CONAF: “The pandemic is a catalyst for the exponential progress of women in business”

The world economy suffered during the pandemic, and the most affected businesses were those owned by women, according to CONAF data.

“We cannot speak of an erroneous way of running the business by women, but on the contrary the fact that they have an increased number of businesses and the impact of the crisis was much wider. Although the current context is not favourable, the studies present an optimistic outlook for the future of women entrepreneurs. It shows that the pandemic could prove to be a catalyst for the exponential progress of women in business and an opportunity to correct the inherent gender bias, if decision-makers support initiatives in this regard,” a press release shows.

Cristina Chiriac, president of CONAF, says that the presence of women is growing stronger in the Romanian economic environment: “Of the almost one million four hundred thousand Romanian businessmen, a third are women. Obviously, during the pandemic, all the businesses of the ladies were affected more deeply due to the specific gender gap regarding digital solutions, the major impact on the real life of the virtual world and last but not least the need to dedicate much more to family responsibilities once with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. All of this has created vulnerabilities specific to women doing business.”

However, the president of CONAF believes that the existence of policies based on gender criteria would further stimulate the success of women entrepreneurs. “Studies show that women entrepreneurs have more confidence that the economies of the countries in which they operate are going in a good direction, compared to male entrepreneurs, and most want to increase the number of employees. However, the pandemic brought side effects: the number of unemployed increased, the businesses closed partially or totally and implicitly the effects on the macroeconomic indicators are obvious “, concluded Cristina Chiriac.

Within the project initiated by CONAF, the WORK PACT, viable solutions have been identified that support the entrepreneurial environment. The need for digitalisation, the flexibility of legislation in labour relations and in the social partnership, professional training and the correlation of the labour market with the economic reality, are just some of the measures included in the WORK PACT.