Female entrepreneurship in the economic downturn

The contribution of both women and men to economic growth is increasingly recognised across the European Union as a factor that can make a real difference. Despite a real interest of the European Union, projects targeted to women entrepreneur at the European level remain piecemeal. The current economic crisis may be threatening the capacity of female entrepreneurs to develop. Therefore developing municipal strategies to support women entrepreneurship appears more important than ever.

According to Gill Scott, municipal-based practices and strategies have a role to play in changing the situation. Firstly the sectors in which women have been developing enterprise are those that make cities attractive places to stay and work: care, retail, hospitality and knowledge intensive sectors. They are also important parts of modern city economies such as services that help to reconcile family and work.  Secondly, supporting women entrepreneurship has been proven to be a way to engage women from the more deprived areas.

This paper draws on the work of the URBACT WEED project and explores how policies, tools and mechanisms within the URBACT partners and other cities across Europe can be extended to strengthen the capacity of cities to use gender sensitive entrepreneurial support as a way of becoming more dynamic and competitive environments.


Read more:

• Download Female Entrepreneurship Towards an Urban Agenda for the Economic Downturn Thematic Paper (268.73 KB) - URBACT website
• WEED - URBACT website
• Portrait - Suzi KVAS: "Make room for women" - URBACT website