São Paulo Law School debates participation of women in management positions

The researcher of the Research Group on Law and Gender of São Paulo Law School, Luciana Oliveira Ramos, participated in the meeting Competência Feminina e a muralha invisível do preconceito (Female competence and the invisible wall of prejudice), organized by IASP (Institute of São Paulo Lawyers) which took place at the Renaissance Hotel in São Paulo. She presented some of the results of the work ?Participação de mulheres em cargos de alta administração: relações sociais, de gênero, direito e governança corporativa? (Participation of women in senior management positions: social, gender, law and corporate governance relations), coordinated by the researcher Lígia Paula Pires Pinto Sica, where they analyze the evolution of female staff in leadership positions in publicly-traded companies. Although there was an increase from 4.2% to 7.7% in the participation of women in senior management positions in the past decade, their participation on boards of directors decreased from 9.8% to 7.5% in the period. Combining the data, the picture has changed little between 2003 and 2012, since the percentage of women in senior positions has remained stagnant, around 7.7%. These results contributed to reinforce the idea that quotas for women in decision-making positions are necessary to accelerate the process of promoting equal opportunities between men and women. Among the speakers, the opinion that affirmative actions are key measures to change the present scenario of women's underrepresentation in Brazilian democracy prevailed.  Around 450 people attended the event, such as Luiza Helena Trajano, president of Magazine Luiza; Anna Cândida da Cunha Ferraz, from USP; Flavia Piovesan, professor at PUC-SP; Cristiane Marrey Moncau, legal director of PUC; Josie Jardim, founder of Jurídico de Saias and legal director of Amazon Brazil, among others. Please click here to view the work of the Research Group on Law and Gender of São Paulo Law School