Businesswomen are vital to face EU challenges, MEP says

 

The strengthening of the private sector is a pivotal goal for Europe if it wants to deal with current crises, and women must significantly contribute to it, Danish MEP and former entrepreneur Pernille Weiss told EURACTIV.

Women are vastly underrepresented in Europe’s private sector, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report, which found 5.7% of women in Europe are entrepreneurs, compared with a worldwide average of 11%.

Weiss, who is also the rapporteur of the Parliament’s own-initiative report on women entrepreneurs, which was approved in early May, warned that if this proportion remains so low, it will be impossible to “deliver all our promises and needs in the climate change and the health sector”, or afford the defence of European democracy in times of war.

One roadblock to progress, the MEP said, is differences in member states’ social systems. The less protection a social system has, the higher the risk to individuals in business wanting to try things out and innovate. (...)