Women in business: record numbers and new challenges on World Women's Day

Women in business: record numbers and new challenges on World Women's Day

Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - On March 5, 2025, World Women's Day is just around the corner, and the role of women in business is more important than ever. Martha Schultz, WKÖ Vice President and Federal Chairman of Women in Business, emphasized the impressive achievements of the over 148,000 entrepreneurs in Austria, who led over 39.8 percent of sole proprietorship in 2024. This number is a sign of the continued increase in female participation in the economy, and the proportion of new start -ups from women achieved a record with 44.5 percent. "Despite challenging economic times, 53 sole proprietorship of women are founded every day, which underlines their resilience and courage," said Schultz in the article by ots.at

But the challenges are still considerable; In particular, the compatibility of family and work remains a central concern. Almost every second entrepreneur in Austria is also a mother, and Schultz urgently demands better framework conditions: "Better compatibility is particularly crucial in times of shortage of workers." In economic development, targeted measures for childcare and compatibility of work and family must be implemented, in particular the expansion of opening hours and increasing the quality of the offers. According to another source, wko.at , a qualitative and quantitative improvement in childcare is necessary to increase the employment rate of women. Austria is currently in the EU comparison in the care of the three years of three, which limits access to the labor market for women.

strong progress and further claims

The statistics speak for themselves: The proportion of female managers in top positions is increasing continuously, and progress in apprenticeship training shows that more and more girls are concerned. The positive trend of the educational quota is also striking: the comparison of 1980 with 2022 reveals an increase in ripening examination in women to 49.7 percent. Nevertheless, Schultz emphasizes that the challenge of the compatibility of work and family continues and that further efforts have to be made here in order to use the valuable potential of all women on the labor market.

In addition, the federal government has promised 4.5 billion euros for childcare, which is celebrated as a joint success. The expansion of the offers is essential to give parents more freedom of choice and to promote equality. The demands of women in the economy range from improving care offers to nationwide holiday care. "In the next step we have to do everything we can to optimize the framework conditions and to support women in the economy as best as possible," says Schultz.