I

To all the women of my life.

To my husband Daniel, for the inspiration and

constant exchange of ideas, for the incentive,

for the disposition in helping me, for the

readings, for the understanding, for the

patience and for the total support in this

journey, without which this work would not

have been realized. My eternal thankfulness.

II

ABSTRACT

Around the world the growing presence of women in the labour market makes it

important to discuss the business impact of gender diversity. The increasing of

participation of women in the workplace is remarkable although one may not

overlook the fact that, in spite of the reaching of lower and middle levels of

management positions, the women seldom reach top management positions.

This research has been conducted to provide a better understanding on women in

management situation in Brazil and in China and, as a consequence, to stimulate the

awareness of the role of gender diversity may play in business. So far, in

management literature it is clear that the study of women in management is a very

new field of research.

The methodology consisted, firstly, of literature research on the impact of gender in

labor relations - and the relation between this reality and the companies. Then

women s advancements and barriers in the world, in Brazil and in China are

verified. Afterwards, there was a comparison between data from Brazil and China,

especially regarding the rates of gender gap in each country. Then there was the

practical part of this research, with information obtained through questionnaires

applied among seven Chinese and seven Brazilian female interviewees in

management positions, with subsequent data analysis and interpretation. Finally, in

the conclusions, we discuss the challenges for the gender relations and work in the

III

21st century in the two countries in question. Besides the primary data collected by

the author, for the analysis data from the International Labour Organization,

All-China Women's Federation, Catalyst, World Bank, Ethos Institute and Ricardo

Hausmann, among others, were also used. The subject is discussed having the

works of F. Capra, R. Daft, X. Li, V. Schein, L. Wirth, and C. Bruschini, among

others, as the theoretical references. We also highlight that gender diversity in

corporate environment is really beneficial, with a strong relation with the

companie financial performance. However, Brazil and China still have much to

advance in this direction.

At the end of this research, some recommendations have been proposed and it is

presumed that the outcomes of this study will be able to give companies a different

perspective on gender issues and a better evaluation

corporation. The issues discussed in this thesis may arouse the attention in enterprises

for the importance of the subject.

awareness of the content of this research and what gender can represent in the

workplace. Thus, they will be able to better act in their professional life, and

achieve career advancement.

Key words: Women, Management, Gender, Diversity, Brazil and China.

IV

V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT II

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Research Objectives 5

1.4 Research Questions 7

1.5 Research Scope 8

1.6 Benefits and Significance of the Study 9

1.7 Research Methodology 11

1.8 Limitations of the Study 13

1.9 Structure of the Thesis 14

CHAPTER 2 THEORY REVIEW 17

2.1 Theory Review - Discussion on Related Theories and Concepts 17

2.2 Women in Management 20

2.3 Corporate Issues and Human Resources Management 26

2.4 Managing Diversity in the Workplace 32

VI

CHAPTER 3 THE LABOUR NCEMENTS 40

40

45

54

CHAPTER 4 THE LABOUR IERS 65

65

76

84

4.4 Brazil and China: Statistics on Gender Gap 93

CHAPTER 5 THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH 97

5.1 The Questionnaire: Data Analysis and Interpretation 97

5.2 Personal Data 98

100

5.4 The Questionnaire Analysis 110

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND CONSIDERATIONS 174

6.1 Research Creative Points 174

6.2 Challenges in the Further Development of Brazilian and Chinese

Women in the Labour Market 174

VII

6.3 Suggestions for Gender Relations in Companies 179

6.4 Research Questions: a Resuming 186

6.5 Final Considerations 191

REFERENCES 199

APPENDIX: INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE 210

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 214

VIII

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2-1 Management Levels in the Organizational Hierarchy .......................... 19

Figure 2-2 The Glass Ceiling in the Organizational Pyramid ................................ 22

Figure 3-1 Wage Gap / Average Yearly Income of Employees in Major Chinese

Cities (RMB) 2006-2007, China ......................................................... 64

Figure 4-1 The Glass Ceiling and Glass Walls in the Organizational Pyramid....... 71

Figure 4-2 Female Participation in Big Companies (Brazil) .................................. 82

Figure 4-3 Comparison between Brazil and China Gender Gap Subindexes and

Gender Gap Index Female-to-Male Ratio (0.00 = Inequality and 1.00 =

Equality)............................................................................................. 95

Figure 4-4 Comparison between Brazil and China - Ability for Women to Rise to

Positions of Enterprise Leadership...................................................... 95

Figure 5-1 Gender and Hierarchical Level - Second Financial Institution - 2006

(Brazil) ..............................................................................................101

Figure 5-2 Evolution of Female Presence Along the Hierarchical Levels - Second

Financial Institution 2003-2006 (Brazil) .........................................102

Figure 5-3 Gender and Hierarchical Level - The Stove factory - 2008 (Brazil) ....104

Figure 5-4 Gender and Hierarchical Level - The Language School - 2008 (China)

..........................................................................................................107

Figure 5-5 Gender and Hierarchical Level The Association of Women - 2008

(China) ..............................................................................................108

Figure 5-6 Gender and Hierarchical Level The Shoe Manufacturer - 2008 (China)

..........................................................................................................109

IX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2-1 Male Style versus Female Style .......................................................... 25

Table 2-2 Recruiting Practices that May Create Glass Ceiling............................ 30

Table 2-3 Advantages and Challenges of a Diverse Workforce........................... 36

Table 3-1 Functions and Proportion of Female Executives in %......................... 52

Table 4-1 Comparison between Brazil and China Ranking of Gender Gap Index

and Subindexes (Out of 128 Countries).............................................................. 94

Table 4-2 Comparison between Brazil and China Gender Gap Index and

Subindexes Female-to-Male Ratio (0.00 = Inequality and 1.00 = Equality) ....... 94

Table 5-1 In Brazil ............................................................. 99

Table 5- China ............................................................. 99

Table 5-3 Impact of the Presence of Women in the Company (China and Brazil -

2008).................................................................................................................120

Table 5-4 Sector with the Greatest Presence of Women (China and Brazil - 2008)

..........................................................................................................................124

Table 5-5 How Women Get Ahead (China and Brazil - 2008) ...........................130

Table 5-6 How Women Get Ahead (U.S and Europe)........................................131

Table 5-7 Top Barriers to Advancement (China and Brazil - 2008) ...................144

Table 5-8 Top Three Barriers to Advancement (U.S and Europe - 2002) ...........145

Table 5-9 Top St cited by more than one

interviewee (Brazil / China - 2008) ...................................................................148

Table 5- cited just once (Brazil and China

- 2008) ..............................................................................................................149

X

Table 5- - 2002)150

Table 5-12 What is Holding Women Back (Brazil - 2008).................................158

Table 5-13 What is Holding Women Back (U.S - 2003) ....................................159

Table 5-14 Characteristics of the Feminine Gender considered Advantageous in

the Obtaining of Higher Financial Performance (Brazil and China- 2008) ........160

Table 5-15 Characteristics Ascribed to Women (Brazil and China- 2008) .........166

XI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACWF

BPW Business Professional Women

CPC Communist Party of China

CPPCC Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

CEDAW The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women

CNDM

EAP Economic Active Population

HR Human Resources

HRM Human Resources Management

ILO International Labour Organization

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NPC

NWCCW National Working Committee on Children and Women

PRC

SPM Special Secretariat for Policies for Women

UN United Nations

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women

XII

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

In management literature it is clear that the study of women in management is a

very new field of research. A study of gender within business administration is

important because, until recently, gender inequality in companies has been ignored,

and companies do not explore, or recognize the potential of women professionals as

a key factor in leadership levels. This research has been conducted to provide a

better understanding of women in management positions both in Brazil and in

China and, as a consequence, to stimulate awareness of the role that gender

diversity may play in business.

The methodology consisted, firstly, of literature research on the impact of gender in

labour relations and the relation between this reality and the companies. Then

women s advancements and barriers in the world, and then more specifically in

Brazil and in China are verified. The practical part of this research, with

information obtained through questionnaires implemented among seven Chinese

and seven Brazilian female interviewees in management positions, was followed by

data analysis and interpretation. Data from the International Labour Organization,

All-China Women's Federation, Catalyst, World Bank, Ethos Institute and Ricardo

Hausmann, among others, were used concurrent with analysis. The subject is

discussed having the works of F. Capra, R. Daft, X. Li, V. Schein, L. Wirth, and C.

2

Bruschini, among others, as the theoretical references.

Some recommendations have been proposed, and it is presumed that the outcomes

of this study will provide companies with a different perspective on gender issues

and a better evaluation of The issues discussed

in this thesis may arouse attention in enterprises for the importance of the subject.

Women can gain awareness of the content of this research and of what gender can

represent in the workplace. Thus, they will be able to better act in their professional

lives and achieve career advancement.

1.2Problem Statement

ILO (2008) states that globalization and rapidly changing technical progress continue

to impact labour markets around the world. Moreover, to Schein (2001), the

globalization of management brings with it the need to examine the relationship

between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics in the

international arena. On Management characteristics, Peter Drucker (ACWF, 2006)

highly valued those found in females, for they are, according to him, more suitable for

management.

Around the world, the growing presence of women in the labour market makes it

important to discuss the business impact of gender diversity. The increase in

participation of women in the workplace is remarkable although one can not

overlook the fact that, in spite of reaching lower and middle level management

3

posts, women seldom reach top management positions.

Catalyst Census (2007) statistics state that women occupy just 15.4 percent of

corporate officer positions and 14.8 percent of corporate board seats at Fortune 500

companies. Women seldom attain executive level positions. The Fortune 5001

(2007) list stresses that, in 2007, just 10 (out of 500) companies were led by women,

three more than in 2006. Currently, the same list (2008) stresses that 12 companies

were run by women in 2008.

Female labour is often believed to cost more than male, due to the expenses of

maternity leave and child care. However, a study by Catalyst (2008) points out a

strong correlation between corporate financial performance and gender diversity. The

study states, Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women

board directors attained significantly higher financial performance, on average, than

those with the lowest representation of wo

(2008) points out notably stronger-than-average performance at companies with

three or more women board directors.

Thus, it is important to acknowledge that gender may play an important part in

aspects of the business performance process. Throughout the world, the number of

women in management is increasing. However, women are still not reaching top 1 The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500

U.S corporations as measured by their gross revenue. The list includes publicly and privately-held

companies for which revenues are publicly available.

4

management levels and face a variety of pressures, both internal and external, from

the organizations in which they work (Limerick; Heywood 1993).

On a global scale, gender stereotyping continues to be a major barrier to women's

progress in management, and there is a notion of a masculine managerial model.

Therefore, opportunities for women to advance in the workplace are limited by

gender-based stereotypes in business. Far from giving a full contribution in

, women skills and potentials are left underdeveloped

instead of optimized.

managerial model remains and

males continue to perceive women as less qualified for managerial positions.

Internationally, the view of women as less likely than men to possess requisite

management characteristics is a common belief among male management students

in some countries, including China (Schein 2007). There is still job segregation

based on gender dividing occupations into those considered men's jobs and

women's jobs.

kind of segregation. It describes the discrimination that women and minorities often

experience when trying to advance into senior management levels. Normally, it is a

subtle, informal, and unacknowledged barrier (Davidson; Cary 1992).

Although women make up 51 percent of

two-thirds of all labour, yet, they own only about one percent of the world's assets

5

, according to the Global Fund for Women

(2008). The status of women is a key marker for social progress. Maintaining

opportunity equality between men and women is necessary for the proliferation of

women working in companies, not only at lower and middle levels, but also in top

management positions. It is imperative to maintain and increase efforts made to

ensure that women advance to positions of leadership in organizations.

1.3Research Objectives

This item presents the research general and specific objectives, as well as the

research questions. For the development of this research, these items are

interconnected and have a complementary role. Research objectives and research

questions are described below.

(1) General Objectives

The core objective of this research is to analyze the presence and situation of

women in management in Brazilian and Chinese companies, mostly in the service

sector, and establish relations among them. This comparison aims at the

understanding of similarities and differences between the Brazilian and the Chinese

female interviewees in management positions.

Furthermore the research aims at analyzing corporate culture and Human Resources

Management in general from a gender-based perspective. Finally, it aims to propose,

both women

6

professionals and enterprises.

(2) Specific Objectives

For the best attainment of the main objective of this work, the specific objectives

can be classified, taking into account the information provided by the interviewees.

These classifications are:

Initially, identifying within a given company how many employees are male and

how many are female and their proportion in the respective hierarchical levels.

Later, we can see that this specific objective could not be reached in all the studied

companies because these data were not provided.

Identifying the hiring process and career plan in order to evaluate the presence of a

gender-based discrimination;

Identifying in which area/sector highest presence of women are employed and why;

Identifying the impact of the presence of women in these companies;

Identifying the barriers faced by the women in these companies;

personal success;

7

Identifying how women get ahead;

Identifying what is holding women back in general;

Analyzing and relating the results obtained from literature, when applicable.

The attainment of the core objective and specific objectives would provide

organizations as well as women with a meaningful understanding about women in

management in Brazil and in China.

1.4 Research Questions

There are some questions which are fundamental for the study. These investigation

questions are:

(1) From which hierarchical level is it more difficult to find the presence of women?

(2) Is increased participation of women in management positions a general trend in

both countries?

(3) Are there barriers that Brazilian and Chinese women face to advance in their

careers? If so, are they the same?

(4) Are there strategies that Chinese and Brazilian women use to succeed? If so, are

8

they the same?

(5) Are gender stereotypes a kind of barrier in the advancement of Brazilian and

Chinese women in decision-making and top management positions?

(6) Are there wage differences between men and women in fulfilling the same

function?

(7) Must the Chinese and Brazilian women outperform men in order to achieve

recognition within the organization?

(8) Are Chinese and Brazilian women generally unaware of the role that gender

may represent and its impact on the labour market?

Based on the above mentioned investigative questions, the interview questionnaire

was structured.

1.5 Research Scope

The essence of this research is to study women in management at different

companies in both Brazil and China. The analysis will focus, at first, on the female

presence in management at organizations. It will also approach issues like equal

opportunities for women, wage gap, promotions, gender stereotypes, strategies for

success, and barriers advancements.

9

This thesis also aims to verify the opinions of the female interviewees regarding

their professional activities and the labour market. These are perceptions of the

impact of the presence of women in companies what barriers they face, if they

have equal job opportunities, what strategies they believe are useful to get ahead,

which hierarchical level they are more concentrated in, how they feel about their

career plans, and what is holding women back, among others.

