Every year on November 19, Women`s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) is celebrated. It was first held in 2014 in New York (USA), and then was supported by the UN and in subsequent years gained fame in other countries of the world.
The main goal of the holiday – is to draw attention to the situation of women in business, support and expand the rights of women entrepreneurs and popularize women's entrepreneurship.
According to online sources, this Day was founded by American writer and businesswoman Wendy Diamond, who has long volunteered in Latin America and participated in various charitable projects related to helping low-income women. After returning to the United States, she decided to create a movement of a similar nature. This is how the idea of celebrating Women's Entrepreneurship Day was born, which is becoming more and more popular due to its relevance –, every year more and more women appear in the world who want to create their own business and realize themselves in entrepreneurial activity.
Currently, women have already promoted « men in different business areas, holding responsible positions in large companies and corporations. They have intuition, cunning, unconventional thinking, strong-willed and other qualities that allow them to realize themselves and successfully develop their business.
But, at the same time, many women are forced to sacrifice their careers and the opportunity to do business for the sake of creating and preserving a family. In a number of states, women's right to work is legally limited, and in some places this is hampered by persistent stereotypes, lack of resources or knowledge. Therefore, the organizers of today once again raise the issue of equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the field of professional self-realization.
By the way, according to statistics, positive dynamics in women’s involvement in business are still present in the world. And not only in Western and European countries, but also in some Asian countries. These conclusions were made by experts based on the «Women Business Index (WBI), and according to » analysts, the forecast is very favorable. In addition, to help aspiring entrepreneurs, special targeted programs are being created to train, support and develop their business.
The holiday itself is already acquiring traditions. In its first year (2014), it received coverage in publications such as Fortune and Forbes. At the same time, an awards ceremony was organized for famous women who became famous thanks to their philanthropic work. Today, as part of the Day, all kinds of events are held where successful business women share their success stories, meetings, summits, conferences and seminars are held on the topic of supporting women's entrepreneurship.
In Russia, one of the traditions of the holiday is the publication of a report on the development of women's entrepreneurship in the country. The study is carried out on the initiative of the «Support of Russia» Committee with the support of commercial and government structures of the Russian Federation, and within its framework the attitude of society towards women entrepreneurs, their professional and business qualities is considered, and the conditions for doing business are assessed: accessibility of infrastructure, finance, business education. Since the start of the study, in 2015, the trend towards the participation of Russian women in business – has been very positive. Thus, according to the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation for 2022, women make up 40% of small and medium-sized business owners in the country, but Russia is only in 29th place out of 58 in the list of the most favorable countries for women in business.
Therefore, today’s holiday – is another reason to emphasize the role and contribution of women to the business environment, and support for women’s entrepreneurship – is an important factor in the successful development of the economy and increasing the efficiency of business in any state.