WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE PORTUGUESE RURAL CONTEXT: FROM INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT TO ENTREPRENEURIAL REALITY Anabela Dinis
Abstract The strong rurality of Portugal and the significative weight of women in the primary sector of economy make Portuguese women particularly vulnerable to the decline of agricultural activities. Thus, the creation of alternative sources of income appears as an essential aspect of economical and social integration of women and of the rural regions itself. Since 1993 women have benefit from ESF regionalized interventions trough programs, directed towards specific segments of population (e.g. long term unemployed, young people) and, more specifically, through the European program NOW. The purpose of this paper is to confront the real mechanisms of creation and development of women's business in rural areas with the available institutional mechanisms. The research has an exploratory character and is based in case studies. Data was collected through personal interviews with women who found and manage their own business in the handicraft sector. Results shows that in several cases institutional support was fundamental for the creation of the business but not so important for the its development. Also the primary groups (family and friends) are crucial to create and develop the business. Lack of information and formation are the principal obstacles to demand institutional support. 1. Introduction The entry of the Maastricht treaty gave a new impulse to the European Social Policy. The sustainable development of European economies is nowadays one of the main concerns of the European Union, already expressed in the "Green" and "White" book of the Commission (1993 and 1994). Employment as factor of social integration, equality of opportunities and the demands of economy - competitiveness and job creation - are pointed as objectives in order to create a more fair and prosperous society. However reality is still another. The main labor market indicators show that unemployment is still more significative in the feminine sector in almost all the member states (Eurostat 1992, Comissión Européenne 1997, Comissão Europeia 1997). When women intend to create their own employment they cumulate the structural difficulties of very small enterprises with specific disadvantages of their feminine condition. In general women can not devote as much time and energy to the business as men because women maintain the weigh of domestic activities. In regions with specific problems - rural areas, ill-favored urban zones, less developed regions or in industrial reconversion - the inequalities are still more marked. The isolation, the under-qualification, the cumulation of social and economic difficulties are propitious to reinforce marginalization. If, in one hand, the importance of the micro and small firms sector for regional development is largely recognized (ENSR 1995, Comissão Europeia 1993, 1994, Gibb 1993, Clay et al. 1996, Gibson 1997), in the other hand, woman in pour families, and not so much her husband, is the one who is more committed to improve their life conditions (Harper, 1996). Thus, the development of women entrepreneurship deserves a special attention. In fact, it can constitute an effective way to fight against long term unemployment among women and a to generate a (more) effective local development.
In Portugal, the primary sector is still very important when comparing with the European mean (see table1) and the position of women in this sector is still very important. These two facts make evident that women are especially affected by the decline of agricultural activities. Thus, the creation of alternative activities and sources of income for these women is fundamental. Table 1 - Some job indicators (1997) Portugal
Employed Population
Total
by sector (%)
Europe 15
Distribution by gender Total
Distribution by gender
Women
Men
Women
Men
4%
5,6%
Primary
13,3%
15,2%
11,7%
5%
Secondary
31,0%
20,3%
39,8%
29,4% 15,9%
39,2%
Tertiary
55,7%
64,5%
48,5%
65,6% 80,1%
55,1%
Source: Eurostat 1998 Moreover, in a moment that the second Comunitary frame is ending it is important to proceed to the evaluation of national and European intervention in order to feedback to new developments concerning this matters. 2. Objective and research questions The aim of this research is to understand the real mechanisms for business creation and development used by women in rural areas in contrast with the institutional mechanisms created for that purpose. More specifically it is intended to answer to the following questions: Q1: Do Portuguese rural women entrepreneurs make use of institutional support to create and develop their businesses? Q2: If yes, why and how do they make use of institutional support? Q3: If yes, how important and effective is the institutional support? Q4: If not, why do they not make use of institutional support? Q5: In any case, what other support do they use to create and develop their business and how important it is? Q6: Concerning both, those who use and those who do not use institutional support, haw satisfied are they with the performance of their business?
