Afaemme Blog

In 2009 Terziario Donna Confcommercio has motivated a study on Businesswomen which has gathered interesting data on women and entrepreneurship in Italy.

The study, done by Unioncamere, shows that female companies are better withstanding the effects of the worldwide economic crisis and even if 60% of them saw their business dropping, 80% could avoid firing their employees.

Other interesting data are that there are more female companies in the center and the south of Italy and that they mainly operate in trade, agriculture and services.

Finally, the study also highlighted the ageing problem: there is a progressive ageing of active Italian businesswomen and a lack of youg businesswomen ready to take their place.

Here are a series of conclusions of the 5th International Forum on Communication and Branding, held in Barcelona on March 4th 2010:

Women represent the largest emerging market of the planet, more than the Chinese and Indian markets together.

In order to reach the 51% segment of the market that makes 80% of the purchases, we must learn to connect with women and communicate with their language by re-elaborating all the strategies.

The change that the image of women has undergone in the last few years has been one of the most drastic ones. Women today are completely different from their mothers and grandmothers.

Gender differences exist to be recognized, used and enjoyed. Incorporating feminine language in a commercial spot does not mean being separatist but bilingual.

Improving society and environment, aesthetic design, earning time, cooperation, collaboration and empathy are major motivations and values in a woman.

Men buy. Women go shopping. When a female consumer goes shopping, she embarks on a journey based on communication, experiences and details.

Women buy in a spirally. Before making a decision, they ask, find opinions and soak up all the information. Inspired by detail and planning ahead, their aim is to find the perfect answer.

The young (15-to-24-year-old) new generation (from 15 to 24 years old) has grown up in the Internet era. These digital natives are not only consumers but want to play a more active role and they have a strong feminine consciousness.With more female users, social networks have reinvented communication, turning it into an act of exchange, of community sharing. Brands have to adapt to this new world.

Understanding female consumers better is the key to success for a product or service. If you have a female client, you have a faithful ambassador for your brand.

A recent article, written by Ángeles Caso in the supplement of La Vanguardia last Sunday 21st, highlights the shocking data about long-term academic women in Spain, which lays down an image on professional women that is not really a capture of the Spanish reality. 

Data show that there are only 12 women among the 120 long-term academics of the Royal Academy of Doctors (10%); 4 among 46 of the Royal Academy of Veterinary Sciences (less than 9%); 3 among 36 in the Academy of History (8%); 3 among 44 in the Academy of Pharmaceutics (less than 7%); 3 among 48 (6%) in the case of Engineering; 2 among 60 (3%) in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando; 1 among 37 (less than 3%) in the case of Moral and Politics Science; 1 among 42 (just a little bit more than 2%) in the case of Economic and Financial Sciences; 1 among 48 (2%) in the case of Medicine; 1 among 54 (less than 2%) in the case of Exact, Physics and Natural Sciences; and none among the 38 (0%) in the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation… 

If someone from abroad reads these data she/he will be convinced about the fact that in Spain there are almost no women professors, no artists, no historian, no pharmacist, no veterinarian, no writer, no doctor, no researcher, no lawyer, no judge… She/he would just think we, women in Spain, still live like 50 years ago, are semi-analphabetic and shut away at home…  

As Ángeles Caso says in her article: The Institutions of the “Spanish Intelligence” are almost exclusively in the hands of men. 

So there is still a lot to do in terms of equality.

Within the framework of its project “Increase of SME’s Productivity through the Application of Gender Policies in Decision-Making Positions”, aimed to sensitize Catalan companies about the economic and social benefits of promoting a larger number of women in decision-making positions in small and medium enterprises, AFAEMME has realized, in collaboration with the Federation of Employers of the Small and Medium Enterprises of Catalonia (FEPIME-CATALUNYA) and with support of the Catalan Occupation Service (Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya), a detailed study on the present situation of women in the Catalan labour market.

The report has been successfully disseminated, including in Barcelona with the business organizations belonging to FEPIME-CATALUNYA, the last 7^th of September, but also at European level through the “European Commission’s Network of Women in Decision-Making in Politics and Economy”, in Brussels on December 11^th. With this wide diffusion, it can be confirmed that the project has been an important step to favour cultural changes as the improvement of equality of opportunities in the labour market and the sensitization of companies about the potential value of hiring more women. The official presentation of the study has been done by Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen, President of AFAEMME, during AFAEMMEs last General Assembly held in Barcelona on November 5^th.

