Female entrepreneurship in Serbia

Gender equality is a fundamental right, a common value of the EU, and a necessary condition for Serbia in achieving the EU’s objectives of growth, employment and social cohesion. Equal participation of women and men in decision-making symbolises the level of political maturity of societies. The work analysis of the situation and trends contributes to the implementation of the Commission’s Roadmap for Gender Equality (2006-2010), which has amongst its priorities promoting equal participation of women in decision-making, aiming to raise awareness of the situation. The majority of the data used in the work comes from the database on women which is managed by Serbian national statistics and UNDP s research data. The work shows that even if the Serbia’s efforts to increase women’s participation in decisionmaking have been consistent and certain progress has been achieved, women are still underrepresented in all spheres of power in Serbian Institutions, and in entrepreneurial activity. This remains a major challenge for democracy. If we believe in the values of democracy based on the representation and participation of citizens, then we cannot leave half of the population outside the structures of power. Gender equality is also an asset for business. Serbian economy must reap the potential of all human talent at our disposal if we are to be competitive in the face of globalization. Alongside active policy measures, one of the actions could be identified as to support activities to raise awareness of equality issues in the decision-making process in Serbia and promote research based on comparable European data, and data on countries in transition process. There is a particular focus on indicators introduced by the Council of the European Union in 1999 and 2003 as a follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, which was adopted by 189 states and is considered as a milestone for the enforcement of women’s rights across the world. The work presents facts and figures covering education level of women /background characteristics/, decision-making in politics, economy and public service in Serbia