Brussels, 23/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's project “Women in Business and Decision-Making” was concluded with a conference organised by the Eurochambres Women Network (EWN), in the premises of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 22 February. A EWN project will now concentrate of stereotypes in the field of employment. Known as CHASE (Chambers Against Stereotypes in Employment), this project will attempt to identify gender stereotypes which prevent women from reaching the top of the corporate ladder or landing a “typically male” job. The project was set up as part of the Commission's gender equality programme and implemented in three stages: 1) creation of role models thanks to successful women entrepreneurs; 2) setting up on-line tools in schools to raise girls' interest in male-dominated professions; 3) creating a “mentoring” system.
Commenting on the initiative, EWN vice-president Sophie Economacos said that “female entrepreneurship is still an untapped potential to increase employment and economic growth according to the Lisbon targets. Unfortunately, insufficient consideration is still given to gender equality. With CHASE we want to draw the attention to how stereotypes limit the professional choice of women and to show ways out of this situation”.