These questions can be traduced in the following objectives, respectively: 1. Access about the use of institutional support by Portuguese rural women to create and develop their business. 2. Understand what factors contribute for the use of institutional support. 3. Identify the importance and the main difficulties when working with institutional support 4. Understand what are the main barriers for the use the institutional support 5. Identify what other factors are important to create and develop women rural business 6. Understand what are the criteria of success of women rural entrepreneurs and access about differences in the performance of the business between supported and not supported businesses. From the theoretical perspective this research allows to better know the (female) entrepreneurial process, particularly in rural contexts. From the practical point of view, it furnishes information to politicians and practitioners about the effectiveness of the actual public policy towards female entrepreneurship in rural settings. Finally, the divulgation of female business experiences could contribute to the change of the image of the traditional role of women in the business world, and encourage them to launch their own venture. 2. Literature review and theoretical framework The theme of institutional support to Small and Medium enterprises has been treated in literature through several perspectives which o reflect different theoretical frameworks. For instance, in economic theory, institutional support is approached as a way to promote regional development; institutional theories are concerned about the role of support institutions (public or private) in the promotion of economic and social actors; in entrepreneurship, institutional support is seen as a way to achieve supplementary resources for the creation and development of small businesses. All approaches show diverse, but complementary, aspects of the same phenomena and thus it makes sense to consider three key factors in the design of support policies (Gibb 1993): (1) The management of the general environment (concern of regional economy); (2) The management of the support entities and assistance activities (concern of institutionalis theories) (3) The small firms management/development (concern of entrepreneurship theory). Similarly, Haskins and Gibb (1987) and Haskins et al. (1989) distinguish several elements to consider in the institutional support analysis: (i) policies, (ii) institutions and forms of assistance and (iii) the target group of such support. According this, the analysis can be considered at two levels: the political level - the level of strategic formulation (policies); and the executive level - the level of strategic implementation. Meanwhile the political level correspond to an abstract and generic definition, the implementation level has place in a specific socio-economic- cultural arena where supply of assistance and demand of support meet. (See figure 1-omitted).
According to several studies (e.g. Martin 1988 in Marlow 1997, Tigges y Green 1994, Acharya 1998) women entrepreneurs often do not receive the same levels of support of their male counterparts. Acharya (1998) point several factors affecting the accessibility to institutional support. These factors can be classified as supply dysfunctions, environmental dysfunctions and demand dysfunctions. Supply dysfunctions include: difficulty in access the needs of the small businesses and female population; rigid and excessively bureaucratic processes; inadequate and ineffective co-ordination among relevant agencies (c,f, Dinis 1998); absence of proper criteria to select potential entrepreneurs; lack of training facilities for both the staff involved and the women entrepreneurs. Environmental dysfunctions include, for instance, the adverse cultural values and/or legal limitation to women entrepreneurship (especially in third world); the dominance of male stereotype in the business world (c.f Fagenson 1991). Demand dysfunctions are often a consequence of environmental dysfunctions. Women, with less time, mobility and accessibility to information and capital resources, are confined to less attractive sectors of activity (Acharya 1998, Marlow 1997). The ineffectiveness of institutional support is also related with the awareness of women entrepreneurs. Several studies (e.g Haskins et al. 1989, Good 1996, Dinis 1998) show evidences that most part of individuals are not aware of the institutional support available to creation and development of small firms. Furthermore, when they are aware, often they are not inclined to make use of it. These studies reveal that individuals are usually isolated from official sources of assistance by a variety of more familiar sources of help and advice in which have more confidence and which are more regularly used. These sources include family and friends, business acquitances, members of the firm, professional advisers, including, banks, accountants, lawyers, and officers with entrepreneurs have to maintain daily contacts. Only after make use of these sources, the entrepreneur will think in search for some more specific information in the "official" sources of support and advice. Concerning women entrepreneurship in rural areas the lack of information about available