The results of the survey show that while there are many more men than women among the owners of the companies 71% and 29% respectively, the performance of female-owned firms is only slightly behind that of male-owned firms in terms of exports and research and development and ahead of male-owned firms in innovation. For instance, 45% of female-owned firms vs. 48% of male-owned firms export their products (the figures include both direct exports and domestic sales to third parties that export products); 29% of female-owned firms vs. 31% of male-owned firms invested in research and development; and 68% of female-owned firms vs. 55% of male-owned firms introduced new products or services in the past three years. These figures demonstrate that the characteristics of female-owned firms are similar to maleowned firms, so the low representation of women among company owners may not be indicative of failure or underperformance of women’s enterprises. Instead, the limited engagement of women in entrepreneurial activities could be explained by a combination of other factors, like family obligations, traditional values, limited access to credit as well as higher exposure to regulatory requirements and crime.

Female-owned firms report facing greater regulatory hurdles than male-owned firms. For instance, they are more likely to consider certain business regulations as a major or very severe obstacle to current firm operations and to have concerns over crime and safety issues (Figure 6). Furthermore, female-owned businesses are almost twice as likely to report providing additional payments or gifts to get things done when dealing with public officials: 10% of female vs. 6% of male-owned businesses report usually or always making gifts or additional payments to get things done with regard to customs, taxes, licenses, regulations, or other government services.

**Figure 6. Percentage of firms that perceives business regulations and crime as a major or very severe obstacle to current operations**

<!-- Start of picture text --> 25<br>20<br>20 17 14 16 14 15<br>15 12 11<br>10<br>5<br>0<br>Customs & Tax Licensing & Crime, Theft &<br>Trade Administration Permits Disorder<br>Regulations<br>Male-owned firms Female-owned firms<br><!-- End of picture text --> Source: BEEPS, 2009 Given that BEEPS interviews commonly involved not only business owners but also senior executives (not necessarily female), it is unlikely that differences in survey responses can be explained by perceptional differences of the business environment between men and women. It is possible that firms owned by women are subject to somewhat greater scrutiny by public officials (potentially because women are perceived as being less assertive in negotiations and considered an easy prey) than those owned by men, which increases business start-up and development costs for women and restricts the growth of women-owned businesses.

# **2.2 Career Advancement among Men and Women**

There are pronounced gender differences in the career advancement of men and women in Serbia, with men having a higher representation in leadership positions and women being over-concentrated in the group of professionals, technicians, clerks, service and sales workers as well as in elementary occupations (Table 5).

Women comprise only 30% of the people in the category of legislators, senior officials and managers in public and private organizations. The data from the BEEPS 2009 survey shows that females constitute just 16% of firms’ top managers. Interestingly, female-owned companies are significantly more likely to have women among top managers than male-owned companies: 41% of female-owned firms vs. 6% of 8