For most Polish entrepreneurs in the SME sector, the gender of the company owner they’re collaborating with doesn’t matter. They value both men and women for trust and professionalism. However, this changes with age. From the study “Women in Business”, conducted by IMAS International on behalf of Rzetelna Firma, it turns out that as many as 20% of entrepreneurs over the age of 55, given a choice, would opt for a company run by a woman. Only 4.1% of this group prefer to work with male-led businesses. On the other hand, younger entrepreneurs often prefer to work with firms run by men.
Women have strongly marked their presence in Polish business. They’ve proved to be professional, ambitious, full of ideas and perfectly capable of running a company. Moreover, in this category, they nearly overshadow other female entrepreneurs from Europe. Poland is the second country in the EU where the proportion of women in managerial positions is the highest. Only Latvia outranks us. According to Eurostat data, 43% of management positions in Poland are filled by women. However, the figure for self-employment is lower. According to CEIDG data, only one in three sole proprietorships in Poland is owned by a woman.
While statistics show that men dominate the SME sector, for a large group of entrepreneurs, this isn’t as apparent. In our study, as many as 28% of SME sector representatives believed that there were equal numbers of companies owned by women and men. Meanwhile, 9% of respondents believed there were more companies managed by women. This discrepancy in perception could stem from the fact that women are more visible due to their soft skills, or that the number of businesswomen has grown in recent years, influencing these observations, says Sandra Czerwińska, an expert at Rzetelna Firma.
The study “Women in Business,” commissioned by Rzetelna Firma, shows how companies run by Polish women are perceived in their business environment. Entrepreneurs – representatives of micro, small and medium enterprises – were asked for their assessment. In the case of a choice between similar offers, 13.5% of entrepreneurs would prefer to collaborate with a woman-led company. Interests with men would be chosen by 11.5% of entrepreneurs. However, this situation changes slightly depending on the gender of the person choosing the offer. While gender doesn’t play a crucial role, 17.8% of businesswomen would cooperate with a woman-led company, while only 8.2% would do business with men.
The age of an entrepreneur predominantly determines the preferences for cooperating with a company run by a woman or a man. Interestingly, every fifth entrepreneur aged 55 to 64 would choose to do business with a company led by a woman. Youngest entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 24, would cooperate with a woman-led company only in 6.3% of cases.
Entrepreneurs would more often choose an offer from a woman-led business in the trade sector. As many as 20.8% of representatives in this industry would prefer to cooperate with women, while only 13.9% would choose business with men. This difference could be due to the fact that it’s in trade that women most often develop their businesses. According to the Polish Economic Institute data, every fifth activity started by a woman is trade-related, and 17% are health care and social assistance-related. In other sectors, like manufacturing, construction, or transport, gender hardly matters.
Entrepreneurs who invite women-led companies for cooperation rely on trust and credibility. As much as 34.5% pointed to these advantages of women in business. Every fourth SME sector representative appreciates their professionalism and competence, and every fifth pointed to their ability to build relationships and communicate. A similar percentage of respondents generally prefer women. The least cited reason for cooperating with women was innovation and decision-making ability, mentioned by only 10.9% of entrepreneurs.
Reasons for entrepreneurs to choose cooperation with men are very similar. However, professionalism and competence come first (29.8%). Trust and certainty guaranteed by a man-managed company are critical for every fifth respondent. It is worth noting that as many as 23.4% of entrepreneurs would choose an offer proposed by a company run by a man due to the traditional role of a CEO covered by a man.
The nationwide “Women in Business” study was conducted in October 2024 by IMAS International on behalf of Rzetelna Firma among entrepreneurs from the SME sector on a group of 407 companies by CAWI method. Interviews were conducted with decision-making individuals – middle and senior management, as well as board members and business owners. An approximately equal number of representatives of both genders participated in the survey.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/badanie-kobiety-w-biznesie-wraz-z-wiekiem-wlasciciela-rosna-preferencje-wspolpracy-z-firmami-prowadzonymi-przez-kobiety-55909