Crise financière, chômage, déséquilibre des finances publiques. Comment en sortir ? Ne rien changer et reproduire les mêmes erreurs ? Poursuivre sur la voie du court termisme, de la spéculation sur les matières premières agricoles ou énergétiques ? Laisser se propager le cancer du capitalisme financier qui détruit le tissu sain de l’industrie, du commerce, de la recherche ? Ce serait très vite une impasse.

Une opportunité historique se présente aux Européens et aux pays des rives sud et est de la Méditerranée : construire un espace méditerranéen de croissance collective. Est-ce un projet politique et économique ? Oui, certainement. Une anticipation et une opportunité ? Sans aucun doute. Une utopie ? Non. Car le recollement des deux rives de la Méditerranée a commencé, à bas bruit. Plus tard et moins vite que ne le firent les Etats-Unis et le Mexique dans l’Alena, ou les Japonais avec les pays émergents de leur région (« Asean + 3 »). Mais le rapprochement des deux rives de la Méditerranée par l’économie est engagé ; c’est une réalité en évolution lente, qu’il faut accélérer pour sortir l’Europe de la crise.

Lire la suite : http://www.ipemed.coop/spip.php?article260

Le vendredi 4 décembre, à l’occasion des petits-déjeuners de la Méditerranée organisés chaque mois par IPEMED, Christian de Boissieu, co-président du comité scientifique d’IPEMED et Abdeldjellil Bouzidi, économiste et consultant en finance, ont exposé leurs points de vue sur le bilan et l’impact de la crise sur le bassin méditerranéen.

Si la crise financière n’a quasiment pas affecté les économies du Sud et de l’Est de la Méditerranée, du fait d’une absence quasi-totale de connexion des marchés boursiers méditerranéens aux places boursières internationales.

Lire la suite : http://www.ipemed.coop/spip.php?article235

On behalf of all the staff of AFAEMME we would like to wish you

Happy Holidays &The Best for 2010

The Meda Women Entrepreneurs Forum was a meeting point for actors of the mediterranean area, with an aim of profiting of a dialog space of and exchanges to create networks, collaborations and become aware of the diferents point of view about the economic mediterranean situation.

Indeed during this forum many debates were carried out, and they finally find common exit as the following points, for example, that women find it hard to promote and sell themselves professionally, and the reasons are : the business model is a masculine model, men and women are not equal and that women have a biological reproductive clock that affects their business and professional progression…As a conclusion the recomandations of this forum are to create, to introduce, to strengthen, to promote, to develop, to consider and to find ways to integrate women in companies so as not to lose the female business talent.http://www.afaemme.org/actualproject.php

A la lecture de cet article du Monde, en date du 23/10/09, on s’apercoit que les discriminations envers les femmes surviennent dès le plus jeune âge, notammant en terme d’inégalité de scolarisation par exemple.

Mais c’est surtout au niveau de l’emploi que les chiffres sont le plus parlant, avec 22 millions de femmes qui pourraient perdre leur emploi face à la crise financière actuelle et un taux de chômage qui augmente plus vite pour les femmes que chez les hommes.

De plus ce sont les femmes qui occupent le plus souvent des emplois ”précaires” en terme de statut  ou de salaire, en effet l’OIT souligne une part de 50% à 55% d’occupation d’emplois vulnérables pour les femmes contre 47% à 52% pour les hommes

Pour lire l’article :

- http://www.lemonde.fr/web/imprimer_element/0,40-0@2-3244,50-1257346,0.html

Como cada jueves me fui a asistir a estos cursos del programa “Nosotras empresarias”, el tema del 15/10/09 estaba sobre la gestión del tiempo y del estrés.

Hemos tenido una presentación de la señora Elvira Méndez – Directora General de la Asociación Salud y Familia.

Esta presentación iba dirigida a las mujeres que tienen dificultades para organizarse entre sus vidas: laboral, personal y familiar. Después de un breve resumen de las causas que influyen en la vida de cada mujer empresaria, como la disponibilidad permanente para los demás por ejemplo, ella nos presentaba unas ripostas defensivas a la presión. 

Entonces tratar las demandas en función de sus llegadas, sobrevalorar la mirada negativa de los demás  por ejemplo son unas cosas que ayuden a ganar en control, a reconocer el propio poder y organizar actividades compensatorias, con la importancia de tener de un mentor, que dará suporte.

Porque según ella el estrés y la presión afectan mucho en varios campos en la vida de una mujer y  por eso hay que asumir los riesgos y aprender a decir “no”, hay también que crear una imagen profesional propia y promoverla, todo eso optimizando el tiempo y gestionándolo. Y sobre todo no hay que abandonar los valores suyas para criterios masculinos.

“¡Descansar os equilibréis!”