SELECTED CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPING ENTERPRISING ATTITUDES AMONG WOMEN IN PERIPHERAL REGIONS (on the example of Podkarpackie region in Poland) Presented by: Magdalena Malinowska Foundation „ERGO SUM”

PODKARPACKIE AS AN EXAMPLE OF PERIPHERAL REGION  Peripheral location in relation to political and economical center,  Low level of economy, education and culture (thus worse living conditions that in other regions),  Poorly population density and disperse settlement structure  Low level of urbanization  Weak technical and social infrastructure  High unemployment rates

BACKGROUND  Area: sq km (5,7% of the country's area)  Population: 2,1 milion (5,5% of the country's population)  Capital: Rzeszow ( inhabitants)  The lowest percentage of urban inhabitants (in Podkarpackie - 41%, in Poland – 62%)  The highest natural increase of the population in Poland (Podkarpackie - 2,5, Poland – 0,3) Podkarpackie Province UKRAINE SLOVAKIA

REGIONAL LABOUR MARKET  Unfavourable employment structure (majority of people work in agricultural sector)  The highest rate of long-time unemployed people in Poland  The lowest number of job offers in Poland  High level of registered unemployment and difficult to establish level of hidden unemployment in rural areas  The lowest level of earnings in Poland

WOMEN ON THE REGIONAL LABOUR MARKET  Decrease of vocational activity of women comparing to situation before 1989  Employment of women: healthcare, education, finances  Unemployment among women Women prevail in unemployed population Average unemployment duration of women is longer that men. Unemployed women are better educated that unemployed men  Because of lack of demand for labour force, women in Podkarpackie are more often discriminated that in other regions

Women-company owners (GUS, 2007)  Women account for 35% of total number of entrepreneurs (in cities 31%)  Their participation in the total number of employed women is 15% (men 23%)

SYSTEM OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUPPORT  Regional development agencies  Special economic zones  Financial institutions  Chambers of commerce and economic associations  Entrepreneurship support centers  Training and consulting centers  Innovation and technology transfer centers

Characteristics of women-entrepreneurs: aged 45 or more (almost 50%, while aged up to 34 years old – 23%) Well educated (56% has at least secondary education and among women-entrepreneurs – 83%) economists, humanists, technician, engineers Own commercial and service companies, including services for business and excluding agriculture (54%)

Why to be an entrepreneur?  Independence, autonomy  Bigger earnings  Professional development, realization of dreams, satisfaction  Negative experiences from working for others – feeling of being used  Flexible working time, prestige, possibility to employ other people, certainty of employment

BARRIERS  Own company means problems, responsibility and stress  Lack of knowledge, qualifications, education, ideas  Risk of bankruptcy and loosing a job  Psychological barriers – lack of predispositions to manage one’s own company  Lack of money and funding to establish own company  Unfavorable conditions to start economic activity in Poland

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ATTITUDES AMONG WOMEN in Podkarpackie  Generally, low level of entrepreneurship attitudes  According to labour market research, level of declared entrepreneurship attitudes among women is definitely lower that among men  High rate of training among women

KEY FINDINGS  Unemployment rate in Podkarpackie is higher then in Poland  The lowest level of earnings  Gender inequality on the labour market  Lack of perspective for young people („brain drain” phenomena)  Low level of entrepreneurship  Unfavourable conditions to start economic activity  Important role of women organizations toward promotion of women on the labour market and entrepreneurship  A chance to succeed provided that: - System supporting entrepreneurship will be created - Women will have higher self-esteem - Further development of women organizations will follow

Why to promote entrepreneurship among women?  Working for the same company for lifetime is in the past  There less and less stable jobs in large companies  Average professional career will consist of several jobs in a number of employees  Less job positions in office and administrative work because of computerization  More and more possibilities of freelance work and in different projects  Self-employment will be more popular