Entrepreneurs and collaborators united by a "growth proposal" - "signed" by Confartigianato Sardinia and the University of Cagliari - to reduce the gender gap in the productive world on the island and encourage the creation of new women's businesses.

This is what emerged from the meeting, in Oristano , entitled “ SWAE, Sardinian Women, Artisan Empowerment ”, held yesterday morning with the collaboration of Artigiancassa.

On the occasion of the appointment, the data on women's businesses in Sardinia were presented: almost 40,000 companies that employ over 120,000 employees.
THE DATA - On the island, in detail, there are 39,374 companies led by women , who operate mostly in the sectors of personal services and cleaning, fashion and restaurant activities: these represent 22.9% of all the productive realities of the island . As many as 4,327 companies are run by young women . Out of the whole group of women entrepreneurs, almost 5,946 are artisan businesses (15.1%). And it is precisely on women's work that the force of the crisis linked to Covid-19 has hit the most violently: the numbers, even if slightly recovering, show how women today work less and are also affected by higher unemployment than in the past. 2019.

At a territorial level, in the old province of Cagliari there are 16,114 women enterprises of which 2,465 artisans (15.3% of the total women enterprises), in Sassari-Gallura there are 12,672 of which 2,075 artisans (16.4%), in Nuoro there are 7,456 of which 1,056 (14.2%) artisans and in Oristano 3,132 with 350 artisans (11.2%).

“Female entrepreneurs have paid the highest price for the pandemic crisis , but have also known how to face the difficulties with
exceptional resilience, problem solving, multitasking skills - the comment of Maria Amelia Lai , President of
Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna – we must continue to leverage these typically feminine qualities to be architects of our future”.
The data also recalled that in the period of the pandemic in the country there was a 7.8% drop in independent female employment , compared to the -6.1% recorded by the male component.
Negative trend also in terms of the turnover of companies led by women with a decrease of 4.4 points compared to the average. Things are no better with regard to family commitments where women, in the role of parent, due to the closure of schools during the pandemic have endured a double workload compared to
men.
As regards the labor market, employment remains 0.8% lower than pre-crisis levels and there is a
a 1.1% drop in the female component, twice as strong as that of men (-0.6%).
However, the negative records are accompanied by positive records of our country which is in first place in Europe for the highest number of women-run businesses, a good 1,336,227. If Italy is, therefore, the "Country of the year", as decreed by "The Economist", this issue demonstrates that the merit also belongs to women and their great ability to react and face such a difficult moment as the one experienced with the pandemic.
THE SURVEY - Confartigianato, at a national level, has drawn up a survey with the aim of understanding how female artisan entrepreneurs have started this 2022. From the answers, there are essentially two keywords that are
Appeared in Every Answer: Fatigue and Resilience . Fatigue, because although 2021 was the year of the restart,
SMEs and women's craft enterprises have not been able to recover the pre-crisis turnover levels and have recorded a
average change in revenues, in 2021 compared to 2019, negative by -9.7%, heavier than the total -8.8%. Resilience, because even if more affected by the consequences of the pandemic, female artisan entrepreneurs prove to be more combative and ready to react by adopting, or expressing their intention to adopt in the near future, one or more development actions in order to be able to remain on the market by increasing own competitive ability, as declared by 61.2% of them, higher than the total 55%.

Among the margins of improvement on which to intervene to improve the condition of women at work, the importance and the
centrality of education and assistance services (childcare services, nursery schools, etc.).

"The wish we can, and must, make ourselves - concludes Elisa Sedda , Head of Women's Enterprises and Equal Opportunities of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - is that every woman can, in a short time, conquer what is most dear to her, such as: autonomy, respect, paid maternity leave for the self-employed, cultural change, trust, consideration, sharing treatment time, freedom of choice, not having to choose between work and family, protection, opportunities, security, equal skills, more time, no sacrifices and peace of mind" .

(Unioneonline/vl)

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