Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant provisions of the Recast Directive)

• Author: Anu Laas
• Pages: 61-65

61

8 Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant

provisions of the Recast Directive)

8.1 General (legal) context

8.1.1 Surveys and reports on the specific difficulties o f self-employed workers

Surveys on entrepreneurship and micro enterprises from a gender perspective a re rare.

The Estonian Institute of Economic Research has studied creative industries.172 Artists,

musicians and other creative industry entrepreneurs are combining sole proprietorship

with other business forms, e.g . acting as a limited company, while actually being a one-

person company. This person can be both owner and board member.

Rugina (2018)173 states that while the formal entrepreneurship environment is considered

to be very developed in the Baltic countries, women are underrepresented among the

population of entrepreneurs, and there is gender -based sectoral segregation of female

entrepreneurs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Unfortunately, Rugina’s analysis is very

general and lacks a gender sensitive approach.

Meronen (2015)174 found that the main factors th at motivate women to start a business

are greater independence and freedom, work related challenges, car eer opportunities,

implementation of innovative ideas and difficulties or discrimination in a previous

workplace. The main factors that hamper women’s entrepreneurship are related with

willingness to have a small business in se rvice, care or education sect or (least profitabl e

businesses) fear of asking for help, the lack of the necessary knowledge or skills, low self-

esteem, fear of taking risks, an d family-related responsibilities. Wom en often have to

choose whether to focus on the success of their business or t o fulfill their family-related

responsibilities. Meronen pointed out that female business owners in Estonia see the

business environment much more positively than female entrepreneurs in Finland. The

positive side of the Estonian business environment is the access to necessary information.

8.1.2 Other issues

Estonian entrepreneurship and industry policy does not mention women and female

entrepreneurship. Policy makers do not accept the idea that an entrepreneur’s gender has

any relevance in business. There are no other relevant issues.

8.1.3 Overview of national acts

In Estonia, the largest group of self-employed persons are sole proprietors. The definition

of self-employed persons includes people working under non-standard contracts who offer

goods or services for a fee in their own name, an d members of companies’ management

boards.175

On 14 June 2012, Parliament adopted the Act on Amendments to the Social Tax Act and

Other Acts, which entered into force on 1 August 2012.176 This Act ensures equal treatment

172 Eesti Konjunktuuriinstituut (2018), Eesti loomemajanduse uuring ja kaardistus (Mapping Estonian creative

industries). Available in Estonian at:

https://www.kul.ee/sites/kulminn/files/1._eesti_lm_olukorra_uuring_ja_kaardistus_yldosa.pdf.

173 Rugina, S. (2018), ‘Female entrepreneurship in the Baltics: formal and informal context’, International

Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-05-2018-0055.

174 Meronen, K. (2015), Naiste ettevõtlus ning töö- ja eraelu tasakaalustamine (Women’s Entrepreneurship and

Work-Llife Balance), thesis, University of Tartu,

https://dspace.ut.ee/bitstream/handle/10062/49754/meronen_karin.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

175 Commercial Code (Äriseadustik), RT I, 17.11.2017, 22,

https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/519122017001/consolide.

176 Amendments to the Social Tax Act and related legal texts, 14 June 2012 (passed in Parliament on 14 June

2012), http://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/be4d767a-e504-4521-9b58-

0080007ea808/Sotsiaalmaksuseaduse%20ja%20teiste%20seaduste%20muutmise%20seadus/#.