There's a new phrase on the CHEST: "Lead like a girl." enters the fucking catalog in December. It was developed in collaboration with Herbig, a financial consulting company for small businesses and individuals, 90% of which are women. During the last year, we provided the T-shirt printed with the new phrase for our partner to promote financial education events for women with the profit from these resales. Among the topics addressed are the historical construction of women and society, the future of work for women, finance and sustainability.
Karina Gallon, la puta madre da PEITA, points out the inheritance that subjugates the leaders. “The act of speaking and public speaking was considered the greatest responsibility of leaders in antiquity and was an exclusively male activity. In The invisible side of the Economy, Katrine Marçal says that the altruistic nature of women linked them to the private sphere; making them economically irrelevant. This impacted society, generating a cultural pattern that is maintained for generations and, because it is unconsciously present, is rarely questioned. A trajectory marked by the silencing of female discourse. That makes women inappropriate to occupy the job market, certain positions, places of power and leadership. So 'Lead Like a Girl' is about subverting that tradition and occupying the corporate space with feminist narratives.”
“We believe that it (the shirt) serves as a tool to make us feel safer, stronger and to see that we are not alone”, shared one of the owners of Herbig, Marina Santos Pinto.
( • ) Why do we need women in leadership positions?
Cases of sexual and moral harassment suffered by Dani Calabresa and other women who work at R3d3 Gl0b0 de Silenciamento, exposed today by Revista Piauí, make us wonder: what if instead of a man in the position of director there was a woman? Would she rub up against co-workers, pick up people without consent while calling them hot in front of the whole team? Men harass because the system suggests they can get away with it. Ever seen the system favor a woman?
We are not saying that equalizing the proportion of women in leadership would end the abuse of power in companies. We know it's not about that and it would be frivolous of us to say such a thing. But we believe it would reduce yes. We believe that a person who suffers oppression and is discredited their whole life just for being a woman, seeks a safer environment and more egalitarian and fair opportunities for their team.
We are also aware that this alone would not be enough. A good leader promotes education and training, develops goals and quotas for gender and race balance, offers flexible schedules, develops an inclusive culture, reviews approaches to recruitment and understands the real needs of those who are leading.
Leading like a girl is not just taking the place of the oppressor, it is deconstructing social and economic structures of power maintained for thousands of years that always make us inferior. A hell of a job!
Leading like a girl is a revolt against the social order that the woman leaves the company to have a child, reducing us to the role of simple reproducers destined to care. This fallacy causes us to be subjected to blood tests or have to answer questions such as “when was your last period” in additional tests. WHAT DOES YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE MATTERS TO THE COMPANY? He wants to be sure he is in a sexist situation, he inverts the genders of those involved.
In that same test, men are asked when was the last time they had sexual intercourse?
Why don't companies offer conversation circles about responsible parenthood instead of problematizing the burden on women who have to take their children to the pediatrician, attend meetings or pick up early from school? What about gender stereotypes that reduce women to emotional, intuitive and aggressive? There is also low self-esteem or imposter syndrome. According to the Linkedin and Bain study, a man applies for a vacancy fulfilling 60% of the prerequisites, while women do not feel safe if they do not correspond to 100%.
( • ) What is the situation in Brazil?
According to the latest research from Grant Thornton's International Business Report:
- 34% of senior leadership (CEO) positions in companies are held by women.
- director of operations (COO), there was a drop from 21% in 2019 to 16% in 2020.
- CFO 34% (38% in 2019).
- IT director 12% (17% in 2019).
- Director of Human Resources 32% (31% in 2019).
- Director of Marketing 16% (20% in 2019).
- controllership 8% (9% in 2019).
- Director of Sales 12% (16% in 2019).
- only 4% of companies have female partners.
Want more teases on the topic? Also read the text and research that Thati Tucci , human resources at PEITA, prepared on female rivalry and the job market for a lecture we were invited to give at a large company in Curitiba.
