The role of women on business boards

According to a study carried out by Spencer Stuart, a British company with more than 65 years of experience in leadership consultancy, in 2020, it was found that the average percentage of women on leadership boards in the world is 27.1%, with Among the countries surveyed, Norway and France have the highest representation, with 44.2% and 44.6% respectively. Brazil is among the countries with the lowest index, just 13.3%. But, how important is it for women on business boards?

Many may think it’s just a feminist agenda, but it goes much further. There are already studies proving that diversity on a company board helps a lot to make better decisions, especially in times of crisis, as having different opinions when making decisions is essential. After all, a company is not just made up of men. A decision made where the entire company is considered is much more efficient than taking into account only a centralized and old-fashioned way of thinking.

I have worked with excellent directors and directors in my career. And exactly that, having both men and women on both sides of this scale, so that there is diversity even in decision-making. The point is that we have more opportunities for these women to show their talent in these leadership positions.

It’s sad to imagine that there are still men who believe that women can’t lead, that they don’t have the strength to charge a team or that they don’t know how to teach, and that same man forgets that, most likely, he had several women when he was growing up who taught him, they demanded and organized, like mothers and teachers.

Teaching is a great example of this reasoning. Who hasn’t had a teacher who was the director or boss within a classroom? She taught, demanded, disciplined, talked to the student to understand their problems, just like in a company.

Another example of leadership is our mother, who is often responsible for organizing an important company called home, in addition to organizing her professional life. In fact, she is often charged more than a man, both in the company’s work and in raising her children. Even so, these warriors are divided into many, to perform all tasks in an exemplary way.

But, it is not enough for the company to place a woman on the board, just with the intention of using her as an advertisement: Our company is diversified, among the 12 directors, we have 1 woman. Another important point is that it is not enough to have a woman, and she does not have an active voice in decisions.

To write this article, I spoke to some friends who are or have been on business boards, to understand the difficulties they went through. Unfortunately, some told me that, in meetings, decisions had often already been made between them. The male directors met and talked about the issues that would be addressed. When the council meeting took place, the decision had already been made and they didn’t want to dwell too much on the topic, that is, even with a woman on the council, she arrived with a defeated vote.

In other cases, it was clear to the woman that she was only on the board because it was an obligation of the company’s HR, to have at least one woman or a small diversity on the board, but in practice, she was unable to actually give her opinion.

However, not everything is sad stories. I myself have a very rich and challenging experience that I would like to share with you, so that it serves as an encouragement and example for future leaders or women who want to shine even more. As many of you may already know, I started my career at a large multinational, where I held several leadership positions, and today I am interim president of the board of Instituto Xito, where I helped organize several matters of the advisory board, developing strategic agendas for development and growth. of the institute. And after the last two male presidents, I took over as interim president of the board and also advisor to Bossa Invest’s co-investors. Furthermore, I continue as an advisor to startups in which I invest.

I have been in several leadership positions that had never been held by a woman before, and this has always been an encouragement and an opportunity for me to show that we, women, have the power to conquer our space.

Many of my friends made real revolutions in their boards, with new ideas, breaking with the old model. In general, we have greater challenges in reconciling our personal and professional lives, which leads us to reconcile different points of view and accept new ideas more easily.

Therefore, the message I would like to leave for you, girl or woman, is the important thing to start with. It doesn’t matter if your project is small or large, if you work in a small company or a multinational, my development was still different, even if I was in a large company. Start.

This quest for equality between men and women is in line with the 2030 Agenda, launched by the United Nations (UN) in 2015, which has 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). I will highlight the 5 ODS which is related to today’s topic, Gender Equality.

Initiatives such as the 2030 Agenda and the growing adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) by companies have encouraged the increase of women in leadership positions, and even the international recognition of these women. If you are interested in ESG and want to know its relationship with the 2030 Agenda, I recommend you read my article ESG The new global trend for companies. In it, I better explain this global governance trend for companies.

Agenda 2030 has 17 Sustainable Development Goals. (Photo: Disclosure/UN)

To finish, I leave a sentence for reflection, from the 2014 speech by Emma Watson, who became known worldwide for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, at the launch of the #HeForShe campaign, at the time, a Goodwill Ambassador of UN Women.

I want to make it clear that, by definition, feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. the theory of gender equality on political, economic and social levels.

And also a post by the actress on Facebook, about how we need more men to take a stand for gender equality.