It is clear that this study is related to several other issues, such as human resources

management, corporate culture, government policies, culture, and societal beliefs,

societies. Even though the main perspective of this thesis is that of business

administration through a gender-based perspective, it will be necessary, in some

cases, to point out government and company policies.

1.6 Benefits and Significance of the Study

This subject is relevant because it is necessary to understand gender diversity and

its role in business. As a function of this role, it is also necessary to understand the

difficulties faced by female labour in the work environment and how to break

through boundaries for advancement. The theme is also relevant because

women have become a great force in many countries such as that of

Brazil and China, making both social and economic contributions.

In China, this study is concurrent with the need to educate people and companies

10

about the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests. To the Vice Prime Minister Wu

Yi, educating the public about this law is an effective way to solve present problems.

It is fundamental to improve the laws and regulations protecting women and to make

greater efforts to find job opportunities for women. The subject is also relevant

because Chinese women have become a great force in the country's social

development, making major contributions to the economic development.

Since the last few decades of the twentieth century, Brazil, in turn, has experienced

significant demographic, cultural, and social changes that have had a great impact

on women's work. Changes in the cultural values relating to the social role of

women have changed the female identity, increasingly focusing on productive

employment. Moreover, the increased education level of women has made women's

access to new job opportunities possible. All these factors explain not only the

growth of female activity, but also the changes in the profile of Brazilian workforce

(Bruschini; Puppim 2004).

The ILO (2008:04) states that,

comes only when labour market barriers are lowered and women are given an equal

chance to attain decent work, remains both a necessity for economic development

and a worthy go

From the findings of this research, companies can have a different perspective on

work within a corporation. Thus, they will be able to gain competitive strategies by

11

using the full contribution of gender balance. From a woman perspective, they can

gain awareness of the content of this research. Thus, they will be able to better act in

the labour market by readapting personal strategies in their professional life, which

can enable them to overcome barriers. Nevertheless, authors claim that hiring women,

whether in leadership posts or not, is a matter of doing what is best for the business.

The companies who realize that beforehand can have significant advantages. Thus,

the issues discussed in this research may arouse the attention in other enterprises for

the importance of the subject.

1.7 Research Methodology

The research follows a qualitative (primary data) and quantitative (secondary data)

methodology to analyze women in management. The qualitative part consists of the

application of a questionnaire (open questions) among 14 females interviewees:

seven in Brazil; seven in China.

(1) Data Collection

The questionnaire intends to verify the hypotheses considered in this study. It

consists of sixteen questions regarding the situation of women in the workplace

regarding: the hiring process, career plans, the impact of and the areas with the

greatest concentration of women in companies, the strategies and barriers for

women success, the wage gap, the outperformance of men, promotion, stereotypes,

what it is holding women back, and how they can get ahead, as well as a statement

concerning gender and financial performance and a trend for the 21st century. A

12

version of this questionnaire can be seen in the appendix. Later, in chapter 5,

sub-item 5.2, further information about the interviewees will be provided.

In order to get a wide and accurate vision of the current process, the quantitative

analysis includes books, internet, magazines, statistics from organizations such as

The UN (United Nations), ILO (International Labour Organization), ACWF (All

ian and Chinese

government documents, such as regulations and data about the topic.

(2) Universe

All the working women in management positions in Brazil and in China.

(3) Sample

The research includes a personal interview with seven outstanding Brazilian

females and seven outstanding Chinese women to evaluate and analyze the topics

presented above.

(4) Field Period

May 2008 China

August 2008 Brazil

It is important to mention that because of an agreement between the researcher and

names were changed.

13

1.8 Limitations of the Study

One country varies from another, so it is important to understand the configurations

of social gender relations as they may vary as well. While more systematic efforts

are being made by the United Nations system and governments to value and

is a relatively new field and comparisons over time and across countries are limited

(Wirth, 2001:27).

These countries were dealt with separately because, although both of them are

considered emerging and developing countries, they are at different points in their

histories. On the one hand, Brazil is a country with a little more than 500 years of

history, marked by the recent history of military dictatorship (1964-1985) and the

reconstruction of the democratic system (1985-present). On the other hand, China

has a 5,000-year history, recently marked by communism (since 1949).

The language barrier, that is, problem of breaking through the Chinese language,

translation problems, and limitations in obtaining data in China (because there were

few documents on the subject already translated into English) were major difficulties.

Literature on Chinese women in general was found in English. This included material

on the impact of violence against women, rural women, labour contracts, and

maintaining the rights and interests of women and minors in labour and social

security. However, little was found about the role of Chinese women in organizations,

and there are insufficient information and data on Chinese women's contributions in

14

management, even in Chinese. Such data gaps may lead to inappropriate comparisons

and analysis between the two countries; hence, caution is necessary.

Another limitation of the study was the fact that not all interviewees provided

complete information on the cadres, often providing only data about the

unit in which they worked, and not from the company as a whole. Sometimes the

numbers provided by the interviewees were not uniform; sometimes they provided

information in percentage, sometimes in absolute numbers. This resulted in the

impossibility of comparing some data among companies.

Finally, it is important to remark that Brazil is unusual among developing countries

as it has a long tradition of collecting labour market data through surveys

(Arabsheibani; Carneiro; Henley, 2003). There were no major difficulties in finding

data on the situation of Brazilian women in the labour market, their presence in

companies, and especially in management because research on the subject has been

carried out systematically.

1.9 Structure of the Thesis

This thesis has been divided into six chapters including this chapter. The overall

content of the chapters has been described below.

Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter summarizes: Problem Statement, Research Objectives, Research

15

Questions, Research Scope, Benefits and Significance of the Studies, Research

Methodology, Limitations of the Study, and Structure of the Thesis. Theoretical

references have been cited when necessary and applicable.

Chapter 2 Theory Review

All related and relevant concepts, theories and models have been introduced in this

chapter. The objectives of this theory review are to get an understanding of the

research from a theoretical point of view, addressing the concepts properly to help

explain the subject of this thesis.

Chapter 3

management around the world in general, in Brazil and China specifically.

Chapter 4

This chapter addresses barriers that women face in the labour market and in

management around the world in general, in Brazil and China specifically. It will

also include a topic concerning statistics on gender gap, comparing the Brazilian

and Chinese situation.

Chapter 5 The Results of the Research

This chapter presents the profile of the interviewees in this survey, some overall

information about their companies and their answers from the questionnaire by

16

the area of the greatest concentration of women in the company, how women get

ahead, perception of fairness concerning wage gap, if they need to outperform men

for success, stereotypes, what is holding women back, the link between gender and

financial performance, and a statement concerning a new trend for the 21st century.

The answers are analyzed and when applicable, linked to the literature review.

Chapter 6 Conclusion and Considerations

The concluding chapter of this study presents the creative points of the research and

why it is unique. It also discusses the challenges in the further development of

Brazilian and Chinese women in the labour market and provides suggestions for

women and companies.

17

CHAPTER 2

THEORY REVIEW

2.1 Theory Review - Discussion on Related Theories and Concepts

This chapter summarizes the concepts and notions that provide an understanding

about women in management, corporate issues and human resources management,

and diversity in the workplace. In addition, other relevant theories and frameworks

are also presented in order to identify and analyze related issues and research

findings. Data from the International Labour Organization, All-China Women's

Federation, Catalyst, World Bank, Ethos Institute and Ricardo Hausmann, among

others, were used. The subject is discussed having the works of F. Capra, R. Daft, X.

Li, V. Schein, L. Wirth, and C. Bruschini, among others, as the theoretical

references

According to Daft (2000) management is the attainment of organizational goals in

an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading, and

controlling of organizational resources. The formal study of management is

relatively recent and emerged during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

but the practice of management can be traced to 3000 B.C. The three major

perspectives on management that have evolved since the late 1800s are the classical

perspective - which emphasizes a rational and scientific approach -, the humanistic

perspective - which emphasized understanding human behavior, needs and attitudes

in the workplace -, and the management science perspective - which applied

18

mathematics, statistics, and other techniques to managerial problems.

Managers at different levels within the organization engage in different amounts of

time on the four managerial functions mentioned above. They are responsible for the

work performance of the other organizational members. In general, there are three

levels of management: top-level, middle-level, and first-level. In most organizations,

the number of managers at each level is such that the hierarchy resembles a pyramid.

Top managers or senior management are at the top ones in an organization, and hold

titles such as President, Vice president, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief

Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operational Officer (COO) or Corporate Head. They

set goals for the organization and direct the company to achieve them. Middle-level

managers are those in the levels below top managers and their job titles include:

General Manager, Plant Manager, Regional Manager, and Divisional Manager. They

are responsible for carrying out the goals set by top management and can assist

first-line managers to achieve business objectives. First-level managers, or first-line

managers, are responsible for the daily management of line workers. These managers

have job titles such as Office Manager, Department Manager, or Crew leader, among

others.

19

strong internal environment, which includes the corporate

culture as a major pattern, is fundamental and has significant impact on the business

performance. To have a successful corporate culture, employees might share

assumptions and the same set of values, a common behavior style, language, rites,

symbols, beliefs, and norms on how things are done within the corporation.

CEO

Business Unit Head:

General Manager / Administrator

Department Manager:

Product Line or Service Manager

Functional Head:

Production, Sales, R&D Supervisor, MIS, HRM,

Accounting Supervisor

Line Jobs, Staff Jobs

Top Management

Middle Management

First-Line

Management

Figure 2-1 Management Levels in the Organizational HierarchySource: DAFT (2000).

Nonmanagerial

20

2.2 Women in Management

The study of gender perspective within business administration is important.

According to Philipps (1998) gender consists of the learned roles and responsibilities

of men and women in society; different in different cultures; male and female

behavior and ways of being. And still for the same author, gender perspective does

not refer to women alone, but to the relationship between men and women. Yet,

gender analysis is the collection of information to study the impact of development

activities on men and women; and the analysis of the effect of gender roles on the

outcome of development efforts.

The gender context perspective is used to explain the position of women in

management. This theoretical perspective is based on the idea that the social status

of the group is important in determining the perception of others towards

individuals. Perceived masculine and/or higher status occupations are not related to

female roles. Thus women are associated with being homemakers. This perception

creates stereotypes and prevents women from entering occupational groups and

so-called masculine jobs on an equal footing with men (Falkenberg; Rychel, 1985;

Schnner, 1985). According to this theory, women have to work hard to be accepted,

and project an image of being assertive but not aggressive, in order to succeed.

A major barrier to women's progress in management continues to be the gender

stereotyping of the managerial position and there is a pre-existing belief of a

prototypical male manager. The stereotyping issue was already noted in the 1987

United Nations Training Manual on Policy Development for increasing the role of

21

Women in Management. To Walters and Mason (1994) stereotypical behavior is the

result of a learning through socialization processes; both men and women roles are

externally defined. Moreover, women's participation or nonparticipation in top

management and decision-making positions are determined by a number of variables,

including the socialization by their access to social resources such as education,

knowledge and their strength of purpose to achieve success.

k manager

remains and males continue seeing women as less qualified than men for managerial

positions.

Morrison (1992) to explain the few women in upper levels of management. They can

look up through the ceiling and see top management but invisible obstacles stop them.

It is a barrier beyond which women find it difficult to progress in decision-making

and managerial positions, as well as a reflection of social and economic gender

discrimination (ILO, 2003:86). To Reeves and Baden (2000:2) gender discrimination

is the systematic, unfavorable treatment of individuals on the basis of their gender,

which denies them rights, opportunities or resources.

23

doing business. They tend not include women and minorities in important decision

making processes or to enable them to go high in the corporate hierarchy. Many

because of this mismatch between the dominant culture and the growing employee

population of minorities and women. Historically the corporate culture has been

t on

the career development of women. A study by the International Labour

Organization (ILO, 2008) shows that globally, the promotion of women is not seen

as beneficial by the leaders of many organizations.

Men often misjudge women's abilities, what makes evident the impact that

socio-cultural and historical factors have over attitudes towards female workers,

especially those in top management. The ability of women to perform as well as their

male counterparts is discredited, both by men and women (Walters; Mason, 1994).

Women have been more and more career involved, what, on the one hand, represent

an opportunity to organizations, but, on the other hand, means that organizations must

deal with issues such as work-family conflicts, dual-career couples, and sexual

harassment. Higher turnover rates and absenteeism, lower job satisfaction, and

24

general frustration over career development for women and minorities, all indicate

how organizations have not been successful in managing these groups. Moreover,

women and minorities are not progressing as far as they might and are not developing

their full potential as they cluster at lower organization levels (Cox, 1991).

Traditionally women were seen as intellectually and physically inferior to men and

these perceptio

discrimination (Betz; Fitzgerald 1987). It is not difficult for women to gain

employment at the lower levels of organizations, because the criteria for selection

and promotion are more objective, but it is still difficult for them to reach upper

middle and senior management positions, where the criteria are more subjective.

related procedures for systematically understanding the work in an organization.

They aim to understand what people do, how they do it, and what skills they need to

do the work well. By conducting job analysis and documenting job requirements,

employers can tackle this and be more aware of the skills needed to perform a job.

A company should have written objective standards to prevent discrimination

practices in promotion decisions (Jackson; Schuler, 2004). These practices can help

2000) many

small business are opened by women who found limited opportunities for

advancement in large corporations. Different genders have different styles at work.

Women focus on connections with other human beings and the quality of

25

relationships while men are more concerned with abstract concepts, rules, and

hierarchy. The former tend to be better communicators and try to be more

supportive and inclusive. Men, on the other hand, have a more competitive and

result based communication style. While women often want to share and process,

n

communication.

Table 2-1 Male Style versus Female Style

Male Style Female StyleEmphasis is on: Emphasis is on:

Superiority or uniqueness UnderstandingWork accomplishments Personal needs of self or

others Content ProcessAsking directly for needs Hinting about needsActing businesslike withothers at work

Making others feelcomfortable and included

Raising voice Speaking politelyRules, procedures, andtechniques to solveproblemsShowing power withposition in organization

Relying on the strength ofrelationships to resolveissuesShowing power withrespect to others

Source: DAFT (2000).

New working methods and t

change in the gender profile of the functions believed to be masculine or feminine.

