Italy, France, Malaysia, Tunisia, Viet Nam, Zambia, United Republic of Tanzania, Islamic Republic of Iran, Portugal, Côte d’Ivoire, United States of America, Poland, Spain, Guinea and Mali. Moderator’s summary of the panel discussion and dialogue on the critical area of concern: women and the economy 76. The Beijing Platform for Action, proposed actions for women as workers, self-employed women, entrepreneurs and managers. It examined the effects of economic policies and restructuring on women, women’s access to economic decision-making, women’s unpaid work, and the need to balance work and family responsibilities, as well as the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective in economic policies and programmes. Women’s participation in economic decision-making 77. While noting that women were involved in economic decision-making to some degree at various levels, it was stressed that actions needed to be taken to enable women to participate even more fully at all levels of economic decisionmaking, including the household level where experience had shown that women’s decisions tended to contribute to the well-being of the household as a whole. Very few women were found in decision-making positions in international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the World Trade Organization or in transnational corporations. Nor were women well represented in economic decision-making at the national level, in academia, in banks or in private companies. Women were for the most part poorly represented in trade unions, chambers of commerce and industry associations. Their participation in such bodies was essential. 78. Legal instruments alone would not automatically lead to better representation of women in economic decision-making. Policy instruments to improve women’s position in those sectors and levels of the economy where they were under-represented were required. Education, training and network-building were crucial to shaping women’s and men’s attitudes and expectations with respect to women’s role in economic decision-making. Women entrepreneurs 79. Women-owned microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises had increasingly become a source of employment, growth and innovation. For example, women employers tended to recruit other women and were family-friendly. However, women entrepreneurs, notably in developing, developed and transition economies, faced serious constraints related to the legal and institutional framework in which they had to operate, as well as to the lack of training, support services and credit. A major challenge for women-owned enterprises was to access these services and to grow from microenterprises to small and mediumsized enterprises. 80. The importance of support services for women entrepreneurs in areas such as technical assistance, creation of networks, business planning and financial counselling was highlighted. Marketing techniques and access to markets were recognized as areas where women’s business needed support for further growth. 81. Credit was considered a crucial requirement for women entrepreneurs. Where microfinancing schemes had been in existence for a long time, there was a highpayback record for women. Notably, since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, an even stronger emphasis had been placed on credit as an instrument -44-