Giving women a face and a voice in leadership positions
Why do we always talk about those who don't exist? The Women's Business Association wants to give a face and a voice to the 60,000 women in management positions who already exist.
Women's issues such as gender equality, pay gaps and quotas are booming in politics, the private sector and the media. Everywhere there seems to be a lack of female exponents. There is a desperate search for female speakers for conferences or suitable female candidates for boards of directors. Statistics showing that Switzerland is far behind in terms of the number of women in management positions are often cited. Rarely, however, are the nearly 60,000 Swiss self-employed women entrepreneurs of sole proprietorships and small businesses included in these statistics. The board of the Association of Women's Businesses, newly elected on April 10, is strongly committed to giving these women a voice in management positions.
Small, but with growing importance
Of the over 594,000 self-employed in their main occupation, over 10.3% are in women (bfs, 2017). They run innovative start-ups, sole proprietorships and small businesses. These firms may be small compared to large international corporations. But their importance is undisputed when it comes to innovative, agile business models, work-life balance, and attractive opportunities for part-time employees. And the fourth industrial revolution will further increase the economic importance of self-employed workers in the service, technology and healthcare sectors.
This is also confirmed by the statistics published by the bfs in 2018 on the topic of founders in Switzerland. With an upward trend, 35.3 % of all new companies were founded by women alone in 2017. And this trend can also be seen in the long-term view: In the second quarter of 2018, female entrepreneurs accounted for 37.3% of all entrepreneurs - compared to only 28.2% in 1991.
Own pension solution for female entrepreneurs
However, the fact that 60,000 self-employed women and their businesses receive little attention from politicians and the media is only one of the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs: As long as they have no employees, they often fall between the chair and the bench when it comes to 2nd pillar pensions, they find it hard to gain access to large business associations and trade networks, and they have a hard time securing public funding.
That is why the Association of Women's Businesses has been working for 21 years to give women with their own businesses a face and a voice. In 2017, for example, the first cross-industry pension solution for sole proprietors in Switzerland was implemented. With the new board elected in April, the aim in the coming years is not only to continue the successful projects, but also to launch new initiatives that give more visibility and weight to women entrepreneurs in Switzerland. "Yes, in many areas there is a lack of female role models and candidates. But where we have them in Switzerland, we need to give them the visibility and create framework conditions with which they can grow. This is an essential contribution to the innovative strength and attractiveness of Switzerland as a business location," says Chantal Schmelz, newly elected president of the Association of Women's Businesses.
More information: Association women's business