institutional support seems to be even bigger. Harper (1996) refers the lack of exposition to information as an important barrier of women to create and expand their business. These is probably due to the accumulation of domestic and agricultural tasks which rural women are involved in rural areas (Dollinguer 1985). Furthermore, Harper (1996) points out that lack of time is not an important factor and poverty, per se, is not a "pushing" factor to entrepreneurship. Awareness has to be created and change has to be perceived as something possible. This can explain why after the interventions of some individuals ("community entrepreneurs" in Johannisson and Nilsson 1989 terms , or "Community Brokers" in Cromie et.al. 1993 terms) women became more entrepreneurial. Even if it is largely accepted that institutional support is potentially an important instrument to promote entrepreneurship (Elder and Olson 1989, Sharma et al. 1990, Hogarth-Scott 1992, Bhargava 1995) the effectiveness of such support is still not very clear. Some attempts to measure it (Johnson and Thomas, 1984; Knudsen et al., 1995; Gillin et al. 1996) have received severe critics. For instance Clay et al. (1996), referring to institutional support, point out that often inadequate criteria is used to measure the success of polices directed toward small firms. These inadequate criteria probably have lead to an inadequate allocation of public resources and to deeper situations of unemployment and regional asymmetries. These authors argue that: (a) most individuals would turn in a self-employment situation, with or without governmental intervention, and (b) intervention polices reveal ineffective in the assistance to the development of small firms sector. It is also interesting to note that some researches (e.g Carter y Allen 1997, Sharma 1990) show evidences, besides availability of financial resources, focus on profit and growth also have a strong influence in the dimension of the businesses owned by women as well in the level of women entrepreneurship. 3. Delimitations of the study This research is focuses in formal and informal small businesses owned and managed by women and located in the rural Portuguese territory. An area is considered rural, when is located out of an urban area and when agricultural activities are still relevant in the region.
It is considered institutional support the assistance supplied by governmental and non governmental institutions, both profit and non-profit orientated. Informal institutions, in Sjostrand (1992), terms are excluded. This type of assistance it is included in "other types of assistance". Furthermore, this research it is restricted to the study of the demand side of institutional support. Thus, only demand dysfunctions, and supply dysfunctions from the demand perspective, are analyzed. There are two main reasons for this option: first because the focus of this research is the relationship of the women with the formal system of support and second due a time limitation. Finally, the discussion about differences between "income generators", "self-employed" and "entrepreneurs" is not considered. In spite of the possible distinctions between categories, in this research women entrepreneurs embrace all the three concepts and means women who founded and run a business. 4. Methodology This is an exploratory study, based on case studies analysis (Yin 1989). The aim is to obtain a first insight about the relationship between women with the institutional support system. The unit of analysis is the business, defined as a regular activity performed to generate income. The level of analysis is both the micro level (the women entrepreneur) and the mezzo level (the business). Considering the purpose of this research and the fact that business of rural women are in general small or micro-enterprises, it is assumed that, in both practical and methodological terms, there is no need to distinguish between the two levels of analysis. 4.1 Case Selection and procedure The selected case share the following characteristics: • • • •
The women interviewed are (the) founders of the business; Women are the principal (only) owners of the business and are the main managers of the business; Women live in rural regions; All the businesses are artesanal (handicrafts)
Information as been collected through personal interviews and observation. The contact has been established in handicraft fairs where the women sell their products. The interviews were made based in a list of questions (see figure 2--omitted) but with enough flexibility to incorporate changes in the order and the content of the questions (further interesting information could be included). Furthermore, the way to present the questions was variable in order to assure that the interviewed fully understand what was being asked. In the protocol of the interviews, it is considered two phases of the business, "before" and "after" the creation of the business. The aim is to distinguish the relation with institutional support in the creation phase (before) and the development (after). 4.2 Characterization of cases All the cases are the first business that women own. But they are diverse concerning previous experience, age of the entrepreneur, familiar situation, age of the business and legal form of the business.