26

2.3 Corporate Issues and Human Resources Management

The company leadership, corporate and business strategies, organizational structure,

and organizational culture are all part of the organizational environment. They

provide an immediate context for managing human resources. All of the activities

that an organizations use to affect the behaviors of all the people who work for it are

defined as Human Resources Management - HRM (Jackson; Schuler, 2004).

Daft (2000) says that the human relations movement, which emphasized satisfaction

needs as the key to increased worker productivity, gave place to

a human resources perspective that considers that the jobs should be designed to

meet higher levels needs by allowing workers to use their full potential.

Since the increasing of global competition, behavioral approaches to management

gained more attention to treat new emerged matters in order to comprehend the

Nowadays, employees are

viewed as assets and give the company competitive advantages so the HRM has been

a vital player in corporate strategy. The business management theories provide an

understanding on the strategic role of HRM which refers to activities to attract,

develop, and maintain an effective workforce within an organization. Among other

tasks, the HRM has to act in accordance with the laws to ensure for example equal

employment opportunities, no sexual discrimination in employment, adopting the

principle of equal pay for equal work for both sexes, and guaranteeing special labour

protection for female employees.

27

To Jackson and Schuler (2004) maximizing the value that employees add is the

objective of effective human resource management by ensuring that the organization

has the right employees doing the right things at the right time and place, and under

the right conditions. Many investors prefer companies with good reputations for

enhance or diminish its profitability. Moreover, some cases signalize a greater

investment in companies with higher number of women on the board of directors.

mission, vision and goals) are included in the human resources. A good management

of the human resources is defined by how well they serve their stakeholders, who

have a claim on the resources, services, and products of the companies it is crucial to

the success. Gender, ethnicity, personality, religion, sexual orientation, marital and

family status, and age are issues the corporations are more and more sensitive about,

realizing the value of diversity.

While gender equality denotes women having the same opportunities in life as men,

including the ability to participate in the public sphere, gender equity denotes the

equivalence in life outcomes for women and men, recognizing their different needs

and interests, and requiring a redistribution of power and resources. It is an

acknowledgement that women and men have different needs, preferences, and

interests and that equality of outcomes may require different treatment of men and

women. Women tend to be in disadvantage in hierarchical relations of power with

men. Although they are socially and culturally determined, and subject to change

28

ove

labour and resources, and in ideas of acceptable behavior for women and men they

can be seen (Reeves; Baden, 2000:10-18).

Concerning job opportunities, affirmative action to some extent gave women more

chances to get into a company. However, despite the opportunities, women have not

succeeded in getting into top management positions. Moreover, Daft (2000) points

with affirmative action

hires. People who are hired this way are seen as less competent. Discrimination at

the workplace still persists in organizations. In order to prevent it, a variety of laws

and regulations were created. Wright and Noe (1996) define equal employment

opportunity as providing all individuals with an equal chance for employment,

regardless of their status in any of the protected categories, such as race, sex, and

religion. Affirmative action, on the other hand, actively attracts and retains minority

employees. Gender related concerns such as the glass ceiling and sexual harassment

are included in the diversity issues.

Although more women have entered the work force and an increasing proportion

have received promotions to first-level and middle management, they are poorly

represented in the top management of most organizations. For example, only 1

percent of executives in Fortune 500 companies were female in 1981, and by 1991

this number had increased to only 3 percent (Bateman; Snell, 2002). They are

believed to achieve lower positions than men (and earn less for the same work)

29

because they temporarily leave work to look after children, have leadership styles

more suited to lower-level management, and are less committed to their work.

Moreover, their male colleagues and superiors do not understand or value their

contribution well.

The glass ceiling phenomenon is an invisible barrier that separates women and

minorities from top management positions. At top level, corporate culture evolves

around males, who tend to hire and promote people who look and act like them, so

this reality does not change. Moreover, women who leave the corporate world to

care for children have a difficult time moving up the hierarchy when they return

what contributes to the glass ceiling (Daft, 2000).

Some recruiting practices may create a glass ceiling such as:

30

Table 2-2 Recruiting Practices that May Create Glass Ceiling

Reliance OnNetworkingWord Of Mouth:

Reliance OnNetworkingEmployeeReferrals

Executive SearchFirms

Middle- and upper-level positions often are filled through word-of-mouthreferral. Corporate executives may learn of individuals, interview themcasually at luncheons or dinners, and make them as offer, without a formalrecruitment process. Diminished opportunity occurs for people not in theexecutive network result

In some companies, elaborate employee referral systems are in place. Ifemployees in the company do not represent the full diversity of the labourforce, the pool of applicants created by their referrals also will not reflect thisdiversity.

Employers are responsible for obtaining a diverse pool of applicants. Companies may not make executive recruitment firms aware of their equalemployment and affirmative action obligations and objectives, or they maynot use success in this area in deciding which search firm to hire.

Job Postings

Recruiting Values

Some companies post job notices for lower-level jobs, but not for mid- toupper-level jobs. At the higher levels, employees learn about openings onlythrough their informal networks. Informal communications tend to flow moreintensely among people who are demographically similar, which means thatmembers of many protected groups are less likely to hear about openings forhigher level positions.

Recruiting often occurs at conferences for trade and professional associationsand interviews are often scheduled to take place in a hotel room. This can beintimidating for many women and reduces the possibility of finding qualifiedwomen applicants.

Source: JACKSON; SCHULER (2004).

The relegation of women and minorities to less visible assignments, so that their

work fails to come to the attention of top executives is another reason for the

persistent glass ceiling. Th

with her work or that minorities lack competence is due to stereotyping by male

middle managers. In order to be noticed, recognized, and promoted, minorities in

31

general often believe they must work harder and outperform their male counterparts.

much effort they invest, they are never perceived as correct or suitable. Most of

white males are not intentionally racist and sexist, so this is difficult for them to

understand. Although many men feel extremely uncomfortable with the prevailing

attitudes and stereotypes, they do not know how to change them for these attitudes

are deeply rooted in the society and in organizations (Daft, 2000). In a survey, 96

percent of women who have managed to break through the glass ceiling said that

adapting to a predominantly white male culture was an important factor in their

success. (Ragins; Townsend; Mattis, 1998).

The successful advancement of diverse group members means that the

organizations must find ways to eliminate the glass ceiling. The involvement of the

top management is, hence, critical to breaking the ceiling and for the advancement

of women. Apart more women coming through the pipeline, recruiting practices,

and diversity trainings, one of the most successful structures to accomplish this is

the mentoring relationship.

duties of the mentor, who is a senior organizational member in a higher ranking

(Ragins, 1989; Ragins, Townsend; Mattis, 1998). The advantage of mentoring (Daft,

2000) is providing minorities with direct training and inside information on the

norms and expectations of the organization. Nevertheless, women do not seek

32

mentors because they feel job competency is enough, or they may fear that a

mentoring relationship could be misunderstood as a romantic one. Male mentors, in

turn, think of women more as mothers, wives, or sisters than as executives.

2.4 Managing Diversity in the Workplace

The workplace is changing and

Cultural diversity is welcome and valuable in companies because it helps them to

compete in the global market. To Daft (2000), workforce diversity means the hiring

and inclusion of people with different human qualities or who belong to various

cultural groups. From the perspective of individuals, diversity means including

people from themselves along dimensions such as age, ethnicity, gender, or race. For

many companies, diversity policies increase competitiveness, as they create

access to management and direction positions is a key factor in terms of internal

diversity.

At present, the growing trend of availability of technological resources associates a

people. Therefore, there are strong demands, not only for productiveness and

action. And such qualities are directly related to the issue of the inclusion or

exclusion of different social groups (Gonçalves; Gastaldi Filho et al., 2006).

33

The efficient use of human resources and diverse talents is improved by workers who

enjoy equal treatment and equal opportunities. This not only improves workforce

morale and motivation but also leads to better labour relations with positive

implications for productivity. A more equal distribution of job opportunities,

productive resources, assets, and education, among people of diverse background,

contributes to higher growth and political stability. Everyone has both a stake and a

role to play in achieving equality at work. Although discrimination in employment

takes many forms, and occurs in all kinds of work places, all these terms share a

common feature: people end up being treated differently because of certain

characteristics, such as race, color or sex. In other words, discrimination reinforces

inequalities (ILO, 2003).

To Noon and Ogbonna (2001:1-14), discrimination at work is direct when regulations,

laws and policies explicitly exclude or disadvantage workers on the basis of political

opinion, marital status or sex, for example. This kind of discrimination normally has

a stereotyping core. When people are assigned particular attitudes or lack of talent, by

virtue of their membership in a group, be it racial, sexual, religious or other,

irrespective of their skills and work experience, this is the stereotyping process that

results in prejudice

In order to eliminate race, ethnicity, and gender as wage determinants within job

categories and between job categories, pay equities were conceived. They examine

the existing pay policies that underpay women and activate steps to correct

34

discrimination. The existence and use of a seniority system, a merit system, a

system that measures earnings or quality of production, or a system based on any

additional characteristic other than gender are the four exceptions that can be used

to legally defend unequal pay for equal work (Jackson; Schuler, 2004).

Discrimination occurs, according to Daft (2000), when some applicants are hired or

promoted based on criteria that are not job relevant. If agreed, affirmatives actions

can be remedies, which require an employer to take positive steps to guarantee

equal employment opportunities for people within protected groups.

According to neoclassical economists (ILO, 2003:23-26), for being costly and

inefficient, discrimination at work should not last long. They support that employers

who discriminate against certain groups should disappear because they cannot

compete with the employers who do not. Fighting discrimination in the workplace is

strategic to combating discrimination elsewhere. The workplace can help stop

prejudices and stereotypes by bringing together and treating equally people with

different characteristics. Eliminating discrimination is important for a more efficient

functioning of labour markets and for a more competitive business. An employee

team that represents the diversity of society in terms of age, sex, religion or

abilities/disabilities is more likely to satisfy the needs of a customer base that is

becoming more and more heterogeneous as a result of the globalization.

Several dimensions of diversity are important and mean the including of people

from different ages, ethnicities, genders, races, religions, education levels,

35

disabilities, sexual orientations, and economic levels. And at companies in an

international arena, the cultural diversity can play a strategic role for

competitiveness. Robinson and Dechant (1997) point that many organizations

believe they can use diversity to create economic value, so they are striving to

manage diversity effectively. This can enable companies to develop products and

services for new markets and attract a broader range of customers.

According to Intituto Ethos (2000), gender issues refer to distinctions between male

and female applied through positive or negative attributes, determining roles,

functions and relations in the society. Gender-oriented programs should have a

critical regard on the tradition that considers certain occupations as characteristic of

one of the sexes, without objective justifying reasons. Moreover, they should seek a

better balance in the proportion of professionals of both sexes in the company

technology incorporation. New working methods may facilitate the change in the

gender profile on functions considered masculine or feminine. To Gonçalves,

Gastaldi Filho et al. (2006), diversity is more often associated to gender and race.

-economic condition, age, marital status, nationality,

sexual orientation, impairments, working style and world vision, among other

differences, are being considered by the companies, who, in turn, widen the concept

of diversity. Practicing and valuing diversity, fighting prejudice and discrimination

are principles of enterprise responsibility. The costumers are increasingly diverse and

demanding, and they can be better served by a diversified labour force, who has

better conditions to cater for their needs.

36

The companies are among the main promoters of work opportunities and professional

realization. However, they can either adopt conscious positioning by promoting

diversity, or omit themselves by overlooking prejudices and the inequalities existing

in the society, and reproducing them internally. Stimulating diversity enables the

company to evaluate and promote the employees based on their effective competence,

besides representing an effort towards the expression of talents and individual

potentialities (Instituto Ethos, 2000). Programs encouraging respect for diversity with

focus on gender and race require the commitment of all sectors in the company,

starting from its directors. To Veiga (2004), it is necessary to analyze the

organizational climate and draw up a strategy execution plan with well-defined goals,

procedures, programs, actions, and evaluation mechanisms for the promotion of

women in the workplace. In most cases, although companies are still reluctant in

defining goals for the promotion of women to management/senior positions, they

encourage equal opportunity awareness among their internal personnel. There are

many advantages and challenges to managing a diverse workforce such as:

Table 2-3 Advantages and Challenges of a Diverse Workforce

Advantages Challenges

Fulfills social responsibilityHelps attract, retain, and motivate employeesGains greater knowledge of diversified marketplacePromotes creativity, innovation, and problem solvingEnhances organizational flexibility

Lower cohesivenessCommunication problemsMistrust and tensionStereotyping

Source: BATEMAN; SNELL (2002).

37

According to Gonçalves; Gastaldi Filho et al. (2006), diversity can also bring to the

company: reduced turnover, enhanced productivity, higher satisfaction with work,

less legal vulnerability, valued corporate image, and more flexibility, improving its

capacity of adapting to new situations, as well as bringing adequate recognition. In

this way, the Human Resources Management plays an important role. Different

human resources management strategies are linked to the role, prestige and attitudes

of the HR function, to the attitude of the organization's CEO towards women's issues,

and to the institutionalization of the HRM strategy (Cattaneo; Reavley; Templer

1994).

Mondy, Sharplin, Premeaux, and Gordon (1990) show how the managers

particularly contribute to the powerlessness of a woman:

(1) By patronizingly overprotecting her not suggesting her for high visible

assignments, for example;

(2) By failing to provide managerial support possibly by listening to negative

comments about her and thus inv

(3) By assuming that she does not know the ropes;

(4) By ignoring women in informal social situations; and

(5) By failing to provide organizational support by not sharing power with her.

Daft (2000) stresses that valuing diversity is also beneficial for the opportunity to

develop employee and organizational potential, i.e. higher morale, as people feel

38

valued for what they bring to organization. It comes along better relationships at

work because people acquire the skills to recognize, understand, and accept cultural

differences. This has become a bottom-line business issue. In addition, companies

that treat minorities well will be able to recruit the best employees from other

organizations. The labour market is slowly tightening, and those organizations with

a healthy environment for women and minorities will be in the best competitive

position to attract and retain scarce talents. When women and minorities experience

nonacceptance, people do not feel valued and not willing to take risks for the

organization, so reduced individual and organizational productivity occurs. A

broader and deeper base of experience for problem solving, creativity, and

innovation is provided by diversity within the organization. For example,

heterogeneous teams produce more innovative solutions to problems than

homogeneous ones because people with diverse backgrounds bring different

perspectives to problem solving. Moreover, minority employees, when allowed an

active role, can help organizations grow by challenging basic assumptions about

how the organization works. To succeed, diversity programs need to obtain, top

management leadership and commitment. One way to raise awareness of the

employees and external environment about it is to incorporate the org

attitudes towards diversity into the corporate mission statement and into strategic

plans objectives. We can directly link managerial compensation to accomplishing

diversity objectives. Participating in diversity programs and making participation

mandatory for all managers can be a way of having top management set an example

for other organization members, too (Bateman; Snell, 2002). International studies

39

positively

influenced by diversity programs. They have also made a difference in the attracting

of new investors in many organizations.

