The role of women in small and medium-sized enterprises

Women entrepreneurs are largely behind the number of men involved in entrepreneurial activities of individual countries, but we can also distinguish between countries where women’s entrepreneurship is an extremely dynamic segment within the small business sector. In the world most of the companies are in majority ownership of women, while in Europe, women make up half the population, but only a third are represented in entrepreneurship. Croatia is on the 28th place of women’s participation in entrepreneurship from a possible 32 countries covered by the project. Women and men are burdened with numerous obstacles within the enterprise such as the underground economy, difficult access to financial resources, lack of liquidity, etc. The differences are that female entrepreneurship has a lack of support from society in the organization of family life, then the traditional understanding of the role of women within the enterprise, as well as some competition. Nowadays working environment requires emotional stamina and resistance to frustration, and women are just such a character because they have self-control, stability, expressed in attitudes, they do not make decisions quickly, and therefore such decisions are slower, but better and more rational. It is also important to note that women are not included in the large investment ventures, but these are jobs that women entrepreneurs create more stable and long-lasting. Timely information and knowledge and their exchange at all levels is the need for networking of women. It is for such reasons women in entrepreneurial ventures require the support of the government of a country, as well as the support of international organizations. We distinguish between women entrepreneurs that are due to the crisis entered the selfemployment program to ensure the existence and women entrepreneurs who are very successful in the corporate environment, but they want much more than that, like starting your own business ideas which can ultimately be very successful. It is very difficult to balance work and personal commitments, therefore, this that should be encourage are flexible working educational institutions of preschool children, as well as parental leave for fathers. In the world of entrepreneurship women actually represent a minority, it needs a huge support for their potential to be expressed, proved and realized . In recent years, according to statistics, about 30 percent of companies in the Republic of Croatia is majority-owned by women, which is in the European level. The previous strategy of encouraging female entrepreneurship shows progress, but not enough, so the new strategies of female entrepreneurship are being prepared by 2020. that puts the emphasis on greater involvement of women in the business world