Men and Women Doing Business: Is There a Difference?
Tetiana ABRAMOVA, manager, Rito Fashion House:
Being a woman only helps with my business, but it has impeded my private life. A woman starting in business develops masculine traits. She becomes tougher, more pragmatic, and less inclined to go halfway. Men don’t like any of this. It’s hard to be gentle and agreeable when you’re the boss.
Tetiana KONDRATIUK, chairman, Diya All-Ukraine Association and CEO, Vidivan Firm:
Women tend to be more human in business, because they have a different way of thinking than man. They can think of everything and they treat their business the way they do their baby. What do men and women do when they come home from work? Women go to the kitchen, they are constantly active, busy, and aware of their many responsibilities, I’d say that the latter is accentuated in women, something you seldom find in men. With women in business, the main problem is their tight schedule. If I’m doing well in business, I can’t afford to waste time doing household chores, because during that time I can earn so much that I’ll hire help. This is perfectly normal, nothing to feel ashamed of.
Tetiana STASIUK, former CEO of a meat-packing factory, Uzhhorod:
My firm cooperated with a foreign investor for four years. Regrettably, I think they see us as cheap manpower. There is little respect, although we work hard and show a good performance. I quit that business and I plan to start in a new line of business, no matter which, because I’ve mastered the ABCs, so to say. It’s hard for a woman to do business in Ukraine, because it requires penetrating a man’s world. To do so, she must be far better than most men in that particular business. After recognition comes, there’s no difference in the way that a woman does her business, compared to men. It’s not traditional here to regard women as equal business partners of men; it’s generally believed that with women children and the family come first. Then, if she has time and strength left, she can do business and politics. Another reason it’s harder on women is that they have to start in business from scratch. They mainly start in small and medium businesses, in the service sector. Men have easier access to money; more often than not they are in charge of former state enterprises, subsequently privatized.
Iryna SAVCHENKO, owner of a mini-bakery, president of the Association Women in Business, Makariv district, Kyiv oblast:
The traditional concept is that business is for men. Women are just starting in business in Ukraine, we lack the experience, but we’re considering the possibility of developing a business environment using volunteer organizations. In addition to business, women have to learn to be communicable and to delegate their duties in both business and household.
Hatydzhe MUSTAFAYEVA, chairman of the Women for Integration social organization, Yalta, the Crimea:
Women in business can be explained by their desire to become economically independent. I want to build a mini-hotel and proceed to develop ethnic tourism involving studies of Tatar culture. I’ve taken the first steps, preparing material for excursions, I’ve learned to draw up business plans, and I’m studying service programs. As for women in business, I think they are more hard-working and self-confident.
Anna BORDUNOVA , CEO, wholesale catering firm, Yalta:
My son is 16, and we practically don’t see each other. I’m not a mother but a businesswoman. My husband is not very happy about the situation, and we’ve had many problems because of my choice. To reduce their number, a woman must get the entire family involved with her business; this fosters understanding.
Tetiana PUSTYLNYK, deputy manager, Institute of Management, Academy of State Administration Under the President of Ukraine:
Business knows no difference between the sexes; it’s just the male and female attitude toward business. It’s generally known that men and women have a different way of thinking. Women can show far better performance in certain fields of endeavor, it’s just that not all of the female potential is exploited in many countries. But take Germany, they’re getting around to using it in their brain drain effort. A man solves a problem step by step, but a woman grasps all of it, and her intuition helps her cope with global problems having aspects where information as such is not enough. Russian scientists discovered that business careers are made by happily married women, and that good business is done by firms and companies where men don’t struggle with women for a place in the sun but remain true partners. In fact, the scientists are convinced that any system can stable only with a 30/70% men/women ratio. Purely men’s and women’s businesses stand no chance of success.
