Equality quickly achieved: women are tomorrow’s bosses

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Slowly but surely, the proportion of women entrepreneurs in Switzerland is increasing. In the 30 years from 1991 to 2021, the proportion of women entrepreneurs increased from 28.2 percent to 36.7 percent.

However, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021-2022 results show that Swiss women do not give up so easily the comfort an employment relationship offers them. In Switzerland, where incomes are among the highest in the world and jobs are plentiful, women in particular seem to have little incentive to start their own companies. According to the GEM report, only 37.9 percent of Swiss women believe that entrepreneurship is a good career option. The world average is 70 percent.

there are opportunities

After all, full employment in the labor market keeps women less self-employed than men. In 2021, HSW Freiburg reports that the proportion of women among company executives aged 18 to 35 will be twice as high.

This figure did not surprise Line Pillet, President of the SME Women’s Association in Western Switzerland: “Significant progress has been made. Entrepreneurship support and promotion of girls, particularly through university programs and the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, has increased significantly in recent years.»

According to Rico Baldegger, the head of GEM in Switzerland, most of the investment now goes to companies in the still male-dominated technology sector. “But women can benefit from the enthusiasm for new trending topics in the fields of sustainability, nutrition or health. Line Pillet, who is also head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Management at the Western Swiss University of Applied Sciences (HES-SO) in Sierre, VS, shares this view.” people pay much more attention to the traceability and sustainability of products. This is an area where women play an important role, and they are increasingly realizing that.” According to a study conducted by the CRIF company in 2022, the vast majority (51.8 percent) of companies operating in the field of social services are run by women.

Work and family harmony in the center

However, a higher proportion of female founders or company leaders may have even more influence. They can also modernize the business world faster in favor of men. “Women are pushing for more flexibility in their work structures, especially in terms of working hours and work-from-home options,” Pillet says. Now men also benefit from it.

Laurence Halifi has been helping middle school students learn entrepreneurship since 2015 with the Graines d’entrepreneurs program. She points out that the proportion of women in one-man companies is particularly high. “Because this business model harmonizes private life with professional life.”

Élodie Raneri started her own business 15 years ago. First with the sale of shoes, then with the interior decoration and with a very original concept where he turned his house into a showroom for his customers. “Working from home was the best way for me to combine work and family life. Given the constraints, I didn’t see any other way to reconcile the two.” The Neuchâtel native, a mother of three, says she received a lot of support when starting the company. However, it is clear that “women still have more responsibility in the management of family life, even if they are engaged in an independent professional activity.” .

Line Pillet started her own business in 2013 after their youngest child was born. “It was a way for me to regain control of my daily routine.” As an expert in coaching and training, she distinguishes between self-employment and entrepreneurship: “Self-employment is a good way to better control your working hours and combine work and family life. But once you start hiring and are responsible for running a business, you must work full time.”

Show young girls the possibilities

Despite the increase in the number of women entrepreneurs, GEM notes that women are still far less confident than men in their ability to start and run a business. Only 38.9 percent of women dared to do so, compared to 59.9 percent of men. An important gap.

According to Laurence Halifi, girls should be introduced to entrepreneurship from an early age as part of their school education: “It is important to show girls that starting and running a business is also important to them and that they have the skills to do so.”

Parents should also participate. By actively encouraging her daughters and especially by involving them in economic and financial discussions. And by rethinking the choice of extracurricular activities to enroll their daughters in. “I’m not against dancing and horseback riding, but the girls also belong to the ETH robotics workshops,” Khalifi said.

Source :Blick