WOMEX

WOMEX aims to facilitate the change in business culture in EU regions so that the competitiveness and sustainable growth of exporting SMEs are not understood without equal opportunities for women within them. The project addresses the chronic limitations of women in their access to the benefits of international trade, an especially fertile field for professionals and companies.
The seven participating regions face similar challenges: the impact in our economies and societies of gender bias in exporting SMEs, a scarce presence of corrective instruments in public policies aimed at them and meager incorporation of the gender perspective in its business strategies.
EU regions play an important role in changing this paradigm: assuming the gender mainstreaming in public policies aimed at generating competitiveness and sustainable growth in exporting SMEs, and offering to professional women and women owners of exporting SMEs a catalogue of services facilitators of financing, training, and digitalization. This and advocacy initiatives will contribute to that change and impact socioeconomic growth and business ecosystems.
EU regions are fully committed to strengthening their SMEs’ competitiveness and long-term sustainable growth potential. However, decisive measures are still needed to raise gender mainstreaming in public policies for exporting SMEs to support higher productivity, employment, and prosperity. To tackle these challenges, WOMEX develops a catalog of best practices built by the partners through regional exchanges and based on the results of regional studies on exporting SMEs’ gender bias, and on the design of supportive tools ad hoc.
WOMEX is aligned with the EU's will to work towards greater cohesion and convergence in regional policies, strengthening and developing its exporting SMEs jointly and intensifying efforts to make Europe a more prosperous society committed to gender equality in international trade.