40

CHAPTER 3

THE LABOUR MARKET S

chievements in the labour market and in

management around the world in general, in Brazil and China specifically. ILO

(2008a) data show that in 2007, 1.2 billion women around the world worked, almost

200 million or 18.4 per cent more than ten years before. Gender gaps indicators for

certain labour markets are decreasing in many regions and education levels for

women continue to increase.

Many more women had the opportunity to obtain paid work because of the reduction

of agriculture and growth in manufacturing in the 1950s and 1970s, particularly in

industrialized countries (Wirth, 2001:11). Trade and financial liberalization have

created new opportunities for women around the globe. The role of women continues

to develop and instead of staying home, women began to look for jobs outside.

Although they still tend to work in so-called female occupations, and in spite of their

being in certain specific areas, one of the significant changes over last decades was

the rise of women managers.

Women have been gradually moving up the hierarchical ladder of organizations and

represent over 40 per cent of the global workforce (Wirth, 2001:25). They are making

41

remarkable inroads in middle management, especially in banking (Walters; Mason,

1994).

International organizations pay increasing attention to the issues relating to the

strengthening of women. They are also gaining space in the institutional agendas and

in those of the organizations of the civil society. There has also been a deeper

understanding of the relation between the importance of strengthening women and of

eliminating their social drawbacks, as a strategy for social development. The

Women s World Conference, held in Mexico in 1975 with the theme Women and

Development, was the first major milestone of this process. The construction of the

first institutional spaces dedicated to the promotion of the female condition, such as

departments of government and councils related to the state, were initiated by the

recognition of women as a more vulnerable group. The World Conference of Nairobi,

Kenya, in 1985 with the theme Gender and Development, gave relevance to the

unequal conditions of women in the society, and their effects over the reproduction of

poverty, so one might say it advanced if compared to the previous one. The female

issue was present in at least four more international meetings promoted by the UN

(United Nations) between the conference in Nairobi in 1985 and the United Nations

Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. Each of them brought a

specific contribution for the understanding of the importance of gender issues in

fighting poverty and promoting development (Instituto Ethos, 2004).

42

The importance of women's participation in the spaces of policy-making was

emphasized for the promotion of sustainable development at the UN Conference for

Environment and Development, also known as Rio 92. In 1993, the World

Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, Austria, made clear that the women's

rights are human rights and that women should have full access to civilian, economic,

social and cultural life. In the following year, the Fourth World Conference on

Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, not only highlighted the damage of a

differentiated education between boys and girls, but also emphasized female

participation in political processes, the importance of educating and training women

to work, and of ensuring their access to employment and social security. The

responsibility of men in family planning, childcare and household chores was also

stressed out by the conference. In 1995 women were highlighted as more vulnerable

to the effects of poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation and war in the

Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The importance of

gender equity for sustainable development was emphasized and chosen as one of the

essential elements in development strategies. In the same year the United Nations

Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing, the largest meeting ever held between the

s and civil society organizations just consolidated these

advancements. The Conference was about Equality, Development and Peace, and at

last approved a platform of action for the empowerment of women. It also suggested

issues relating to the promotion of gender equity to be incorporated in all public

policies of the governments there present. Providing training for work, encouraging

political participation, social protection and measures against all forms of

43

discrimination were all initiatives to strengthen actions for the women's

empowerment, by the way pledged by all the participating countries, including Brazil

and China (Instituto Ethos, 2004). Great influence in promoting the progress of gender

equality and women's development around the world was achieved through the Beijing

Declaration and the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference

on Women held in Beijing in 1995.

The following summit meetings and UN conferences reaffirmed the platform adopted

in Beijing: the Habitat II in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996, the Food Summit in Rome,

Italy, in 1997, the World Conference on Education for Adults in Hamburg, Germany,

in 1997, and the World Conference against Racism and All Forms of Intolerance in

Durban, South Africa in 2001. The latter emphasized the profound disadvantage

experienced by black women and girls around the world, also highlighting the

importance of affirmative policies for their inclusion on an equal footing, so it

brought a specific contribution to the construction of gender equity. Women have

only achieved gender equity in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, countries

that have offered them full rights of citizenship, according to the World Bank.

Enrollment in secondary education, parliamentary representation and the relation

with non-agricultural jobs are the indicators used for this assessment (Instituto Ethos,

2004).

In June 2004, a code of corporate conduct focused on promoting gender equity and

empowerment of women was launched by the Calvert Group in partnership with the

44

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). It is known as the Calvert

Women's Principles. T women in all their

relationships as internal staff, suppliers, community, consumers, and in marketing

strategies are set by the Calvert Principles as selection criteria for their investments

around the world. The Calvert Principles not only offer conduct standards, but also

instruments for the evaluation of the performance of organizations in the construction

of gender equity, either internally or by their investors. The Calvert Group believes

that well administrated companies, which base their management practices on social

responsibility, have more advantages in dealing with risks and in generating profit for

shareholders over the long term. Therefore, the organization proposes principles that

have a direct relation with the indicators that are used in the selecting of its

investments in the long term. In companies where women are treated as equals, have

leadership positions, and participate fully in the decision-making, this is particularly

true (Instituto Ethos, 2004).

(Seager, 1997:14). Globally, 89 percent of countries have ratified the

Convention. Nevertheless, ratifying the Convention alone may be not enough, even

where it was fully ratified. The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, to

name a few European countries, have reservations, and the US has failed to ratify it at

all. Curiously, countries like South Africa

new constitutions and legislative systems - have adopted the Convention promptly.

Both China and Brazil ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

45

Discrimination Against Women CEDAW - with reservations (Wach; Reeves,

2000).

3

Brazil

Population: 169.6 million - female 51%, male 49% - (2000)

Composition: white 54%, mestizos 39.9%, black 5.4%, yellow 0.5%, indigenous

0.2% (1999)

Language: Portuguese (official)

Religion: Christianity (Catholic 71%, others 10%), Spiritualism, Judaism,

Afro-Brazilian cults

Density: 19.9 inhabitants/ km2 (2000)

Urban Population: 81% (2000)

Demographic growth: 1.6% per year (2000)

Fecundity: 2.3 children per woman (1999)

Life expectancy M/ F: 64.3/ 72.3 years (1999)

Child mortality: 33.6%0 (2000)

Illiteracy: 13.3% (1999)

GDP: US$ 595.3 billion (2000)

(Almanaque Abril, 2002:179).

A research on the Social, Racial and Gender profiles of the 500 largest companies in

Brazil, as well as on and their Affirmative Action, was held in Brazil by the Ethos

46

Institute. The discrepancy between women's participation in the labour market and

its representativeness in the society is made clear by the study. Nevertheless, there

is a progression in the increasing of the participation of women in the executive

board, from 6 percent in 2001 to 9 percent in 2003, and 10.6 percent in 2005, as

shown by the three surveys conducted by the institute. Although it may seem a very

slight variation, one might say it is significant (Gonçalves; Gastaldi Filho et al.,

2006). The research is done with information about the 500 largest Brazilian

companies, of which 119 responded the sent questionnaire. It is a very small

universe, especially if compared to the total number of Brazilian companies and the

total of women in them. One cannot precisely say the total number of Brazilian

companies, although, according to non-academic sources, this number is around 6

million in the whole national territory. Without a doubt this is a good start and

should be replicated in other companies.

Although women participate in all hierarchical levels considered in the study above,

they are under-represented, even where they are more present. The highest

percentage recorded in the staff board - 32.6 percent, - is much lower than the

percentage of female participation in the Brazilian population (51.3 percent) or in

the economically active population (42.7 percent). The hierarchical bottleneck

situation remains in the gender composition the higher the power positions, the

fewer women as found in the previous survey. With one difference, nevertheless:

there is increased female presence in the transition from the supervisory level to

management (from 27 to 31 percent), caused by a positive variation of 13

47

percentage points in management (from 18 percent in 2003 to 31, in 2005). But in

2005 the decrease in the transition from the managerial to the executive level is

sharply higher. And the under-representation of women, who make 42.7 percent of

the country's economically active population, is still seen at all levels (Gonçalves;

Gastaldi Filho et al., 2006). There are fewer women in higher positions of power, so

we can see how the situation of hierarchy bottleneck prevails.

According to the same research on the social, racial and gender profile of the 500

largest companies in Brazil, 52 percent of the sample (of 119 firms) have no women

in directorship positions and 1 percent could not provide information. Only 56

organizations out of the 119 claim to have women in the executive board, resulting

in approximately 3.5 women per company - the same average recorded in the 2003

survey. From 2003 to 2005 the previously registered tendency of growth of female

participation was, to some extent, reflected. There was an increase in the number of

company chairmen saying they have women in their executive boards - from 40 to

47 percent. Likewise, there was an increase in the total number of presidents to say

that women would earn equal or higher salaries than those of men at higher levels

of their companies: from 38 to 45 percent in executive level, and from 83 to 85

percent in management. While in supervision this rate was reduced by 1 percent, in

the staff the situation is the same in both surveys. The results may reflect a trend of

improvement in the situation of women in higher levels. The adoption of any policy

or affirmative action to compensate for the disadvantages of groups traditionally

discriminated against and to help promoting equity among its employees, was

48

mentioned by more than half of companies in the sample. Such advancements in

suggest the increased concern of the companies about the challenge of promoting

diversity and fighting social inequality in the labour market (Gonçalves; Gastaldi

Filho et al., 2006).

According to Instituto Ethos (2004), not all organizations maintain explicit policies to

promote gender equity or rely only on fair criteria of access and promotion, as

suggested by another study in Brazil about the commitment of the companies with

the valuing of women. Women experience disadvantages in the labour market, which

are expressed in their low participati

in their lower participation in training courses and slower pace in the evolution of

their careers. In many cases, overcoming these disadvantages is not enough. The

concern about ensuring the conditions for equality of opportunity begins to take

shape among the business organizations operating in Brazil nowadays. The making of

an internal census to map out diversity within the companies and the establishing of

new practices for selection and promotion, the setting of goals to increase women's

participation in directorship bodies, or the planning of actions for specific training

all of them are indicators that allow us to perceive this concern (Instituto Ethos,

2004).

Brazil experienced demographic, cultural and social changes that had great impact

on women's work in the last decades of the twentieth century. The entry of women

49

into the labour market has been facilitated by deep transformations in the values

related to the social role of women. Many factors triggered the entry of women into

the labour market, such as: the deterioration of the buying power of wage-earners,

compelling women to look for a complement to the family income; an increase in the

expectations of consumption; and, in special, the women's desire to have paid jobs

and economic independence. The decrease in fertility rate and the access to

universities have contributed to this process.

When it comes to education level, Santos (2006) points out a trend for Brazilian

women to increase their participation in a more qualified way. In 1996 women

accounted for 44 percent of people with Masters Degree and in 2003 the number

34 percent in 1996 to 38 percent in 2003. This trend is perceived by Bruschini and

Puppin (2004) as enabling women to access new job opportunities. Still according to

the same source, although women increased their presence and reached more than

61 percent in higher education, they still cluster in certain areas such as linguistics,

languages and arts (83 percent), humanities (82 percent), biological sciences (74

percent) and health sciences (67.6 percent), which prepare them to occupy the

so-called female "ghettos".

Concerning the Brazilian wome

highlight the increase of female participation among workers - from 39.6 percent in

1993 to 43.5 percent in 2005. Bruschini (2007) indentified this trend taking into

50

account that the female economically active population (EAP), which includes those

who are working and those looking for work, increased from 28 million to 41.7

million workers in the mentioned period. Furthermore, in 1993, 47 out of every 100

women worked. In 2005, in turn, of every 100 women, 53 worked. According to

historical trend, women are more likely to reach higher positions in their careers

within the public administration, if compared to the private sector. While in the

private sector, 21 percent of directorship positions are occupied by females, the same

occurs to 44.8 percent of the positions in the same level in the public sector (Bruschini;

Puppin 2004). This trend is also perceived by Wirth (2001) in developing countries,

where women likewise have greater chances of obtaining management positions in the

public service.

In the year 2000 in Brazil, about 9,977 (23.6 percent) out of 42.276 management

positions were occupied by women. And female directors prevail in bigger companies,

with 250 employees or more. The group of companies to render community services

and social services includes the clinical and hospital services (with 30.5 percent of

the directorship positions held by women), the social services companies (with 42.2

percent of the positions at that level occupied by women), cultural services

companies (47.3 percent) and other companies in the group, with 55.7 percent of

directorship positions occupied by women, according to the source. In other words, in

traditional female areas such as the social, culture and health, it can be said that

women are in high number, or even predominate, in directorship positions. The

presence of women in positions of management ranges from 11.5 to 17 percent in the

51

other sectors (Bruschini; Puppin 2004).

Bruschini (2007) shows that female workers concentrate in the service sector in 3

sub-sectors: domestic services (16.9 percent), education, health and social services

(16.1 percent) and other collective, social and personal services (5.3 percent). On the

other hand, male workers are distributed more homogenously in all sectors, with a

greater presence in the agriculture and industry: 24 percent and 16.4 percent,

respectively. Trade is the sector of activity in which the presence of employees by sex

is more balanced: 19 percent of men and 16 percent of women. Yet according to the

same source, in 2004 the female presence accounted for 31 percent of directorship

positions of companies in the formal sector. Women prevail in traditional female

sectors (from 46 percent to 53 percent in public administration, education, health and

social services). In other sectors, women occupy 10 percent to 15 percent of the

directorship positions.

