.9
44.7
14.2
Germany
28.5
41.6
33.7
53.1
77.1
49.0
6.4
Greece
15.9
52.2
50.9
65.6
70.2
34.5
12.8
Ireland
22.5
49.2
33.4
51.8
81.5
61.1
6.1
Italy
24.7
42.4
36.8
69.1
69.3
37.7
4.0
Netherlands
44.8
45.5
23.8
85.4
68.6
60.9
5.5
Slovenia
26.8
56.3
24.5
53.2
73.7
56.2
8.7
Spain
18.8
50.2
36.4
65.4
62.5
40.7
5.8
Sweden
66.1
42.4
28.9
56.9
71.6
60.8
8.5
United
29.2
51.8
30.3
51.0
76.7
52.2
5.1
United States
34.8
59.5
26.7
65.4
75.9
67.8
7.7
Average*
33.4
44.4
33.1
59.2
7.3
55.5
8.2
Kingdom
(unweighted)
Source: GEM (2010: 18)
*of all the countries of the category
(The table presents only E.U. countries and U.S.A. and not all the participants in the survey)
44
Table 7. Entrepreneurial Activity in the GEM Countries in 2010, by Phase of Economic
Development
Nascent
New
Total Early-
Established
Discontinua
Necessity
Improvemen
entrepreneu
business
Stage
Business
tion
Driven (% of
t-Driven
rship rate
ownership
Entrepreneu
Ownership
Business
TEA)
Opportunity
rate
rship
rate
of
(% of TEA)
Activity
(TEA)
Efficiency-Driven Economies
Croatia
3.8
1.9
5.5
2.9
4.5
32
49
Hungary
4.6
2.6
7.1
5.4
2.9
20
43
Latvia
5.6
4.2
9.7
7.6
4.2
27
51
Romania
3.3
1.1
4.3
2.1
2.6
31
47
Average*
6.7
5.2
11.7
7.6
4.4
31
42
(unweighted)
Nascent
New
Total Early-
Established
Discontinua
Necessity
Improvemen
Entrepreneu
Business
Stage
Business
tion of
Driven (% of
t-Driven
rship Rate
Ownership
Entrepreneu
Ownership
Business
TEA)
Opportunity
Rate
rship
Rate
(% of TEA)
Activity
(TEA)
Innovation-Driven Economies
Belgium
2.3
1.4
3.7
2.7
2.0
10
54
Denmark
1.8
2.2
3.8
5.6
1.7
8
54
Finland
2.4
3.4
5.7
9.4
1.8
18
54
France
3.7
2.3
5.8
2.4
2.5
25
56
Germany
2.5
1.8
4.2
5.7
1.5
26
48
Greece
2.0
3.5
5.5
14.8
3.4
28
39
Ireland
4.4
2.6
6.8
8.6
2.3
31
33
Italy
1.3
1.0
2.3
3.7
1.6
13
55
Netherlan
4.0
3.4
7.2
9.0
1.4
8
64
Portugal
1.8
2.8
4.5
5.4
2.6
22
52
Slovenia
2.2
2.4
4.7
4.9
1.6
16
54
ds
45
Spain
2.2
2.1
4.3
7.7
1.9
25
42
Sweden
2.3
2.6
4.9
6.4
2.9
13
72
United
3.2
3.3
6.4
6.4
1.8
11
43
4.8
2.8
7.6
7.7
3.8
28
51
3.0
2.8
5.6
7.0
2.3
20
54
Kingdom
United
States
Average*
(unweighted)
Source: GEM (2010: 23)
*of all the countries of the category
(The table presents only E.U. countries and U.S.A. and not all the participants of the survey)
46