Brussels, 16/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament advocates practical support for female entrepreneurs and over-50s staying in or returning to work. This was the result of voting during the plenary session on Tuesday 13 September on the report by Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR, UK) on women in management positions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and the report by Edit Bauer (EPP, Slovakia) on the situation of women approaching retirement age.
Yannakoudakis, who has herself been a company head for 25 years, raises the challenge of encouraging women to become entrepreneurs with the Commission, member states and local authorities. Only one woman out of 10 in Europe is an entrepreneur, while one out of four men manages his own business. Women should be incited to take up entrepreneurship through facilitated access to financing, vocational training and exchange of best practice. Also, the rapporteur underlines the positive impact that female entrepreneurship would have on the European economy, saying: “In spite of all the constraints and restrictions faced by women today, a growing number of women have proved to be more than capable of creating successful businesses. Put simply, in a time of economic uncertainty, Europe can no longer afford to leave such a vibrant source of potential untapped”.
Along the same lines, Edit Bauer calls in another non-legislative resolution for women over 50 to be kept at work or to be supported if they wish to return to work. This is with a view to reduce the risk of poverty that older women are exposed to (22% of women face poverty, compared to 16% of men). The Parliament believes it is therefore a matter of promoting lifelong training and retraining programmes, as well as implementing the principle of equal pay and review of pension schemes and combating gender and age-related discrimination. (MD/transl.jl)