Table 2 - Characterization of cases #
Previous activity
Age of the entrep.
Familiar situation
Type of Business
Location
Legal form
Age of thebusiness
1
Motorcycle shop employee
24
Single
Embroidery
Caminha
Single owner
2
2
Domestic
39
Married with children
Rag dolls
S. João das Areais
Shareholding company (3women)
10
3
Domestic,
40
Married without children
Woll tapistry
Mirandela/Covilhã
Informal
1
4
Manager of a sweet shop
49
Married with children
Traditional almond
Loulé
Shareholding (Mother and daughter)
3
5
Administrative employee
26
Married without children
Ceramics
Lalim (Lamego)
Shareholding company (couple)
less than 1 year
6
Domestic and Peasant
40
Married with children
Leather
Viera do Minho(Gondomar)
Single owner
18
7
Domestic
45
Single
Embroidery
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Single owner
4
8
Domestic
45
Married with children
Shred's woks
Teixoso
Single owner
9
9
Hotel employee
46
Married with children
Embroidery
Sabugal
Single owner
9
Women entrepreneurs vary from having none experience in the business field till some administrative/managerial experience. Also, cases include from young entrepreneurs till middle age entrepreneurs; entrepreneurs not married, married without children and married with children. Concerning the business, they vary from very recent till 18 years old and include formal and informal business, individual owners and shareholding companies. In table 2 are presented the characteristics of each case concerning these dimensions. 5. Results and discussion The main results of the interviews are presented at table 3 and 4. Follows the results according the research questions. •
Q1: Do rural women entrepreneurs make use of institutional support to create and develop their businesses?
In almost all the cases, yes, they make use of institutional support to create and/or develop their business (cases 1, 2, 3, 4 5, 7, 8 and 9). Cases 4 and 7 did not make use institutional support to create the business but once in activity they apply for support. In the most cases, those who make use to of institutional support to create also use it to develop the business (cases 1, 2, 3 and 8). The only exception is case 5, which only use institutional support to create the business. However, this exception is obviously due to the short age of the business. According to the results it seems that those who begin the business with institutional support have a good probability to use it (the some or other) also to develop the business. •
Q2: If yes, Why and how do they make use of institutional support?
To create the business, the contact with the national Institute for Employment and Professional Training (IEFP) is the most common (cases 2, 5 and 8). Entrepreneurs demand training (case 2 and 8) and financial support (cases 2, 5 and 8). Less usual (only case 1) is the use of the private profit orientated sector (consulting enterprise) to create the business. Table 3 - Results of the interview concerning the institutional support (Cases Vs Questions) a)
2
3
5
6
7
11
CASES
To create the buisness did you receive any help from any organization?
How did you get in contact with that/those organization?
Since your business is running did you ever have been in contact with support institutions
What was the aim of such contact
How did you get in contact with the institution?
How do you evaluate the performance/effectiveness of institutional entities/support
1
Yes. consulting entreprise: (elaboration of a candidature)
Through a friend who work in the consulting enterprise
Yes: Municipalities (Intends to contact IEFP)
Support to participation in fairs
Own initiative
Consulting enterprise: (4) Municipalities (1)
2
Yes: IEFP, (training and financial support )
Inscribed ate the IEFP (looking for a job)
Yes: Municipalities LDA
Support to participation in fairs Promotion brochures
Own initiative Contacted by a technician of the LDA
IEFP: (5) Municipalities: (1) LDA (3)
3
Yes. Municipality: (support for participation in fairs) Tourism Center and AASE: (integrate a circuit of fairs)
Contacted by a technician of the municipality Own iniative
Yes: IEFP Municipalities
Business formalization Support to participation in fairs
Contacted by an IEFP technician Own iniative
IEFP: (4)
------------
Yes: IEFP Business Association
Contract 2 employees Fiancial support
through her husband (IEFP technician)
IEFP (5) Business Association (1)
4
No
through an European program
Own Initiative
5
Yes: IEFP (fiancial training)
Own initiative
No
------------
----------
IEFP: (4)
6
No
------------
No
------------
----------
------------
Trained employees Support to participation in fairs
Owned initiative
IEFP (5) Municipalities (3)
7
No
------------
Yes: IEFP: Municipalities
8
Yes: IEFP training and 7finacial support
Induced by friends and acquaintances
Yes: Social affairs institute
Support to contract an employee
Own initiative
IEFP (1)
9
No
------------
Yes: Municipalities
Support to participation in fairs
Contacted/ Own initiative
Municipalities
Table 4 - Results of the interviews concerning other type of support (Cases Vs Questions) a)
