Portugal among countries with better conditions for women entrepreneurs
The Portuguese business market continues to be very close, small and conservative, but the country has the best conditions and opportunities for women entrepreneurs, defended the president for Portugal of the Organization of Women Entrepreneurs.
“Portugal is one of the countries with the best conditions and opportunities for women to undertake and, from the point of view of diversity, we are a very open country that supports equality between men and women,” said Helena Rodrigues.
The conclusion of Helena Rodrigues is based on the Mastercard Index for Female Entrepreneurship, where Portugal appears in sixth place among the 57 countries analyzed in relation to the opportunities and conditions given to women entrepreneurs.
President in Portugal of the US organization WPO – Women’s President’s Organization, Helena Rodrigues pointed out that the Portuguese business community will have about 20% of women-led companies.
“Our business fabric is family-owned and many of these women are heirs or part of what is the core family of company management,” he said, adding that if the analysis is for women-based businesses, the ratio will be much smaller.
Helena Rodrigues argued that there are more and more women to lead with “exceptional results” and that the country “provides some freedom for this to happen,” admitting, however, that there is “still a long way to go.”
“I think we have socially, at the moment, in our country, an ecosystem that allows that there is an evolution in this sense,” she said, adding that the country is better prepared for women to be viewed equally with men.
Despite admitting that “there is a great evolution” and that the “paradigm is changing“, he pointed out that “there is no equality either far or near“, noting that there are “details” for which women are still more awake and highlighting the “great effort” that has been made by all women, such as “the clear signs” that there is a way for both men and women to be able to lead companies.
“I do not think so, and I would not want the difficulty to continue to be about children, we have a family life, yes, it makes it harder, it’s more demanding for us and it’s not the same, but it’s an option”. defended
Adepts of meritocracy, Helena Rodrigues said that both men and women should be remunerated for the quality of their work and pointed out that both the recent legislation on equal pay and quotas are necessary tools to have at least “a more assertive look at the theme and to make something happen. ”
Founded in the United States in 1997, WPO aims to accelerate business growth, increase competitiveness and promote economic security for women-led enterprises.
