Gender Equality National Report Hungary - European-microfinance ...

A recent study about men and women’s enterprises in the country reaches similar
conclusions. 32 Companies owned by men and those owned by women are fairly similar, real
differences can be found in the startup of the companies. A sign of that could be seen in the
lower share of opportunity-driven enterprises among women than among men; while the
share of start-ups driven by mixed motives is higher among women. The idea of necessity is
probably assessed in a different way by women, as for them the possibility of having a child
and getting maternity benefit or becoming a housewife is a socially accepted choice; while
for men becoming unemployed is the final option. Still there is a “grey zone” of women’s
lower share in new business start-ups; an unclear reason why when faced by the same
circumstances men choose to become entrepreneurs while women to become employees. A
possible answer lies in the difference in willingness to take risks. Although the majority
(about two-third) of new enterprises is set up to seize a good business opportunity or to
improve one’s financial status; 8% more women become entrepreneurs out of necessity
than men
An enterprise’s success (or failure), limits of development, growth, viability and stability are
greatly determined by the circumstances of the start-up. The lack of resources for the launch
of a business shows a devastating picture. More than 25% of female entrepreneurs asked
did not have the necessary capital for the start-up and the amount of capital was in general
very low – similar to the already existing businesses in Hungary. (For 50% of the female
entrepreneurs asked the available founding capital was less than 300,000 Ft (EUR 1,200);
and only 15% of them had more than 500,000 Ft (EUR 2,000).) These figures indicate that
most of the female enterprises start practically without or with a very low amount of capital;
these entrepreneurs can be considered self employed according to international definitions.
c.) Gender equality in established business owners Score 3
There are twice as many enterprises owned by men than by women in Hungary, according to
statistics and studies. The historical background to this has previously been discussed, the
motivations will be analysed below.
Significant difference can be seen between women and men among the owners of small
enterprises (10-49 employees); satisfaction with the performance of the company as well as
the future development perspectives is considered considerably worse by women than by
men.
Obstacles preventing growth are considered very similarly by the genders; taxes and social
security fees, burdens of overcomplicated administration and insufficient domestic demand
are most often mentioned as the main factors hindering expansion by both women and men.
Women feel the limits of development to be less restricting; but this can possibly be
explained by the fact that the share of enterprises willing to expand is lower among them
than among men.
3.5.2 Gender equality in entrepreneurial characteristics
Score 2.5
The economic and political changes that occurred in Hungary in the previous decade show
themselves in the dimension of social connections in the form of a unique tendency: social
32 Szerb L. 2007 Nıi vállalkozók és nıi tulajdonú vállalkozások jellemezıi Baranya megyében 2001-2004, Kézirat Pécsi Tudományegyetem
Közgazdaságtudományi Kar
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