1 How did the idea to create a business occur to you?
4
8
9 and 10
To create the business did you have other helps (besides institutional support) ?
After created the business did you have other helps (besides institutional support) ?
9/10 Are you satisfied with your business? - (from 1 to-5)
Yes: parents (she lived with her parents)
Yes: colleagues in the fairs (information)
Yes, very much satisfied: she enjoy what is doing, the business is growing and it has enough for main expenses (5) Yes,. quite satisfied: Good growing of the business, limited by their own option, personal and professional accomplishment. (4) Yes, quite satisfied: Her products are beginning to be
1
Enjoy the activity
2
Need to create her own job in the sequence of a training program
Yes: husband (financial and moral support)
Yes: husband and soon (selling and distribution of products)
3
Need to solve familiar problems and to
No
Few, from colleagues
generate income
(information)
4
Old dream and need to create her own employment
Yes: Husband and daughters and soon: (production, distribution and selling)
Yes, quite satisfied since they get a contract with a big client. (4)
5
Husband unemployed and association of competencies
No
No
Coutious: is still to soon to be optimistic (3)
6
Help the husband
Yes: husband (information, training, production and orientation)
Yes: the husband (information, production and orientation)
No: the concurrence is not fair, the sales are declining, and ther is no information about opportunities
7
Need to create her own employment
No
Yes: colleagues in the fairs (information)
Medium (3)
8
During and after an exposition frends and acquitances encourage her to create a business
No
No
Very little (2): sells are almost not enough to pay the debts
Old dream and need to create her own employment
Some: indirectly, from the husband (house is common and moral help)
Some: husband (help in domestic activities and in support activities to production)
Not very much: "people don't have money" (3)
9
Yes: husband - he work in IEFP (information)
known in the market and thus she intends to formalize the business (4)
In this case the support consisted in the elaboration of a project to apply to an European program directed to microenterprises, in order to get financial support. In case 3, being an informal business, the women entrepreneur worked with entities not directly directed to promotion of enterprises or employment, but with tourism and handicraft activities. They were, the municipality, the tourism organism and the "Association of friends of the Mountain". The aim was to get in the circuit of handycraft fairs To develop the business, IEFP also appear has an important institution, but in this phase, to supply trained employees (cases 4 and 7), to help in the formalization of the business (case 3) and to give financial support to participation in handycraft fairs (cases 1 and 3). For this some reason, women entrepreneurs also have been in contact with municipalities (case 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9). Less usual was the contact with the Local Development Associations (LDA) (case 2), Business Associations (case 4) and the "Social affairs institute" (case 8).
The contact with the institutions has been made for own initiative of the women entrepreneur (cases 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) or promoted by someone else. In the first situation (own initiative), the entrepreneur already knew the institutions from their previous work experience (cases 4 and 5) or they knew about their availability through colleagues/friends (cases 1, 3, 7, 8, 9). In the second situation, technicians of the institutions established the contact. (Cases 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9) The results seems to indicate that, previous experience of the women entrepreneur, the share of experiences/information among colleagues/friends, and institutional initiatives to contact the potential "clients" are important factors that contribute for the use of institutional support. These results confirm Harper (1996) conclusions: after the intervention of some individuals external to the community (colleagues from other places, technicians from the institutions), women became more entrepreneurial. •
Q3: If yes, How important and effective is the institutional support?
