As the FEMME State-of-the-art of European Mumpreneurship states over half of the economically active population are women in the EU, but men are predominant among managers and entrepreneurs. To change this, in addition to changing social support and attitudes, female leadership models, strong women’s networks and a lot self-confident women are needed.
A number of international research shows that there is a significantly higher profitability index in companies where women are involved in company management level too than in only male senior managers.
In Hungary, 41% of the leading positions are occupied by women, although with the size of the company their number is decreasing in leadership, while men dominate in the lead of large companies and in political life. There are also still significant differences in salaries: according to Eurostat’s data, a woman in senior position is not earning two-thirds of what a man of similar rank will take home in Hungary.
In many cases, the barrier of female career development is still simply that women don’t believe they can be able to be a leader. In order to get women into leadership roles is to get as many young women as possible to overcome their internal fears, gain enough self-confidence to dare to take the opportunities and fully exploit their skills.
Female employees have to learn to represent their own interests. Intresting that the experts agree; there is basically no difference between female and male leaders, only the expectations towards them are vary. Because of their role coded by society, the majority think that female leaders haveto be soft and understanding, so they find it difficult to accept their assertiveness and determination. The generation change between women leaders can be a positive as the young women who are now in the process of becoming leaders are much more purposeful and risky than the previous generation.
Young women seeking leadership ambitions are getting to a better position in Hungary to find a number of female leaders at local, regional and national level who have overcome social barriers, proven in their careers, and created balance between career and private life, like Éva Hegedűs the chairman CEO of Hungarian Banking Association, Borbála Czakó the president of Hungarian Business Leaders Forum, Nóra Gellén founder and CEO of Pécsimami or Kamilla Göcsey creator of Happy Skin natural cosmetic brand.
