More and more women are leaving household chores to take on positions in the job market.
According to research conducted in 2005 by the Catho Group, in the last ten years, female participation in the Brazilian job market has doubled, revealing the following percentages of female “occupation” in companies:
• presidency: 17.5%
• board: 23%
• management: 26%
• leadership and coordination: 49
The advancement of women in the job market is marked, mainly, by the wave of change that the world is going through, where more feminine than masculine skills have been a determining factor for the survival of many companies in the market. Today, aggressiveness and objectivity – notably masculine characteristics – are giving way to intuition and adaptability, which are prominent traits in the female profile.
Women are discovering their own strengths. They no longer need to mirror male behavior to prove their competence. Now, it is men who are seeking to acquire the feminine qualities so sought after in the corporate world, such as the ability to cultivate good and productive relationships, for example. Furthermore, women are more flexible than men and adapt more easily and quickly than they do, which is essential in a constantly changing world.
The feminine style, combined with the effort, willpower, and determination of women to put their competence into practice, has been recognized and rewarded by companies that bet on this new workforce.
An important positive aspect of the feminine style is the ability to work with the right side of the brain, which is more emotional, intuitive, and creative. And since, for a long time, they had to act similarly to men to conquer their space, women have also developed the use of the left cerebral hemisphere. As a result, they have come out ahead! Now, it is the men’s turn to catch up and seek ways to develop the right hemisphere. Resources for this are abundant. Several of my courses have this approach.
However, there are still some important points to be conquered by women regarding the corporate universe. The main one is that there is still an unspoken prejudice against women. Evidence of this is that they earn about 10% less than men in the same positions. The market has some justifications for this, but the main ones are: 1) women are a new workforce, and their potential still needs to be discovered; 2) weekly, they work about three hours less than men.
An important negative aspect regarding women’s participation in the job market, raised by the Catho Group’s research, is that the percentage of women in companies decreases as the size of the company increases. But even so, the landscape of female participation in the job market is promising. It is estimated that in 20 years, almost 50% of leadership positions in companies will be occupied by women!
As everything in life tends to find a point of balance, the corporate world will also find its balance, harmonizing men and women in positions and earnings. After all, nothing is more productive than having two such distinct yet complementary fronts of work harmoniously available.
DR. LAIR RIBEIRO
Cardiologist, speaker
www.lairribeiro.com.br
lrsintonia@terra.com.br