In general the use of institutional support seems important for the creation of the business. In all the cases that make use of it with that purpose (cases 1, 2, 5 and 8) they were very important or even fundamental. However in one case (case 8) support was also considered ineffective and even prejudicial. This was related with wrong informations given by the institution or the lack of understanding of the process (both possibilities have been indicated by the entrepreneur). Concerning the development of the business, frequently they did not have any results, specially those with the municipalities (cases 1,2 and 9). On the contrary, the contact with IEFP seems to be very positive in cases 4 and 7 (however is important to note that in 4, the contact was the husband of the women entrepreneur). In case 3, the contact was considered positive, but still without results, for unique responsibility of the women entrepreneur (lack of time and disposability). Positive but not very useful was the contact with the LDA, since "the intentions were good but the results not so good". The contact with the Business Association (case 4) was considered negative because after almost three years of the application, the support still was not received. Also the contact with the "social affair institute" ha not been positive. In fact there was been any result since the demand did not fit the conditions to be supported. Thus, the results seems to indicate that institutional support is more important and effective in the launching of the business than in its development. •
Q4: If not why they do not make use of institutional support?
Cases 4, 6, 7 and 9 did not make use of institutional support to create the business, but the reasons for that are diverse. The knowledge about the enterprise "world" acquired in the previous work experience allows women entrepreneur to begin the process without institutional support (cases 4 and 7). However, in these cases, once the business is running, they apply to institutional support. Another situation is represented in case 6, where even if she knew (through her husband) about institutional support available, she did not apply neither to begin nor develop her business. The reason has been the lack of faith in the effectiveness of the support system (financial support always go to the inadequate people). Finally, the lack of information also has been a reason pointed to do not make use of institutional support (Case 9).These results are consistent with the results of other studies (Haskins et al. 1989, Good 1996) which shows that most individuals are not aware of the institutional support available and when they are, they often are not inclined to make use of it. •
Q5: In any case, what other support do they use to create and develop their business and how important it is?
Family and friends are in all cases considered important for the creation and/or development of the business. Parents are important in the case of single women (case 1), but husband and sons/daughters are pointed in the case of married women (cases 2, 4, 6, 9): In this case, the support is important both to launch as well as to develop the business. Friends and other known people appear as important in the launching phase of the business: in case 1, a friend was fundamental apply to institutional support; in case 9, friends and other known people encourage the entrepreneur to create the business. However the content of such support vary. In some cases the support is merely moral (friends in case 9), in other is traduced in information (colleagues, in case 1, 3 and 7, husband, cases 4 and 6), logistic support (parents, in case 1; husband, in case 10), or financial support (husband, in case 2). In some cases the support of familiars include help in the production and distribution activities (cases 2, 4, 6). These results are also consistent with Haskins et al. (1982) and Good (1196) results: the sources of support included family, friends and other persons with whom the entrepreneur maintain a daily and (close) contact. •
Q6: How satisfied are women entrepreneurs with the performance of their business?