The Catho group, a Brazilian company for placement in the labour market, makes a

series of studies. One of them, with 380 thousand executives and 62 thousand

companies, showed that the women increased their participation among the

high-level executives in the end of the 1990s, but they were still majority in lower

positions. Women were reaching higher positions from the second half of the 1990s

on, and at younger ages than those of their colleagues at the same level, according

to the same survey (Bruschini; Puppin 2004). Another non academic survey by the

same group (Diário Catarinense, 2008) includes 94,923 companies and 360,501

52

executives, and indicates a greater participation of women in higher hierarchical

levels (presidents and CEOs): 20.56%. In 1997, they represented only 10.39% of

the presidents and CEOs, so in 2008 this was the highest percentage recorded in 11

years, as follows:

Table 3-1 Functions and Proportion of Female Executives in %

Functions and Proportion of Female Executives in %Position

1996 / 97 2007 / 08

President, CEO or Equivalent 10.39 20.56Vice- President 10.82 16.04Director 11.60 25.86Manager 15.61 32.03Supervisor 20.85 44.68Chief 24.76 40.54Charge person 36.78 53.49Coordinator 36.95 53.89

Source: DIÁRIO CATARINENSE (2008).

The status of women in Brazil is improving despite persistent gender inequality.

Generally speaking, although there are as many females as males in schools, even at

the highest levels, and in professions that traditionally were dominated by males,

such as law, medicine, dentistry, and engineering, (what makes these professions

more balanced in terms of gender), there are still relatively few women in positions of

decision making.

To Bruschini and Puppin (2004), the leadership positions are concentrated in

traditional female areas such as the social, cultural and health, according to the

53

same data. The Brazilian female executives are present mostly in traditional female

ghettos, even at the highest levels of the career. They predominate in companies of

greater size and are younger than the male directors, besides having been in the

directorship for a shorter time. They receive lower revenues than their fellow male

, in spite of their higher education level and the high position held.

The Brazilian Constitution prohibits discrimination in the working world (although

this alone is not enough to guarantee access to decent work) - difference in wages,

duties and criteria for admission on grounds of sex, race, age or marital status. The

law also forbids the requirement and certificate of pregnancy or sterilization. In

collective labour agreements and in internal policies in many companies, the

expansion of maternity leave and paternity leave were achieved. Under the

constitution of 1988, Brazilian women became entirely equal to men for all legal

purposes. The legal achievements are important and necessary, although one might

say that the historical and cultural inequalities between male and female are not

acknowledged, even if they are reflected in different levels of social life.

According to UNCT (2005), the Brazilian government, by developing public policies,

has been willing to widen the focus on gender. Without doubt, many advances have

been made in promoting gender equity in Brazil, such as the creation of the National

Council on Women's Rights (CNDM), the ratification of the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the creation

of a Special Secretariat for Policies for Women (SPM) in 2003, with ministerial status,

54

the Women s National Conference held in 2004 and the formulation of a national

plan.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the recent achievements of the Brazilian women: the

BPW - Business Professional Women (São Paulo) has launched the "Women's

Friend Company Seal". Promoting the respect for diversity and the development of

women in the Brazilian society, so that they can live and express themselves with

more dignity is the goal of this seal (Dearo, 2008). In order to reduce, in the

medium term, negative statistics regarding wome s development in the country,

the seal, which is actually a program, aims to increase activities and information,

always supporting and encouraging private companies to do so.

3.3 n China

Population: 1.285 billion female 49%, male 51% - (2001)

Composition: Han Chinese 92%, ethnic minorities 7.5% (Chuan, Manchu, Uigur,

Hui, Yi, Duyia, Tibetan, Mongol, Miao, Puyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, Bai, Hani,

Kazakh, Dai, Li), others 0.5%

Languages: Mandarin (official), regional dialects (main: Min, Vu, and Cantonese)

Religion: no religion 42.2%, traditional Chinese beliefs 28.5%, Buddhism 8.4%,

Atheism 8.1%, Christianity 7.1% (independent 6.4%, others 0.7%), traditional

beliefs 4.3%, Islam 1.5%, double affiliation 0.1% (2000).

Density: 134.75 inhabitants/ km2 (2001)

55

Urban Population: 32% (2000)

Demographic growth: 0.71% per year

Fecundity: 1.8 child per woman

Life expectancy M/ F: 69.1/ 73.5 years

Child mortality: 36.5%0 (2000-2005)

Illiteracy: 15% (2000)

GDP: US$ 989.5 billion (1999)

(Almanaque Abril, 2002: 205-206).

Women comprise between 32 and 46 per cent of the labour force in individual

economies in the Asia-

in the labour force has risen dramatically. Since the 1980s, women have provided a

large part of the new labour supply in industrialized and developing economies.

They have also provided as much as 80 per cent of the labour force in export

industries in some economies (UNIFEM, 1999).

Since 1978 Chinese economy has changed from an extremely closed to an

international trade kind; from a centrally planned system to a market-oriented one,

becoming a major player in the global economy. China is a developing country and

has the largest population in the world. Women account for half of its total population

of 1.3 billi - ACWF (2007) defends the

promotion of gender equality and the overall development of women as a special

effort towards the advancement of mankind. In China, it has always been a basic state

56

policy to promote equality between genders. Since 1949, and especially after the

adoption of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, and with the

continuous growth of China's economy and the cultural changes in Chinese society,

women are being given more guarantees of enjoyment of equal rights and

opportunities with men. The development of women is, hence, being given

unprecedented opportunities. The Fourth UN World Conference on Women held in

Beijing in 1995, has, as a result, The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.

was a complete legal system concerning the protection of women's rights and

interests, and the promotion of gender equality, based on the Constitution of the

People's Republic of China, and with the Law of the People's Republic of China on

the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women.

According to ACWF (2007), to carry out the 1995 Platform for Action and push

forward gender equality and women's development in a comprehensive way, the

Outline for the Development of Chinese Women was created as a national program of

action for the years 1995-2000. As the goals set in the first Outline were basically

realized, and to meet the demands of China's coordinated economic and social

development and the requirements of the UN Millennium Development Goals, in

2001 China promulgated its Outline for the Development of Chinese Women

(2001-2010). New 34 major goals and 100 policies and measures in six fields were

then outlined: women and the economy; women's participation in decision-making

and administration; women and education; women and health; women and the law;

57

and women and the environment. The National Working Committee on Children and

Women (NWCCW) under the State Council, the coordination and consultation organ

of the Chinese government in charge of women and children's work, is important in

the coordination and promotion of relevant government departments to do women

and children's work well.

The Chinese government also values the role of non-governmental organizations

-China Women's

Federation (ACWF) is the largest NGO dedicated to this matter. Its organizational

system covers women's federations and group members at various levels, counting on

federation, the ACWF plays a significant role in uniting and motivating women to

participate in the country's economic construction and social development, and

safeguarding the rights and interests of women as a whole.

To ACWF (2007), the state has prioritized the guarantee of equal employment

opportunities between women and men and the sharing of economic resources and

results of social development for the advancement of gender equality and the

preferential treatment when granting employment training subsidies and small-sum

guaranteed loans, as well as conducting tax reduction and exemption, have been the

Chinese government policies to support women. In the meantime, governments at all

levels have adopted the creation of public-welfare jobs, the opening of employment

58

service centers, the sponsoring of special recruitment activities and vocational

training courses, the monitoring of sex discrimination against women in employment,

and the helping of women in finding new jobs.

Yet according to the same source, since the 1990s, the number and ratio of women

employed have remained fairly high. By the end of 2004, the number of urban and

rural female workers reached 337 million nationwide, accounting for 44.8 percent of

the total employed; and the number of female workers in urban work units stood at

42.27 million, accounting for 38.1 percent of the national total. In the late 2000s, the

tertiary industry has become the main source of jobs to women, and more and more of

them are entering the computer, communications, finance and insurance and other

high- and new-tech industries. The principle of equality between genders in terms of

recruitment, training of professionals and technicians, as well as of promotion in

ranks and granting of professional titles to encourage women to display their abilities,

have been a goal to state organs, enterprises and public institutions. By the end of

2004, women accounted for 43.6 percent of the total number of professionals and

technicians in public enterprises and institutions in the country (up 6.3 percent over

the 37.3 percent of 1995) among whom the number of senior and intermediate-level

women professionals and technicians rose from 20.1 percent and 33.4 percent to 30.5

percent and 42.0 percent, respectively.

The Chinese government has begun to cooperate with the United Nations

Development Program, the International Labour Organization and other international

59

organizations, in order to promote gender equality in employment and raise women's

ability to find employment or start businesses. Women have strengthened their ability

in managing state, political and social affairs. The basic principle that men and

women have equal political rights is clearly stipulated by the Chinese Constitution.

The Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women was an important step

towards the ensuring of female participation in decision making and management.

Chinese women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as Chinese men to receive

education. China's Education Law, Compulsory Education Law and Vocational

Education Law clearly define these rights. Nine-year compulsory education and more

opportunities to receive secondary and higher education are some rights to be

guaranteed by state measures. Eliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged

women, promoting lifelong education for women and extending their average years

of education are sought too. The enrollment of boys and girls was 98.97 percent and

98.93 percent, respectively in 2004. The difference in access to education between

boys and girls was reduced from 0.7 percent in 1995 to 0.04 percent (ACWF, 2007).

A narrowing in the gap in the education level reached by men and women can be

observed. In 2000, the average woman spends 6.1 years in school, an increase of 1.4

years if compared to 1990. The gap decreased from 1.9 years to 1.5 years. The

average urban woman spends 8.7 years at school, while the average urban man

spends 9.7 (ACWF, 2006e).

60

present challenges. Chinese women needs for subsistence, development and

protection of their rights and interests also vary because women themselves have

become more diversified in their social status. Due to the outmoded conventions and

customs of inequality between men and women originated in China's history and

culture, which have not yet been completely eradicated, there is an obvious

imbalance in female development in different regions, social status and groups.

interests, formulate and implement programs regarding their development, improve

relevant working organs, increase financial input and strengthen social awareness in

order to promote gender equality and the development of women. Traditionally, the

Chinese society was male-centered, but with time the position of women in modern

society began to change and nowadays requires a leap away from traditional Chinese

thinking. Some experts say many Chinese men want a not very well educated woman

to marry. There is a saying in China according to which there are three categories of

people: male, female, and female with a doctors degree. Women are even allowed to

hold a PhD. but they should be already married at this time. Besides that, the

husband should have a doctors degree, too, because if she is more qualified than the

husband, he may lose face.

One might say that China is confronted with new issues in its efforts to promote

women's development and gender equality. Currently, women account for 45 percent

of the national work force. According to ACWF (2006), in 2001 there were 730.25

million employees in the country. Women accounted for 37.4 percent in enterprises,

61

44.1 percent in institutions, 24.8 percent in state organs, party and government

departments and NGOs, 42.7 percent in service trades, and 57.5 percent in the sectors

of public health, physical culture and social welfare service. There are more than 15

million female leaders in China today, or 38 percent of all the leaders. The same

federation (2007a) shows that women's ability to be involved in the management of

state and social affairs has been strengthened, and their ability in handling political

affairs has gradually enhanced. Also, China's Constitution stipulates that men and

women have equal political rights and the Law on the Protection of Rights and

Interests of Women has made further stipulations to ensure that women can

participate in decision making and management.

The previously mentioned Program for the Development of Chinese Women

(2001-2010) is very important for the bjectives

such as: enhancing women's participation in the administration, management, and

decision-making on state and social affairs; making efforts to ensure that the

percentage of women in the management of the professions and sectors where they

predominate is in proportion to their percentage therein; improving the mechanism of

equal competition; seeking to create equal competition opportunities for women to

participate in decision-making and management; giving priority to women among the

candidates who have the same qualifications, in the selection of cadres; fostering and

identifying women for senior management positions and encouraging state-owned

enterprises to take active action to explore new forms of women's democratic

participation at the levels of decision-making and management.

62

-Tung and the CPC

(Communist Party of China) gained power in 1949. He formulated the official

position of equality between men and women in the PRC

China, and this became an official state policy as a representation of the success of

communism. In this period women believed to be equal members of society, as they

saw women in government positions in unprecedented numbers, and worked in

factories, fields, and chose their husbands more often than ever before, besides

participating in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1978) as Red Guards, receiving

reeducation in the countryside. Examining the relationship between women and the

Maoist state is fundamental to understand any matter related to women in modern

China. After Mao's death and the economic reform, women began to question this

notion of equality.

The Constitution and the actual conditions of the country provided the basis for the

Women, formulated to protect women's lawful rights and interests, promote the

equality between men and women and allow full play to women's role in socialist

modernization. Equal rights with men in all aspects of political, economic, cultural,

social and family life shall be enjoyed by women. Special rights and interests enjoyed

by women shall be protected by the state according to law, and its social security

system with respect to women should be gradually perfected. Discrimination,

maltreatment, or cruelty causing injury or even death of women shall be prohibited.

Equal political rights with men should be guaranteed by the State. Equal pay for equal

63

work shall be applied to men and women as well as equal rights to work (ACWF,

2006c).

To ACWF (2006d), 85.7 percent of female senior managers in private enterprises

were CPC members. There are no distinct differences between the numbers of male

and female CPC members in senior management positions. China has three female

vice-

woman vice-premier; 2 female vice-chairpersons of the CPPCC (Chinese People's

Political Consultative Conference) National Committee; 1 woman state councilor,

according to ACWF (2006). Yet the same source points out the existence of 48

females in the ministry- or commission-level leading groups of departments under

omen in the leading groups

of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central

Government; 647 females in the leading groups of 396 municipalities, prefectures

and leagues; and 4,353 women in the leading groups of 2,813 counties, county-level

municipalities, districts and banners.

Many challenges to balance career and family are faced by Chinese working

women. As they climb up the career ladder in a company, they meet problems along

the way, while men can climb the ladder more easily. A 2006-2007 income survey

released by ChinaHR Corporation (Xu, 2008) shows the existence of a gender wage

gap, as below:

64

05,000

10,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,000

2006 2007

Male

Female

Figure 3-1 Wage Gap / Average Yearly Income of Employees in Major Chinese Cities (RMB2)2006-2007, China

Source: ChinaHR apud XU, Weiwei (2008).

The figure above (ChinaHR apud Xu, 2008) presents the wage gap in 2006 and 2007.

It is possible to visualize a salary increase in both sexes in the two years presented.

Although the female income has risen in absolute and relative terms, there is still a

RMB

26,112 in 2006 to RMB 28,766 in 2007, what represents a 10 percent growth in their

nt from RMB 42,709 in 2006 to RMB

44,027 in 2007, representing a 3 percent rise. This change, although very slight,

means a narrowing in the wage gap. This also allows us to see that in 2006 the

roportion that rose

to 65% in 2007, also making the small narrowing of the wage gap evident.

