The rate of women occupying senior levels in companies in Brazil is only 8%. And in spite of the prominence achieved by some executives of large companies, in the past 15 years this percentage virtually did not change. That is what a study produced by the Group of Law and Gender Researches of FGV's São Paulo Law School (DIREITO GV) indicates. The data was presented at an event that happened at São Paulo Law School, with the presence of representatives of the Executive Boards, Board of Directors and specialists - namely the journalist Ana Paula Padrão, who has dedicated herself to the launch of projects focused on the analysis of the market for executive women. The director of São Paulo Law School, Oscar Vilhena Vieira, opened the event.According to the study, the main reasons that could explain the low presence of women in boards of directors are prejudice and the lack of institutional structure offered (daycare, babysitters, longer maternity leave) by the company, which, in most cases, does not offer women the assistance required to reconcile professional and personal life, especially the care of children and the family. It becomes increasingly difficult for women who do not have resources such as a babysitter or daycare to climb up the corporate ladder. Many who are still at the beginning of their careers get undecided, thinking whether they should take care of their children or leave their job because generally the husband earns more. At the other end, we see that the few executive women in the market decide to be mothers at a later age. Many don't even get married. It is unfair that they have to choose between one thing or the other while men don't have to make this kind of decision, says Ângela Donaggio, who is part of the gender studies group together with the researchers Ligia Paula Pires Sica and Luciana Ramos, of São Paulo Law School, and the professor of the Economics, Business Administration and Accounting School of USP, Alexandre Di Miceli.This under-representation of women at the top is much higher than people think it is. People have a misleading vision of reality, something that reflects a little of what the media shows. We see few executive women in the spotlight as if it has become a rule, but it is actually an exception, explains Ângela. Details of the research also show that, from 1997 to 2012, nearly half of the companies (48%) did not even have one woman on their board of directors and 2/3 (66.5%) not even one woman in the executive board, despite the higher education of women.For Lígia Sica, coordinator of the gender studies group of the School, there is often a barrier to accept the first woman on these positions. After that occurs, the path for those who follow gets easier, she explains.The research was carried out from an analysis of more than 73,000 positions of 837 different open capital companies.