ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses the role of cultural factors in shaping the phenomenon of women's entrepreneurship. The results of the surveys in the Baltic Sea countries show that one-fourth of female entrepreneurs' struggle with difficulties in combining work with caring for a child or elderly person. Cultural factors have a significant impact on the varied level of the entrepreneurship phenomenon countries, on entrepreneurial attitudes, and on the fact that women constitute a definite minority among entrepreneurs. Statistical data clearly show that the intensity of the women's entrepreneurship phenomenon in the Baltic Sea countries varies; the female entrepreneurs rate is the highest in Poland, while the lowest in other countries, where Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are in this respect close to Sweden. The social policy of Sweden focuses on occupational activation of all social groups, including women, and implementation of the model of the working family with the dual breadwinner.