2 Chinese currency, Renminbi.

65

CHAPTER 4

THE LABOUR MARKET

in labour market, already in the first half of 20th century. Men were engaged in

fighting at the front, so women entered the labour market in large numbers to tackle

shortages in the male labour supply. When the men returned from war, female

presence in the

and range of jobs available to men and, at the same time, condemn women to less

important occupations and, even exploitative conditions (ILO, 2003).

According to Tarrega and Miranda (no date), the social status of women in the

working world was tardily recognized and we can still see some remnants of that. The

y to men has not been completed yet.

This can be seen through their late insertion and unequal conditions today. One might

say that only the advent of machinery brought effective visibility to the women in the

working world. Therefore, although the presence of women in productive work was

only revealed by their inclusion in the great capitalist industry, their work has not

been recognized as work that produces wealth or which builds the history. Working at

home, partially or temporarily, being paid per assignment or informally - have

sharply grown as forms of female jobs. The expansion of this kind of precarious work

66

is also known as the feminization of labour market, a phenomenon of transformation

of the working world.

Throughout the globe, discrimination against women and the non-recognition of the

value of their contribution to society has been common. When laws reinforced

education, employment and decision-making positions and lower income (Walters;

Mason, 1994). In the business world, many are the obstacles women face seeking

management, less participation in training courses, a slower pace in

evolution, wage gap between men and women for the same job, glass ceiling and

glass walls phenomena, lack of mentoring, and stereotypes. It is noteworthy that the

barriers here mentioned are also applicable to the Chinese and Brazilian women.

Traditionally women were seen as intellectually and physically inferior to men and

development and led to discrimination (Betz; Fitzgerald, 1987). It is not difficult for

women to gain employment at the lower levels of organizations, because the criteria

for selection and promotion are more objective, but it is still difficult for them to

reach upper middle and senior management positions, where the criteria are more

subjective.

67

Although the gender division of labour is socially constructed, these ideas and

practices tend to be seen as natural and immutable. In addition, roles typically

designated as feminine are almost always less valued than those designated as

masculine. While women are generally expected to fulfill the reproductive role of

bearing and raising children, caring for other family members, and household

management tasks, as well as home based production, men in turn, tend to be more

associated with productive roles, particularly paid work, and market production.

they tend to be restricted to a relatively narrow range of occupations or concentrated

in lower levels than men, usually with lower salaries (Reeves; Baden, 2000:8).

Female participation in the working world is marked by much lower salaries than

those of men in the same functions, and more difficulty in making a career. Women

are the first to be fired in moments of crisis and have more difficulty in replacement.

chances to take part in the working world. In 2007, 52.5 percent of all women of

working age was either looking for work or working, which was slightly less than ten

years before. Two diverging trends can be seen through this minimal change: an

increase in prime-age participation and a decrease in youth participation, which

results mainly from more women participating in education. Theoretically, this

should improve their chances in labour markets. A decrease from 80.4 percent in

1997 to 78.8 percent in 2007 can be seen in male participation. While men are more

likely to be in core or regular and better remunerated positions, women are often in

68

peripheral, insecure and less-

certain jobs many times result from recruitment practices that favor men, barriers in

in

non-strategic sectors and in personnel/administrative positions at lower management

levels, rather than in professional and line-management jobs leading to the top.

Product development and corporate finance are areas in which women are seldom

found. Moreover, women are often excluded from the formal and informal networks,

so essential for advancement in companies. One of the most resistant areas for gender

equality participation is the decision-making. The main source of employment for

women and men is the service sector in most countries, where the concentration of

women is higher by about 20 percent and even over 30 percent in some countries

(ILO, 2003:42-46). As a share of total female employment in Latin America and the

Caribbean, more women find jobs in the service sector than men: the female share in

services is 74.8 percent, by far the highest in the world, while the male share is only

48.2 percent. In absolute numbers, more women work in this sector than men as well

(ILO, 2008).

To Hirata (1998) women are getting worse in about every area, most specifically in

the working world, in spite of all the progress they have been achieving. In the

from 38% in 1970 to 52% in 1990. According to the UNDP (United Nations

Development Programme) report (1997), although women represent almost 44% of

69

the working population, they only hold approximately one fourth of the leading

positions.

Normally, women have to accept and join the masculine model to progress in

management. They face many barriers in society and especially to reach high-levels

positions in the corporate world. The typical obstacles are the glass walls and ceilings,

gender stereotypes, lack of training, little support for dual careers, and difficulty in

finding mentors. Moreover, the lack of comfort men experience in dealing with

women on a professional level is also considered a barrier among professional

women. Another important point is that women managers receive less social support

than their male counterparts and this has also an impact in their career development.

To Wirth (2001), if women are not given developmental job assignments, they will

be perceived as less qualified than men and will not be considered for the next higher

job, and the cycle goes on. Without doubt, women face challenges in succeeding in

Nowadays corporations face an alarming gender gap in leadership. There are so many

stereotypic beliefs in the workplace, what poses an invisible threat to women leaders.

Women are seen as lacking the qualities that people commonly associate with

effective leadership according to these gender stereotypes (Catalyst, 2005).

Concerning stereotypes, it is important to note that their influence is strong, not only

among men, but they are also internalized as a sort of rule of social conduct, being

reproduced by the females themselves (Merrick, 2002).

70

Worldwide, a major barrier to women's progress in management continues to be the

gender stereotyping of the managerial position, indicating a notion of masculine

managerial model. Gender-based stereotypes in business limit opportunities for

women to advance in the workplace.

opt

the United States to describe the invisible artificial barriers, created by prejudices,

which block women from senior executive positions. For Wirth (2001:1-47) the

range of occupations where there is less responsibility and/or lower pay, or having

to work part time, where there are fewer opportunities for advancement. Many of

the difficulties women face in pushing against the glass ceiling can be explained by

labour market inequalities between genders. Although qualified and competent

women look up through the glass ceiling and can see what they are capable of

achieving, invisible barriers prevent them from breaking through. Yet according to

the same source, moving laterally into strategic areas such as product development

or finance, and then upwards through the central pathways to key executive

positions in the pyramidal structure, so characteristic of large organizations, is also

72

the top management is, hence, critical to breaking the ceiling and for the

advancement of women within organizations, and one of the most successful

structures to accomplish this is the mentoring relationship. The advantage of

mentoring (Daft, 2000) is providing minorities with direct training and inside

information on the norms and expectations of the organization. Nevertheless, women

do not seek mentors because they feel job competency is enough, or they may fear

that a mentoring relationship could be misunderstood as a romantic one. Male

mentors, in turn, think of women more as mothers, wives, or sisters than as

executives.

The proportion of women in top management has increased in industrialized

countries, but this proportion is still typically reported as less than 5 percent. In 2002,

in Japan, the percentage of middle-level managers was 8.7 percent and the percentage

of the ones who were department heads 3.2 percent (ILO, 2004). In Canada, for

instance, women account for 46.2 percent of the labour force and make up only 32

percent of the managerial roles, 12 percent of senior management and 7.5 percent of

directorships (Fox, 2006). Over the last years, many surveys indicate that women

have an insufficient share of the top executive jobs in companies 1.3 percent in

Australia, 2 percent in France, 1 to 3 percent in Germany, 3 percent in Brazil and

3.6 in the United Kingdom. However, in the United States, women managed to

obtain 5.1 percent of chief executive positions in the 500 largest companies in 1999,

compared to just 2.4 percent in 1996 (Wirth, 2002).

73

Yet according to Wirth (2002), in developing countries, the proportion of women in

administrative and managerial positions seems to be quite significant, such as in

Colombia (40 percent), Bermuda (40 percent), Philippines (37 percent), Honduras

(47 percent) and Venezuela (23 percent). Nevertheless, many working women are

well educated and prepared for professional occupations in these countries and their

skills are in demand. In the financial sector, women have actually made it into senior

management in recent years, but with few exceptions, they are not breaking through

to the top positions. Increases between 1990 and 1995 in the proportion of women in

executive positions, except at the board level, which remained static at around 5

percent, were shown in a survey of European banks published in 1999. Although the

proportion of women getting into management increases, it is not everywhere. In 13

out of 24 countries for which ILO data were available, a small rise of between 1 to 3

percent in the proportion of management jobs occupied by women over the period

1993-98 can be seen. In El Salvador numbers went from 26 to 35 percent; in New

Zealand from 31 to 37 percent, and in Slovakia from 23 to 30 percent, what

demonstrates a more significant change in these countries. Still, there are few senior

women are in the so-

responsibilities and which are crucial for the advancement to the highest levels. For

example, in 1999 in the United States, men still held 93.8 percent of line jobs. In

Canada, in the same period, men held 93.6 of line jobs. A positive change is that the

proportion of companies that have no women or just one woman as corporate

managers is declining. In the United States the proportion of the largest 500

companies with no women in such positions drop from 23 to 21 percent between

74

1995 and 1999, and in the same period those with only one woman went from 33 to

23 percent. As seen before, when women managers are concentrated in certain sectors

are areas more likely to have female executives. In the United States, 42 percent of

administrative and managerial employees being in the services sector are women

compared with 30 percent of men. In the United Kingdom, in turn, women have more

chances of being personnel managers (50 percent), actuarial, insurance and pensions

managers (44 percent) and marketing managers (38 percent). There are very few

female research and development managers (3.4 percent) and manufacturing and

production managers (3.5 percent). In Argentina, 35 percent of women executives are

in commercial management, 16 percent are personnel managers and 14 percent are

accounting and financial control managers.

When the main basis for the determination of wages is the sex, the color or other

personal attributes of the person performing the work, and not the content of the work

to be performed, discrimination in remuneration occurs. Several approaches have

been followed to detect discrimination in pay. And although women have equivalent

education and work experience, they still continue to hold lower paying occupation

t institutions are strongly influenced by power relations in

the economy and wider society. It is, therefore, important to explore the factors and

processes that cause this situation. In countries that have centralized collective

bargaining and that emphasize egalitarian wage policies in general (e.g. Australia,

Norway and Sweden) the earnings gap tends to be smaller. In countries that

75

emphasize a traditional non-egalitarian role of women in the labour market (e.g.

Japan), or that have decentralized market-oriented wage determination with

enterprise-level bargaining (e.g. the United States), it tends to be largest (ILO,

2003:47-52).

Women are underrepresented in higher-paying administrative and managerial

positions and this contributes to pay inequity. Rece

shows that, from 71 countries, on average in developed countries, women earn 77

percent as much as men, and in developing countries, 73 percent. Studies suggest,

that elimination of discrimination might raise the earnings of females by 22% in the

formal sector, 72% in the informal sector, 44% in the domestic sector and 31%

example, changes in the relative distribution of wages, improvements in female

earnings generating endowments and/or a successful anti-discrimination policy

providing more equal opportunities for women (Arabsheibani; Carneiro; Henley,

2003). In virtually every economy, women are paid lower wages than men.

Worldwide, they still earn between 50 and 80 percent of men's wages (UNIFEM,

1999).

In the industrial sector of developed countries, the average pay for women accounts

the result of an unfair distribution in the different areas of the economy and the

positions offered. The division of labour between the genders is still at the core of

76

always represented as being of a

This author is also known for defending the egalitarian division of housework, as a

way of approximating women to masculine centers of decision.

To UNIFEM (1999), despite major gains in women's education in virtually every

country, they continue to face obstacles to the full development of their potential. In

science and technology this is particularly true about their access to education and

careers. More boys still obtain education in science and technology, and those girls

who advance in education do tend to be streamed toward certain fields such as the

social and biological sciences, and away from natural sciences, engineering and

agriculture.

In September of 2000, the Uni

of State and government. It resulted in the drafting of the United Nations

Millennium Declaration, which was endorsed by all 189 member states and reflects

the concerns the political leaders have about sustainability of the planet and other

urgent problems. Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the

goals of this document. Brazil has particular characteristics in terms of sexual

equality. For example, the inequality in the female access to education has already

been redressed. Moreover, approximately 25 percent of all Brazilian families are led

by women (mothers and grandmothers), many of whom cannot find jobs that pay

77

enough to enable them to make ends meet. Although more and more women find

employment, their presence in managerial and directorial positions is still very low.

They face difficulties in the access to positions that demand more qualification, or

that offer more chances of growth in the career. These factors need to be considered

in order to measure advances in gender relations in Brazil. The Millennium goals in

Brazil can only be developed by addressing such questions. Companies have a

central role to play in this task. Business actions directed towards employees, or

partnerships with the government and the third sector, are fundamental to achieve

this goal (Veiga, 2004).

In Brazil, until the 1970s, the entry of women into the labour market was slow.

However, after that, it started to grow at an accelerated pace, nearly doubling by the

turn of the millennium, increasing from 21% to 40% of the economically active

population (EAP), the equivalent to 33 million female workers. According to the

IBGE (the Brazilian government) estimates for April 2004, although the women are

more than half of the Brazilian population (50.5 percent), they now represent 45.3

percent of the EAP, the proportion of the population actually facing the labour market.

The Brazilian women are underrepresented in politics. They are only 14.8 percent of

the Senate and 8.2 percent of the Chamber of Deputies. They also totalize 12.5

percent of the total members in state level legislatives. Only two states are governed

by women, out of all the 27 in the federation. Only 6 percent, out of the 5,561

municipalities existing in Brazil, are ruled by women. Moreover, the female

councilors do not exceed 12 percent in municipal councils (Instituto Ethos, 2004).

78

According to Veiga (2004), compared with the number of men, the number of

women in politics is still unequal. In order to promote equal opportunities and

Social Responsibility Indicators provide companies with parameters. The

ct, as well as the

incorporation of the gender issue in the company management, should all manifest

the appreciation of diversity. Women occupied only 9 percent of the directorship

positions, according to a survey by the Ethos Institute in 2003 covering 247 of the

largest companies in Brazil. Only 3 percent of the companies surveyed ran training

in Brazil run affirmative action programs to promote women in the workplace.

Although women are achieving better educational levels than men, men and women

are still unequally represented in the job market and in politics. As seen before,

Once women reach management positions, they start facing situations of questioning

of their performance and competence. And in order to be accepted in an environment

where the male figure predominates, the women end up adopting some male attitudes

and competing too much with other women, at a work environment marked by the

limitation of women's presence. Recent decades have also been characterized by

changes in the economy, family structures and households. From the gender point of

view, the society continued feeding the inequality between men and women. The men

79

were given access to new jobs over the last century, but, although the women actually

entered the job market, they still kept their old family roles.

