Researching the Gender Aspect in Business Development (The Case of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus)
| Author | Elena Aculai; Adela Bulgac; Vitalii Gryga; Olga Krasovska; Olga Linchevskaya |
| Position | Researcher, Institute of Economy, Finance and Statistics, Academy of Sciences of Moldova/Researcher, Institute of Economy, Finance and Statistics, Academy of Sciences of Moldova/Center for S&T Potential and Science History Studies of the NAS of Ukraine/Center for S&T Potential and Science History Studies of the NAS of Ukraine/Institute of Economics |
| Pages | 283-290 |
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Since 1990th, in the New Independent States, including Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus, the process of business establishment, where both men and women participate, is ongoing. Although the legislation that regulate entrepreneurial activity in the three countries declares equal rights for all citizens disregarding their gender, the real state of men and women in the social and economic life, including, business is different.
The attention paid lately by researchers and politicians from different countries and international organisation to gender problem is conditioned by its importance. The opinion of unequal possibilities of men and women in the contemporary world is widely spread and it concerns many countries, spheres of activity, and groups of population.
The purpose of supporting women in business is to offer those equal conditions and possibilities, but not facilities. In spite of importance and potential of female business in transition economies, this group of enterprises is not paid enough attention to.
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The authors start from the point that female entrepreneurship, as a part of business community, mainly has analogical characteristics and faces similar problems as men– entrepreneurs do. Anyway, it makes sense to pay attention to existent peculiarities of women activity in business for a better consideration of their needs and problems, as they form a considerable part of entrepreneurship and have a substantial economic potential.
In the paper, some characteristics of female entrepreneurship in transition economies on the example of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus are investigated. The elucidated peculiarities allow to precise more clearly the characteristics of different groups of entrepreneurs. At the same time, they can be taken into account in the elaboration of business regulating policy at national and regional levels, as well as, in the activity of institutions of infrastructure oriented to women-entrepreneurs.
In many economies, female entrepreneurship for decades has been subject of research and discussions as a way of solving economic and social problems of the society due to the potential of women and, lately, due to the tendency of women to develop own carrier along with men. However, according to Baker et al. (1997), only 6-8% of surveys on entrepreneurship are related to female entrepreneurship. From existed investigations can be outlined that between male and female entrepreneurship there are many similarities, at the same time, obvious differences persist, as well (Birley, 1989; Cromie, 1987; Alsos and Ljunggren, 1999;). The purpose of this kind of surveys is to determine decision making bodies and business community as a whole to understand the situation and to contribute to creation of an adequate business regulating framework which would take into account the distinctions and will stimulate the women start-up (Kjeldsen and Nielsen, 2000).
Today, the preoccupation of researchers from developed countries is to explore the dimension of female business more deep and wide. McClelland at al. (2005) focus on the two dimensions: 1) the development of female-owned enterprises from inception to maturity; and 2) their growth not only in domestic but also in international markets.
In Ukraine, the analysis of gender problems in business is subject of investigation for more and more researchers. Among them, first of all, must be mentioned works of Zhurzhenko, Dovzhenko, Turetskaya, where change of the state of women in society is analyzed more detailed (Zhurzhenko, 1999; Dovzhenko, 1998; Turetskaya, 2001).
In Moldova and Belarus less researches of gender aspect in business are undertaken (Eliseeva, 2004; Lukashova, 2004; Petina, 2004). Based on the results of the international project “Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: the Example of Ukraine, Moldova and Uzbekistan” and other projects, F.Welter, D.Smallbone, N.Isacova, A.Slonimski, E.Aculai and others published a range of papers where different aspects of female entrepreneurship are identified – its potential, main characteristics, barriers and factors that contribute to its development, the role in the development of region (F. Welter and others, 2003; F. Welter and others, 2002, D. Smallbone and others, 2001, N.Isacova and others, 2004; E. Aculai and others, 2006).
Lately, problems of women in business have been actively discussed in business community and media. For instance, in March month of current year, in Chisinau (Moldova) the national conference “Women-entrepreneurs in a changing world“ took place, that found a sound response in newspapers and television.
In general, the problem of female entrepreneurship in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus still needs investigation. One of the obstacles of investigation is lack of official statistics. This fact impedes realization of detailed analysis of activity of enterprises where women are businessPage 285 owners/managers. Another one is the opinion that today doesn’t make sense to differentiate female entrepreneurship, when the whole SME sector needs attention and support from government.
The present paper material is based on the results of several projects, including the international research project “Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: the Example of Ukraine, Moldova and Uzbekistan”, realized with the financial support of INTAS (00-843) and oriented to the identification of gender aspect in the entrepreneurial activity. A determinant contribution to the project realization – discussion of methodology and results – had the project coordinator prof., dr. Friederike Welter (University of Siegen, Germany) and prof., dr. David Smallbone (Kingston University, Great Britain). During the project realization, questionings and interviews with women and men - owners and managers of SMEs from different regions of the countries...
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