TEHRAN – The Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade has formed a special unit with the aim of dealing with entrepreneur women’s problems.

Speaking at a seminar on entrepreneur women here on Friday, minister Mohammad Shariatmadari referred to the main obstacles women's entrepreneurship is facing, IRNA reported.

One of the great obstacles to women’s entrepreneurship is greater number of women being active in traditional and non-official sections rather than the modern industrial, economic and trade sectors, Shariatmadari elaborated.

About 30 percent of non-farmer women are active in traditional fields especially in retail and minor productive sections worldwide, he added.

Lack of financing for women, which is much lesser than for men, is a dilemma which exists even in the developed countries, he specified.

Law and regulation restrictions are other barriers entrepreneur women face, said the minister adding a research made at the World Bank proves that only 31 countries out of the total number of 141 countries studied in this research enjoy equal men and women rights in entrepreneurship.

He emphasized the need to give priority to women in small- and medium-sized industries by the ministry.

Iranian women have always been frontrunners in all period of times, revolution, Iraqi-imposed war and the construction era, the minister noted adding currently, in this special economic situation, women prove their colorful presence in economic activities.

One of the main criteria for development in women’s role in entrepreneurship and economy, he said adding despite the growing processes of women’s entrepreneurship in Iran, there exists a great distance between Iran and the world standards.

About one tenth of the world's income comes from women entrepreneurs and women own one hundredths of the world's property and assets, which shows inequality of genders all over the world.

Explaining entrepreneur women’s problems, the vice president for women's and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, for her part, called for setting up of a workshop for removing working women’s problems in the industry sector.

The VP also called for creating strategies for changing the current situation of active women in industries.

A group of entrepreneur women, businesswomen and producers, representing the private sector were participating the seminar.

NM/MG