While until the 1970s the women were mostly young, unmarried and childless,

nowadays the majority is older, married and has children. Around 12 million new

female workers entered the labour market between 1985 and 1995. However, most of

them work in conditions far more precarious than those of men and, even in similar

positions, earn less than them. Among those who earn between half and one

minimum wage per month3, the women are the majority (53.9 percent). It is

noteworthy that this is the only range of income in which they are the majority. The

higher the salary, the lower is the female participation. They are minority at the range

of those earning over 30 minimum wages, barely reaching one fifth of these workers

(Instituto Ethos, 2004). As shown in gender wage gap studies (Leme; Wajnman, 2000)

in Brazil, the wage differentials between men and women from 1977 to 1997

narrowed from 70 percent to just 25 percent. This wage gap between men and women

in the past could be attributed to differences in their endowments, such as education or

experience.

However, on average women have more years of schooling than men, so their level of

education can no longer explain the low wages paid to women and the difficulties

they face in growing in their careers in companies. Even the men who have no

3 Minimum wage per month in Brazil in 2009: USD 201.81 or R$ 465.00 (Brazilian Real converted to

USD: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html on February 6th, 2009).

80

education can find work more easily than women. Considering all the persons

employed with 11 years of study or more, while for men the percentage is 24.6

percent, women totalize 35.1 percent (Instituto Ethos, 2004). Veiga (2004) shows that

the goal ratio of literate women against literate men has already been met, as there is

a balance between education levels in both genders at secondary school and

university. Nevertheless, at primary level, not yet. Nowadays, it is possible to

mention that, for the most part, the wage gap is due discriminatory practices and, in

highly educated; this does not mean their higher access

to power or decision making spheres.

Certain segments of the service sector, such as the government, health, education,

community services, personal services and communications heavily concentrate the

female activity. Women are only 9 percent of the workforce in the processing industry,

and they still are, in most cases, in the most traditional segments such as clothing and

food. Generally speaking, female participation is very limited in directorship and

planning positions, salary structure

(Instituto Ethos, 2004).

Understanding the culture of a country is fundamental to comprehend aspects of

behavior and how they can impact and affect professional success. Brazilian society

was originally strongly patriarchal, what put women in a subordinate and inferior

condition in many spheres of the society, including in the working environment. Little

by little, this situation has recently been changed. Although currently there is a

81

greater openness to hiring women in companies, not all the jobs are available them

yet, what has limited their access to leadership positions.

Precariousness has marked the female participation in the labour market in Brazil. In

addition, few women attain powerful positions. The highly educated women are

entering prestigious professions such as medicine, law, architecture and even

engineering, traditional male strongholds, besides continuing to reinforce their

presence in traditional female "ghettos", such as teaching and nursing (Bruschini,

Lombardi, 1999 and 2000). However, these women remain subject to a gender

inequality present at all of the labour market levels, even if they are taking up new

and promising areas of work, in which their insertion has characteristics very similar

to those of men. They still earn less than their male colleagues, and this is a recurrent

situation, not only in Brazil, but worldwide. In Brazil, the income received by women

in non-agricultural work corresponded to 72 percent of that received by men, while in

percent as shown by the International Labour Organization - ILO (1997) for the

period 1991-1996 (Bruschini; Puppin 2004). There are occupational niches of little

prestige, low power and low wages that concentrate much of the women s labour

force, in spite of their now wider range of jobs. The area of household services,

where 95 percent is composed of women, is the main one. The female access to

managerial positions is reduced and lower wages for women in the same positions are

dictated by gender prejudices and differences. As a result, the higher the educational

level, the greater is the difference (UNCT, 2005).

82

The occupational pyramid in large business organizations is highly exclusionary to

women, as shown by the survey Social, Racial and Gender Profile of the 500 Largest

Companies in Brazil and Their Affirmative Actions, conducted by the Ethos Institute

in 2003. The survey revealed that the majority of the largest companies in the country,

58 percent, have no women in directorship functions, after the analysis of their

profile. Only 9 percent of the directorship positions, o

are occupied by women, a very inexpressive number in face of the female

participation in these companies. This is not due to the level of schooling of the

Brazilian women, but to working

world (Instituto Ethos, 2004).

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

female directors

female managers

female supervisors

female employees

Figure 4-2 Female Participation in Big Companies (Brazil)Source: INSTITUTO ETHOS (2004).

The same research also revealed that few organizations - only 3 percent of the sample

- have clear policies to promote gender equity, programs to reduce wage inequality

and specific job training to improve the qualification of women. Many companies

argue that they treat all employees with equality, valuing them through objective

selection processes widely advertised in the company, focusing on the assessment of

83

their skills, profiles and competences. Therefore, they do not keep specific policies to

promote women. Public policies to promote women are important, although treating

people equally in unequal conditions does not alter the disadvantages of origin. Yet

according to the Instituto Ethos (2004), there are at least three forms of

discrimination against women: the direct, the indirect or non-acknowledged, and the

self-discrimination. The direct discrimination is the one based on legal or institutional

rules, such as the old Civil Code in Brazil, which considered women as dependent on

the husband, or on internal rules of enterprises that forbade the hiring of women for

certain functions. These were prohibited by international norms such as the ones of

the UN and the ILO -, and virtually banned from the laws of Western countries. In

Brazil, the Federal Constitution prohibits them. Now, the main forms of

discrimination against women in Brazil are indirect and non-acknowledged. Daily

practices, preconceived ideas and stereotypes that ascribe skills and competences

according to gender, race, age and other external attributes for men and women are

their main basis. Intelligence, physical strength, wisdom and the ability of

decision-making are normally valued thought of as

emotional, thorough, calm, inconsistent and indecisive. The self-discrimination, by

which women themselves set limits for their areas of operation, and end up applying

for the jobs considered more feminine, usually of lower wages, result from the

The strongest grounds for discrimination against women in the workplace are the

possibility of pregnancy, the pregnancy itself and the care of the children. Because of

84

their possibility of getting pregnant, women are prevented from being admitted or

promoted, which undoubtedly represents a great loss of talents to the company.

The same source also indicates that women are still the ones who are supposed to

feed the children, take care of their health, monitor their school life, etc. Nevertheless,

what is normally overlooked is that, except for pregnancy and breastfeeding, all other

forms of childcare can be shared. Women, hence, do not have the same availability to

take work home. Sometimes, they even have to miss a working day or leave home

earlier because of the children, what hardly happens to men. The latter may have

greater dedication or availability to work because they usually have someone - a

woman - to take care of their children and the home, even if the wives also "work

outside". In Brazil, a woman with children can only leave home to work if she

manages to put another woman at her home to take care of the family and do

housework in her place given the failure of policies and public services in helping

families and assisting children.

Although legally Chinese women have achieved equal status and rights with men, the

real situation it is far from da ideal, and does not mean that Chinese women have

achieved workplace equality. Like the Brazilian women, the Chinese females also

face many barriers in labour market and society. They are regarded as less competent

than men and this has caused obstacles for them to enter management positions.

85

There are still only few women in top-level positions in China and they face hurdles

moving up to senior jobs. And although they are perceived as passive, submissive,

lacking aggressiveness and a drive to be successful managers, they have high future

expectations and a strong belief in their own competence.

Confucianism is a system that has historically subjugated the Chinese women, but

they have made great strides since Mao Tse-Tung overturned much of this system and

the rights of men and women became more similar, as previously put. However, even

nowadays, the role of women is still strongly linked to playing the role of the

daughter and spouse.

To Arend (2000), academic research and works by the All China Women's Federation

perspective on the matter is normally through the lens of the CCP's Marxist

perspective and subsumes women's issues to class issues. Academics, in turn, are

more willing to consider perspectives that challenge Chinese Marxism and make use

of empirical data and theory. Li Xiaojiang, often credited as the founder of Women's

Studies in contemporary China, is the dominating name when it comes to the history

-Tung's

death and the economic reform, women began to question the equality they believed

they possessed in the Maoist State. Women, as child bearers, began to be seen as a

liability. They required more leave time and as such, were seen as less efficient.

-oriented them

86

theoretically-oriented. Therefore, many scholars point to the need for better theories

and methods for understanding women. Women "studies" and "movement" seem to

agree on the emphasis on the female and self and collective consciousness, as

necessary pre-condition to women's liberation.

For Min Dongchao (1997) there was a historical shift from the ideology of an

-

being inferior. Surprisingly, economic changes after 1978 triggered challenges to

roblems securing jobs, finding marriage partners, being

discriminated against during pregnancy under the logic of efficiency, and, seeing the

reemergence of the "Four Virtues" of good women: being quiet, beautiful, submissive

and a good housekeeper. Going in the same direction, Chen (1994), states that

women experience inequality because of the introduction of economic reform

ation for gender inequality by

-

-social". Crook, Liu and Stearns (no date: 56-7) stress that attractive women

are more "effective" in Congress because of the gender bias. Confucianism

(obedience to father, husband, and son), poor education, and the socialization of

women to believe that they are inferior are listed as the main obstacles to women

seeking political power.

87

The male intellectuals of the May 4th movement in 1917 included feminist principles

in their writings, and equality between genders was an explicit goal of Maoism

decades later. Nevertheless, neither of these movements was led by women. In China,

generally speaking, equality between women and men was seen as a measure of class

solution to gender inequality is regarded as a top down approach, which did not

-awareness. And now, women are in a

position where they cannot compete as well as men in the market economy, they are

actively discriminated against by male employers.

Li (1994a) believes that women's self awareness is still low; as many women believe

that Mao did indeed liberate women and that they are equal to men. Not remaining in

the household and developing self-awareness and collective consciousness are

the goal for women, for this term derives from bourgeois notions of rights. Moreover,

women cannot be equal to men when they are qualitatively different, what places the

issue to a matter of difference versus equality. At last, rather than equality, liberation

lives represent the standard to be aspired by women.

In China, the state continues to privilege class and economic issues. For Woo (1994),

women are an interesting matter only to control problems of surplus labour and

88

are encouraged to work in paid labour or to focus on domestic responsibilities.

Oversupply of labour (which creates greater competition with men), discrimination

against women in job allocation and in access to education and technical training,

and the women's virtual exclusion from men's networks and male-dominated power

structures; all of these elements reinforce the segregation of women into

traditionally female roles that block the advancement of Chinese women managers.

China's economic changes impose new demands on managers, and women end up

having to adapt. Many female managers are now doing so through unlimited access

to education and training. The necessary support must be assured by the

government, so that the women can take advantage of the opportunities (Korabik,

1993-1994). The career paths of the female managers and workers are highly

influenced by the Chinese Communist Party and the government. Little job

opportunity or mobility, as well as the pursuing of careers appraised by the Party

and influenced by central government planning are the results for Chinese female

managers (Hildebrandt; Liu, 1988).

Gender stereotypes keep on hindering women in the labour force. They are often

regarded as working only between school and marriage and as secondary income

earners, who can readily return to the unpaid household duties when necessary, in

times of unemployment, such as in economic crises (UNIFEM, 1999). The results of

effect to accepting women as they climb up the management hierarchy. Women were

less likely to prefer to work for a woman than for a male. Women were described as

89

more incompetent, slower, weaker, more a follower-than-a-leader, more lenient,

more democratic, less active, and more friendly than male managers. Women were

significantly more in agreement with the idea of being both a professional and a wife

(Frank, 2001).

The stereotypes of Chinese businesswomen are somewhat contradictory. At the

same time they are seen as tough, aggressive females who have sacrificed family

for career, they are also viewed as maternal figures in the workplace who take care

of the staff and clientele. However, at a recent seminar held by Chief Executive

China Magazine and Global Sources, sponsored by Lamex Holding Ltd in Beijing,

professor Lu Feng, of Peking University, revealed that most Chinese women

managers felt they could manage both family and career. According to the study,

more than half of these women did not agree with the assumption that career and

family life were incompatible, while 38 percent were undecided and only 5 percent

definitively said they could not balance their careers and family lives. The study

also concluded that, in terms of professional ability, men and women are truly

equals. Authority, decision-making, management skills, creativity, communication

and caring for staff were taken into account. It is more difficult for women to push

into the upper tiers of management this was the only assumption that was proved

true by the research. There were more female than male managers at the

departmental level, and the gender ratio was equal at the deputy-general managerial

level, although most general managers in China are still men. Lu Feng, nevertheless,

believed that the reason might lie in the different interests of each gender. "We

90

found that women are less interested in professional studies than men," - said the

professor. Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a consultation company, through a recent study

found that leadership style varied by trade sector more than by sex. Interviews with

20,000 employees from nearly 100 companies and enterprises across China based

the findings (Zhu, 2007).

in Asia are still expected to take the greatest share of responsibility of family care, no

matter how much they excel outside the home, they face discrimination in the

workplace - even before getting in the job. Worldwide, discrimination seems to be the

social norm for women at work. While women looking for work are subject to a

"motherhood penalty," fathers, in turn, are often advantaged in the hiring

process. Cultural expectations about fathers do not conflict with "ideal worker". This

stereotype is believed to be fully committed to his or her job, always putting work

demands first. Although the opening of the market and the economic policy have

offered women increasing unprecedented opportunities to compete, they also have

brought them some business problems in China. Due to a new commercial culture,

women are asked to take the role of a man at work, but at home they are asked to take

the more traditional role of a

Although, technically women in China get support from men at work and in their

career promotion, practically they do not. Their biggest challenge is bearing the

responsibilities of both work and home. The weaker sex stereotype still affects

women in many countries and, in China, an old saying: " - nu

91

ren de ming zi jiao ruan ruo," that translates as "women's name is always weakness"

illustrates how special the situation is in this country.

Non acade

than developing a career is a common belief among Chinese women. This was

discovered by the survey on social status of women in China. Doing well is not as

valued as marrying well (China Through a Lens, 2002).

While women make only 22 percent of highly qualified workers, men occupy 78

percent, as discovered by the website www.china.hr.com (ACWF, 2008), that

surveyed 20.000 highly qualified workers. In the finance sector, only 17.7 percent

are women and in IT, women only occupy about 10 percent. The same source also

points out that highly qualified female workers are also highly educated. The

women with doctorates are mostly in Beijing, followed by Shanghai, Guangzhou

and Shenzhen. On salary, more than 60 percent are paid between RMB 100,000 and

RMB 200,000 (USD 13,889 to 27,778) a year. No more than 3 percent get more

than RMB 500,000 (USD 69,444) a year. Directors, project managers, finance

managers and others are the most popular posts for women. There are mostly

women in the middle-level posts, whilst only a few enter the high level of

decision-making.

