Women's Entrepreneurship and Rural Tourism in Greece: Private Enterprises and Cooperatives

Abstract

Abstract Women's entrepreneurship in the Greek countryside has been expressed in two forms of agro-tourism business: private and cooperative. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences between these two forms with regard to the characteristics of the businesses and women entrepreneurs alike. The research was based on personal interviews with 199 women and the results of the survey confirm the existence of significant differences between the two forms of enterprises. The woman who selects the cooperatives is not very young, has relatively little education, is uncertain and hesitant, while the woman who chooses the private form of enterprise is younger, better educated and has greater self-confidence. Keywords: Greecewomen's entrepreneurshiprural tourismwomen's cooperativesprivate enterprises Acknowledgements This paper is based on research carried out within the framework of the project co-funded by the European Social Fund and National Resources—EPEAEK II—ARCHIMIDIS. Notes [1] The public authority responsible for the legal and substantial equality of opportunities for men and women in all sectors of economic and social life. [2] The lower gross wage for 2005 according to the Greek Ministry of Labour was €713.07. [3] The same roughly age–related distribution is also observed in the members of cooperatives, since 47.2 per cent of them are over 46 years of age, while the corresponding number of chairpersons is 54.3 per cent. [4] As the data analysis showed, in the case of cooperatives the educational level of chairperson, as well as the age, is indicative of the age and the educational level for the rest of the members. [5] These numbers are less than the total members of the cooperatives. [6] The names used are pseudonyms.