PiS motivating women to work

It appears PiS is going soft on its right-wing family-orientated policies. The “Women in Business” (“Spelniona w Biznesie”) campaign is being launched this September by Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, the labor and social policy minister. The campaign aims to motivate the 52 percent of Polish women who are of employable age, but do not work outside the home. Even leftist feminists such as Kazimiera Szczuka are supporting the campaign.According to Dzie-nnik newspaper, the campaign will involve billboards, TV advertisements and programs depicting women who have been successful in opening their own businesses. A web site and an infoline have also been set up. The aim of both is to inform women about the steps involved in starting up a business. Advice in taxation, accounting, social security and business registration is given and explanations are provided online. Dziennik reports many women in Poland are keen to commence their own ventures, but lack the know-how in getting things started. According to Kluzik-Rostkowksa, women need to be shown how a business can be set up and managed. Stereotypes need to be quashed, with women finally being motivated to leave the kitchen.The problem may not be so easy to solve however. Poland has one of the lowest rates of small business ventures within the EU. The Statistical Office of the European Commission shows small enterprises account for 14.2 percent of jobs in Poland, compared to 31.9 percent in Greece. Polish self-employed women account for only 10.8 percent of that total (compared to the 22.1 percent of women in Greece).The issue lies with the stringent formalities involved in starting up a business, regardless of whether you are male or female. Poland has one of the most complicated and expensive business registration procedures in the EU. It takes up to 45 days to register a limited company, involving over five governmental institutions of registration. In comparison registering a company in the UK can be done within less than two days. People in Poland are therefore quickly frustrated and easily overwhelmed with the procedure.  The need for better regulation and lower levels of administrative burdens for businesses start-ups is obvious. The Polish government must make this its priority before women can initiate their own enterprises. The “Women in Business” campaign will prove futile if regulations are not simplified, reported economic analyst Andrzej Sadowski from the Adam Smith Institute in Dziennik. Further, women living outside industrious city regions in small villages should have the option of micro-credit access. The business credit sector for small enterprises is still in its infancy in Poland, with most banks refusing to lend money to self-employment ventures. Financial assistance in the form of bank loans are necessary if this potential business sector of the community is to flourish.
 

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