The satisfaction with the business is variable. However, an objective interpretation of the results is difficult if not impossible since the patterns of reference were variable. They are conditioned by the expectations of each entrepreneur. According to the results it seems that expectation are related with the previous experience of the entrepreneur, the previous results of the business (is also related with the age of the business and the phase in the life cycle of the product) and that it can be induced by the institutional side. For instance, the worse results appear in cases 6 and 8. Case 6 is the oldest business analyzed and it seems that the product arrived to a decline phase (demand is declining consisting in the last years). When no previous experience in the business field does exist, an excessive optimism transmitted from the institutional side can became pernicious. Apparently this was the situation of Case 8 (this feeling was also transmitted by the entrepreneur of case 5). The medium results represent the more cautious positions and have been transmitted by women with previous experience (cases 5, 7 and 9). This position can be associated with a better knowledge of enterprises reality (especially in cases 5 and 7) and/or the existence of terms of comparison (the previous work). 6. Conclusions In summary the empirical study allows to conclude that: 1. It seems that it is not rare the use of institutional support by rural women entrepreneurs, specially to create the business. Also, it seems that when institutional support is used to launch the business usually it is also used to develop the business. 2. Institutional support is most used to get financial support, training and help to lead with bureaucratic processes. In Portugal the Employment and Professional Institute (IEFP) seems to perform a relevant role in the institutional support system. Previous experience, contacts with colleagues and institutional initiative seem to be important to increase the use of institutional support. 3. In general, the use of institutional support seems to be very important for the creation of the business even if not always effective. In the development of the business, institutional support does not seems crucial. Inadequate expectations about the business created by the supply side, lack of comprehension of the processes and inadequacy between the demand and the offer of institutional support, are some of the problems related with the use of institutional support. 4. When women do not make use of institutional support to create the business there are several reasons: (1) they don't need ; (2) they don't know; (3) they don't want (they don't trust in the system)
5. Family and/or friends almost always are considered important for both create and develop the business. The type of support, however vary, from indirect help (moral support, relieve in other tasks, information, etc) to more direct support to the business (financial support and support in production and distribution activities). 6. The satisfaction with the business depends of the women entrepreneur's expectations. The level of expectations seems to related with the previous (labor) experience of the entrepreneur, the previous results of the business. 7. Limitations of the study and future developments The interpretation of the results and conclusions should take in consideration the following limitations of the research. First of all, the number of cases analyzed is very small. To make conclusions more reliable, more cases have to be analyzed in future researches, using the same or a quantitative methodology. Secondly, all the cases analyzed are from the handicraft sector. It is not clear that business located outside this sector present the same results. Further researches should incorporate another type of businesses. Third, none of the cases is from urban areas, however, some of the areas are "more rural" than others, i.e, there is differences in the permeability to urban values and the accessibility to urban areas. Future researches should take in account this aspect. For instance, considering characteristics of the region has control variables or choosing areas with very similar characteristics. Fourth, no distinction has been made between entrepreneur, self employee, and income generator. However, it could be interesting consider the three types women owners of businesses, and to contrast their relation with institutional support. The results could proportionate good clues to better adapt the content of the assistance and the way to deliver it, to the characteristics of the demand. Finally, in this study is only concern with the demand side. Further researches should analyzed the other elements of the institutional system. References Acharya, J. (1998): Enterprising gender: Policy Biases and Growth of Micro-enterprises in orissa, India, Research proposal supervised by Lund, R. and co-supervised by Berg, N.G., presented at the 10th Nordic Conference on Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Bhargava, P.(1995): "The role of Promotional organizations in the non-farm sector", Small Enterprise Development, June, Vol. 6, Nº 2, 38-44 Carter, N. M. and Allen, K. R. (1997): "Size determinats of women-owned business: choice or barriers to resources?" Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 9, 211-220 Clay, N.; Creigh-Tyte, S., Storey, D. J.(1996): Public policy Towards Small Firms: Spreading the Jam Too Thinly ?, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol.3, nº3, Juny, pp.253-271. Comissão Europeia (1993): Crescimento, Competitividade, Emprego - Os desafios e as pistas para entrar no século XXI ''Livro Branco", Boletim das Comunidades Europeias, Suplemento 6/93, Serviço das publicações Oficiais das comunidades Europeias, Luxemburgo. Comissão Europeia (1994): Livro Verde sobre a Politica Social Europeia: Opçðes para a União, Direcção Geral do Emprego, Relações Industriais e Assuntos Sociais, Serviço das publicações Oficiais das comunidades Europeias, Luxemburgo. Comissão Europeia (1997): As mulheres agentes do desenvolvimento regional, Serviço das publicações Oficiais das comunidades Europeias, Luxemburgo.
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