Event marked the opening of the new WeWork unit in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, April 16Discussions about the gender pay gap and the low number of women in leadership positions in the labor market marked the opening of WeWork's new shared workspace in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro. The discussion was moderated by Marina Grossi, president of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, and included Rosane Santos, president of the Nissan Institute; Daniele Botaro, head of Diversity and Inclusion at Oracle; Renata Ferraz, partner at IntegRHa; and Pedro Cotrim, WeWork's People Manager.
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is the fifth of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Marina Grossi noted. "There is still a huge gap between men's and women's salaries in Brazil. Women earn 77% of what men earn, and Black women earn 40%. How can we begin to think about reversing this situation?" she asked.
Nissan executive Rosane Santos spoke of the importance of empowerment initiatives, such as those she volunteers in communities in the Maré Complex, and emphasized the importance of mentoring to encourage women's professional development. "If we don't empower ourselves to occupy spaces, show who we truly are and our potential, it will be increasingly difficult to promote equality," she stated.
As the founder of an HR company dedicated to fostering corporate diversity in all its aspects (thinking, skills, cultural, social, gender, and racial), Renata Ferraz recognizes that Brazilian businesses still don't understand the competitive advantage a diverse environment provides. "Brazilians, unfortunately, are still prejudiced and sexist when hiring, and they haven't yet incorporated ways to incorporate diversity among their professionals, as multinational companies are already doing."
On the other hand, Renata believes there's a lack of encouragement for women's ambition to apply for senior leadership positions. "Women believe they need to be perfect for the position and only apply when they feel they meet 100% of the requirements. Men, on the other hand, apply when they possess 30% of the skills required for the position," she observed.
Public policies and cultural changes
The lack of public policies requiring companies to promote equity and diversity among their staff and employees was one of the points discussed. "Until we have laws that truly require companies to do something about gender equity, nothing will change," stated Daniele Botaro. The executive also advocates for the use of blind recruitment strategies, in which the recruiter doesn't have access to basic information about the candidate, such as skin tone, age, gender, place of residence, and even educational institutions. "We once conducted a selection process using this model and had a father over 40 and an 18-year-old son in the final stages," she said. Such a strategy would help eliminate unconscious bias in the hiring process and promote the cultural change necessary to promote diversity in Brazilian companies.
Marina Grossi believes it is necessary to increase diversity and representation of minority groups, such as women and Black people, in decision-making. One of the proposals advocated by CEBDS in its public policy agenda is for the Federal Government's Transparency Portal to disclose the percentage of women and Black people in leadership positions in state-owned companies and government agencies, thereby increasing data transparency and encouraging diversity in the private sector.
