Businesswomen’s group call for greater female representation

The organisation of female entrepreneurs within the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), Women in Business, calls for doubling the share of female representatives in WKO bodies from the current level of 14% by 2010. The organisation also wants to see the maternity and sickness allowance scheme extended to self-employed people and tax improvements in relation to childminding services. In general, the WKO leadership supports this initiative.

The organisation of female entrepreneurs, Women in Business (Frau in der Wirtschaft), in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKO) has long criticised the tradition of women being significantly underrepresented in WKO bodies. At present, women make up almost a third of all WKO members, while occupying only 14% of the representative positions in WKO bodies. In order to redress this underrepresentation and to attach more value to women’s concerns, Women in Business calls for doubling the share of female representatives in WKO bodies by 2010.

The women’s organisation announced its demand at a press conference held by the Chair of Women in Business, Adelheid Fürntrath, and the WKO President, Christoph Leitl, on 21 February 2008. At the press event, the results of a study on the participation rate of women on chamber boards were also presented.

‘Women on board’ project

In the framework of a project launched by the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Eurochambres, entitled ‘Women on board of local development’, an international sub-project on ‘Women on chamber boards’ was, in 2007, carried out by the Austrian Institute for SME Research (KMU Forschung Austria) on behalf of Women in Business. The project aimed to address the issue of low participation rates of women on boards of chambers of commerce and industry. In relation to the Austrian situation, the questionnaire survey among female representatives of WKO and female entrepreneurs who are not actively involved in chamber activities found that:

• about 70% of the female WKO representatives work up to 10 hours a month for the chamber, while 5% work more than 30 hours a month for this purpose;

• the main motivating factors for female representatives to actively get involved in the work of WKO is the wish to actively participate in a professional representation, get involved in a network, as well as to establish business contacts;

• both the female representatives in WKO and the other female entrepreneurs identify a lack of time as the main barrier to a woman’s active WKO involvement. Many female entrepreneurs fear that they would end up having less time for family and private life, as well as for the tasks of their own enterprise, if they were to possibly get involved in the activities of WKO;

• almost all surveyed women endorse a higher involvement of women in the commercial chamber structure.

Information campaign

On the basis of these findings, Ms Fürntrath has launched an initiative to increase the share of female WKO representatives. She suggests organising information events and launching awareness-raising campaigns presenting role models in an effort to achieve this goal. Moreover, part of Ms Fürntrath’s plan is to expand the existing ‘Ladies Lounge’ – a network of female entrepreneurs set up by officials of the Women in Business group. Apart from this, existing training measures provided by the so-called ‘officials’ academy’ within WKO should be extended, according to Ms Fürntrath.

Update to maternity and sickness allowance scheme

According to Women in Business, in order to ‘get more women on board’, more measures to allow female entrepreneurs to better reconcile work and family obligations should be introduced. Women in Business calls for the extension in terms of both the period of eligibility and level of payment of the current maternity and sickness allowance scheme (Betriebshilfe) – a service provided by WKO and the Social Insurance Association for Entrepreneurs and Self-Employed Workers (Sozialversicherungsanstalt der gewerblichen Wirtschaft, SVA). This scheme grants self-employed individuals who are covered by health insurance – but do not receive, for instance, statutory maternity pay – some kind of pay equivalent to maternity or sickness pay received by employees. This allowance is designed to subsidise the necessary hiring of a substitute worker for the (expectant) mother or sick entrepreneur, such that the business can continue to operate even in the case of the entrepreneur taking maternity or sickness leave. In addition, Women in Business calls for a tax relief on private childminding services used by self-employed parents of young children (AT0701029I), as a means not only to reconcile work and private life but also to promote career opportunities for women within WKO.

Overall, the current leaders of WKO approve of this initiative taken by the Women in Business group.

Georg Adam, Department of Industrial Sociology, University of Vienna