Business groups seek to encourage female economic entrepreneurship in order to bolster employment in Tunisia.
In order to empower women and boost economic development, special attention must be given to rural areas, a Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR) event concluded on Friday (November 19th) in Tunis.
Attendees said that it was no longer enough to speak about equal opportunities. "The matter must turn into equality in access to resources and their control," they said in a statement. They also called for a comprehensive study to examine the feasibility of sectors available to women and to update indicators linked to rural development.
CAWTAR President Soukeina Bouraoui, whose group organised the event in co-operation with Oxfam and the Canadian government, said the forum followed recommendations made by a Tunis conference last July.
Representatives of government ministries, women's organisations and a group of experts, media professionals, and institutions will help implement the project.
Philippe Lotz, representative of the German Technical Co-operation Agency (GTZ) in Tunisia, stressed the need to "take advantage of all available opportunities in a country like Tunisia by strengthening the business networks among women and to look for new ideas".
In her turn, Amel Bouchemaoui, President of Tunisia's National Chamber of Female Business Leaders, said that her organisation was offering support to nearly 500 businesses through 24 provincial offices.
"The chamber provides support for women entrepreneurs who have craft projects and enable them to open horizons by holding regular meetings during which they get to know the most important developments taking place in their fields," Bouchemaoui said.
Last June, a study conducted by the chamber in association with the Industry Upgrade Programme showed that the number of women entrepreneurs in Tunisia rose to 18,000 women, a dramatic increase from 1990 when there were fewer than 250.
The study also revealed that the enterprises run by women were characterised by a special dynamism and had significant opportunities to develop. The activities of businesswomen were distributed between the agricultural sector (23%), industrial sector (44%), and then trade and services (37%).
"We faced a real problem in getting the data and statistics. I didn't expect the matter to be like this in 2010," said researcher Sami Zouari, who conducted the study on behalf of Oxfam.
According to Zouari, the Arab world needs to create 100 million job opportunities over the next 20 years.
"If the suitable solutions are not provided, we will find 50 million unemployed people in the next 10 years," he said.
In February 2008, a study released by the World Bank confirmed that "businesswomen in eight Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, were hiring more women than businessmen. They effectively contribute to the development and growth of the region, unlike the prevailing notion that Arab women don't really contribute to development and that they are hostile to women."
The World Bank said that the survey included more than 5,100 companies in eight Arab countries, including Morocco and Saudi Arabia, showed that "women-owned companies, which represent 13% of companies included in the survey, are characterised by hiring a larger number of women. In addition, the labour force in women-owned companies has increased in recent years with a pace faster than companies owned by men."
By Jamel Arfaoui
© Magharebia.com 2010
