Win On-Line Conference “Women’s Entrepreneurship” in Vilnius
Win On-Line Conference “Women’s Entrepreneurship” in Vilnius
The Lithuanian Education and Science Trade Union (LESTU) on May 12 organized the final conference of the Win On-Line project “Women’s Entrepreneurship”.
The low number of female entrepreneurs is still a pressing issue worldwide today. Women make up 52% of the European population, but only 34.4% of self-employed people and 30% of start-up entrepreneurs in the EU are women. Seeing such statistics naturally leads to the conclusion that women do not fully utilize their entrepreneurial potential or it is more difficult for them to do so due to the constant combination of work and rest. When women want to start a business, they face not only challenges in the field of finance, but also a lack of entrepreneurial skills, and in the background of today’s current events, the inability to use all the advantages of new technologies is particularly evident. Women over 40 face particularly big challenges, because they need to update their skills and find the courage to not be afraid to fundamentally change their lives. There is still a stereotype in society that older workers, especially women, have a harder time accepting innovations, different specifics and methods of work organization than they are used to. Women tend to take fewer risks than men, so they are less likely to decide to start their own business, and if they do decide to do so, they experience great stress and pressure from the environment that they will not be able to and do not have the necessary qualities and skills. The Win On-Line project conference was organized in order to refute this myth that has become established in society.
The partners of the Win On-Line project set themselves the goal of dispelling many myths related to the absence of female entrepreneurship and providing space for the potential of women to unfold as entrepreneurs by providing them with the necessary tools.
During the conference, the results of the Win On-Line project were presented – a compendium of existing innovative and effective women’s e-entrepreneurship practices and tools, good experiences were shared, the challenges of the training program were discussed, and their participants shared their experiences and what knowledge they gained. A meeting of mentors and mentees took place during the conference.