Young women's values were diversified, as shown by another survey conducted by

92

the Shanghai Women's Federation. A shift from the traditional views of

group-orientation to self-orientation can be perceived. The research shows that 31.9

percent of young women agreed with the idea that "Individuals would play a bigger

role in the modern society"; 56.3 percent thought they fought for "themselves," rather

than anyone else; 68.3 percent chose "I, myself" as the answer to "career goal." On

"the key factor for the success of one's career development," 62.7 percent of young

women still chose "I, myself". A larger proportion of women than men focusing on

themselves is noteworthy. When asked "whether you like your gender or not," 37.9

their strong sense of self-orientation can be seen here. Among over 1,000 women,

more than 40 percent of them thought about the idea of "working well is not as good

as marrying well" as normal. Only 13.6 percent of the respondents did not think the

idea was not right (ACWF, 2008a).

does not have strict laws regarding discrimination. Companies discriminate

candidates, but they do not tell them, and most of the victims of this hidden

discrimination are women. Although some Chinese organizations may clearly state

their requirements regarding age, education background, gender, appearance and

place of birth, others may hide prejudice regarding weight and even the star sign in

Chinese zodiac, which is significant for the traditional culture, as one cannot work

with a person whose star sign conflicts with his/hers. Moreover, there is a belief that

the most incapable male employee would bring less trouble than a female

93

employee.

According to A

among 1,600 people shows that more than 31 percent of women have faced gender

discrimination while looking for job. Other studies mention that the Chinese

modern women are different from the traditional ones because nowadays, the

female executives are adventurous, innovative, good at communication and

coordination. When managing, they prefer influence over power. Feminine

characteristics can be seen in the family, business, society, and even in every aspect of

the country - and are necessary in international business. Being more caring,

showing more consideration for their employees and being good at communication,

demonstrating an ability to work well with others and having unique qualities of

leadership are all features found in managers with female characteristics. More and

more management schools are devoted to studying differences between the

management styles of the different sexes. Rather than an authoritative, compelling

leader model, in the period of information technology, the humanistic, emotional

leader model, which is more in line with female characteristics, will become the

trend.

4.4 Brazil and China: Statistics on Gender Gap

Hausmann et al. (2007) show that in a gender gap list by the World Economic Forum,

of 128 countries, Brazil and China are ranked on the 74th and 73rd places, respectively.

That may suggest they are in a very similar position when it comes to gender

94

relations. However, if we look carefully at the subindexes, one might say that they are

in some aspects very different, as can be seen below.

(1) Gender Indexes and Subindexes

Table 4-1 Comparison between Brazil and China Ranking of Gender Gap Index and Subindexes(Out of 128 Countries)

Brazil ChinaGender Gap Index 74th 73rd

Wage Equality for Similar Work 105th 49th

Professional and Technical Workers 1st 64th

Female Legislator, Senior Officials andManagers

21st 93rd

Source: HAUSMANN; TYSON; ZAHIDI (2007).

Table 4-2 Comparison between Brazil and China Gender Gap Index and SubindexesFemale-to-Male Ratio (0.00 = Inequality and 1.00 = Equality)

Brazil ChinaGender Gap Index 0.664 0.664Wage Equality for Similar Work 0.57 0.69Professional and Technical Workers 1.13 0.82Female Legislator, Senior Officials andManagers

0.52 0.14

Source: HAUSMANN; TYSON; ZAHIDI (2007).

95

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

Gender Gap Index

Wage Equality for Similar Work

Professional/Technical Workers

Female Managers

Brazil China

Figure 4-3 Comparison between Brazil and China Gender Gap Subindexes and Gender Gap IndexFemale-to-Male Ratio (0.00 = Inequality and 1.00 = Equality)

Source: HAUSMANN; TYSON; ZAHIDI (2007).

(2) Scale of Ability for Women to Rise to Positions of Enterprise Leadership

In a scale from 1 (worst score) to 7 (best score) the ability of Brazilian women to rise

to positions of enterprise leadership is 3.82, and the one of their Chinese counterparts

is 4.97.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Brazil

China

responses on a 1-to-7 scale(1=worst score, 7=best score)

Figure 4-4 Comparison between Brazil and China - Ability for Women to Rise to Positions ofEnterprise Leadership

Source: HAUSMANN; TYSON; ZAHIDI (2007).

As mentioned initially, although the situations may seem similar, each country

presents specificities, made visible by the subindexes. For example, the ranking for

wage equality for similar work is 105 for Brazil and 49 for China. When it comes to

96

professional and technical workers, Brazil ranks on the 1st place (with 53 percent of

females) and China on the 64th (with 45 percent of females). In Brazil, 34 percent of

legislators, senior officials, and managers are female, what puts the country on the

21st position on the list. China, on the other hand, ranks on 93rd, as only 12 percent

are women.

97

CHAPTER 5

THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

5.1 The Questionnaire: Data Analysis and Interpretation

This chapter will present the profile of the interviewees in this survey, seven

Brazilians and seven Chinese, some overall information about their companies and

some of their answers from the questionnaire by topics, named as: the hiring

concentration of women in the company, how women get ahead, fairness

concerning wage gap, if they need to outperform men to get the same rewards,

stereotypes, what is holding women back, the link between gender and financial

performance, and a female oriented power situation. The answers will be analyzed

and, when applicable, linked to the literature review.

Many fundamental concepts approached in this study are subjective, complex and

intangible. Some of the data, information, outcome, impacts, etc. are difficult to

measure quantifiably. Therefore, in analyzing data and information qualitative

approach has been adopted ,

conceptions, and ideas, which also could be seen in the way interviewees exposed

themselves, chose words and reported experiences. The findings have been

and real examples, where necessary.

98

5.2 Personal Data

The sample of this research is formed by 14 people: seven Brazilian and seven

Chinese, aged between 32 and 61 among the Brazilians, and from 22 to 46 years old

among the Chinese. The annual income, expressed in the local currency and in U.S.

dollars, range from USD 30,700 to USD 216,200 among the Brazilians, and from

USD 4,400 to USD 73,200 among the Chinese.

Despite the small size of the sample, the interviews have enabled us to learn about a

range of positions held by the Chinese and the Brazilians, such as: director,

executive manager, senior vice president, general manager, executive director,

financial director, head of office, general director, branch manager and branch

nation vary from company to

company, hence caution is necessary. On the educational level, among the

Brazilians, except for one who does not mention, 3 have a bachelors degree and 3

are postgraduate. Among the Chinese, one does not mention the education

background; one does not have a Bachelors Degree and 5 advanced in the studies: 3

All the Brazilian

respondents have between one and four children, whilst only one of the Chinese is a

mother: she has one child. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most of the Chinese

interviewees are in their 20s. Among the Brazilians, 3 are married, 3 divorced and

one is single. Among the Chinese, three are married and four are single.

99

Table 5- ofile Brazil

Name4 Profession Title Age Marital Origin Child Education Annual Income5

Status (R$6) (USD)

Ana Economist Director 36 Married

São

Paulo 2

Post

Graduate 500.000

216,200

Clara

Public

Relations

Executive

Manager 49 Divorced

Rio de

Janeiro 1 Bachelors 193.000 83,400

Lidia Bank Teller

Senior

Vice

President 44 Married

São

Paulo 1 MBA 450.000

194,600

Marta Psychologist

Executive

Director 61 Divorced

São

Paulo 2 Bachelors 350.000 151,300

Monica INP7

General

Manager INP Divorced INP 4 INP 120.000 52,000

Paula Bank Teller Manager 32 Single

São

Paulo 1

Post

Graduate 71.000 30,700

Silvia

Public

Relations

Financial

Director 48 Married

Rio de

Janeiro 4 Bachelors 84.000 36,300

Table 5- China

Name Profession Title AgeMarital

StatusOrigin Child Education

Annual Income

(RMB8) (USD)

Alicia Teacher Head of office 26 Single Wuhan 0 Masters 40.000 5,900

Daisy HRManager

Employer26 Single Fujian 0 Bachelors 30.000 4,400

HelenSocial

worker

Manager

Assistant22 Single Fujian 0 Bachelors 30.000 4,400

Laura INPGeneral

Director46 Single

Heilong

Jiang0 Masters INP INP

LeilaBank

TellerINP 29 Married Wuhan 0 INP 50.000 7,300

Sabrina Accountant Manager 30 Married Hubei 0Vocational

School50.000 7,300

Sonia Economist Branch Director 35 married Wuhan 1 Bachelors 500.000 73,200

4 All the names are fictitious.5 Approximate values consulted in: www.xe.com on November 14th, 2008. 6 Brazilian currency: Real (R$). 7 INP: information not provided. 8 Chinese currency: Renmimbi (RMB).

100

The Brazilian companies in this research include: four financial institutions (banks),

a publishing group, a company of professional counseling, and a stove factory. The

size of these companies is varied, ranging from a minimum of 25 to a maximum of

30,000 employees.

The first financial institution has 1,000 employees in Brazil. On the board of

directors and top management there is no presence of women. The interviewee

mentions that around 30 percent of the women are in the middle management.

Around 2 percent are in the first line management and approximately 68 percent in

non-managerial positions.

The second financial institution, present in Brazil for more than 80 years, has 30,000

employees, of which 14,700 (49 percent) are male and 15,300 (51 percent) are

female. Among the 24 executives on the board of directors there is one woman, in

human resources. In the middle management, out of 119 people, 24 are women, i.e.

20 percent. And 35 percent of first line management is composed of women9. This

institution is characterized by the interviewee, taking into account the distribution by

gender and level, like this: the higher the level, the smaller is the presence of women

(this issue will be worked on later, as it is perceived as a trend in the literature

review).

9 According to the interviewee in 2008.

101

Still about this company, the interviewee said that between 2003 and 2006, at the

operational level, men represent around 40 percent and the women, 60 percent. When

it comes to the administrative level, the men represent from 49 to 57 percent and the

women, from 43 to 51 percent. This is, thus, the most balanced level in terms of

gender in this company. Specialists are composed of 68 percent of male and

approximately 32 percent of female. Managers are in the range of 70 percent of men

and 30 percent of women. Finally, the top management is composed of about 12

percent of females and 88 percent of males. Although there is a woman on the board,

there is also a ceiling.

In terms of hierarchical

graphs, a descending can be seen

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

males females

operational level

administrative level

specialists

managers

top management

Figure 5-1 Gender and Hierarchical Level - Second Financial Institution - 2006 (Brazil)Source: Brazilian interviewee, 2008.

2006

102

The graph below presents the evolution of the female presence throughout the

hierarchical levels. It enables us to observe that, along the studied years, the trend

was kept with a slight fluctuation. The greatest impact can be seen in the

administrative level. It is also noteworthy that the top management also had a subtle

increase between 2003 and 2005, having a moderate drop in 2006.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

2003 2004 2005 2006

operational level

administrative level

specialists

managers

top management

Figure 5-2 Evolution of Female Presence Along the Hierarchical Levels - Second FinancialInstitution 2003-2006 (Brazil)

Source: Brazilian interviewee, 2008.

On the third financial institution, in a total of 105 staff, 70 (about 67 percent) are male

and 35 (about 33 percent) are female. No woman is present on the board of directors,

composed of 3 executives. Three women are in the top management, which consists

of 6 executives. They thus represent 50 percent of this hierarchical level, and is

presented in a balanced way. Additional data about the company were not provided

by the interviewee.

103

The fourth and last Brazilian financial institution did not give any information on

the staff.

Regarding the publishing group, it presented a total of 7,230 employees, of which

4,612 are male (64 percent) and 2,976 (36 percent) are female. No women are

present on the board of directors; five women are in the top management, 56 in the

middle management, 71 in the first line management, and 2,844 in non-managerial

positions. The absolute numbers on the total (male added to female) in each level

were not provided. Women have a strong presence in this business group,

accounting for 36 percent of the company. However, it is important to stress that 96

percent of these women are not in management positions and 132, out of 2,976

women, are divided among all levels of management.

The professional counseling company has a total of 25 employees, of which 2 are

male (9 percent) and 23 are female (91 percent). A woman is present on the board of

directors, composed of 3 officers, and the other 22 women are present in other

levels.

The stove factory has 41 employees; 36 of them are men (88 percent) and 5 are

women (12 percent). A woman is present on the board of directors composed of 2

executives. One female is present in middle management (which is composed by 2

people), one in the first line management (which is composed by 2 people), and two

in non managerial positions (which is composed by 34 people). Thus, the female

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presence is balanced on the board of directors, middle management and first line

management. Concerning the board of directors, this may be due to the fact that, in

this case, the female board director belongs to the household who owns the company.

This way, this fact suggests there is a ceiling for women in the middle management.

Nevertheless, an unbalance in the top management (100 percent male) and in non

managerial positions (94 percent male) is remarkable.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

males females

non managerial positions

first line management

middle management

top management

board of directors

Figure 5-3 Gender and Hierarchical Level - The Stove factory - 2008 (Brazil)Source: Brazilian interviewee, 2008.

It is noteworthy that the literature review indicates Brazil's largest female presence in

labour force in the sector of services, not in the industry. Basically, in Brazil, the

female activity is heavily concentrated in some segments of the service sector, such

as public administration, health, education, community services, personal services

and communication. In the processing industry, women are only 9 percent of the

workforce, and they still are in most of their traditional segments, such as clothing

and food (Instituto Ethos, 2004).

2008

105

Finally, we point out that, in the universe of women in the 5 Brazilian companies

that provided complete data, the female presence totalizes 18,339 people, of which

3 are on the board of directors and 8 are in top management. The data provided are

insufficient and do not allow us to discuss the presence of women in middle and

first line management, let alone in non managerial positions. The two financial

institutions that do not give additional data to enable a comparison among these five

companies have no women on the board of directors or in the top management

team.

The Chinese companies presented in this research include: two financial institutions,

a language school, an association of women, a shoe factory and an engineering

technology company. The sizes of these enterprises range from 31 to 2,500

employees.

The first Chinese financial institution has, in one of its branches, 150 employees: 50

of them are male (around 33 percent) and 100 are female (about 67 percent). A

woman is present on the board of directors, but other data on the presence of

women in other hierarchical levels of the bank were not provided by the

interviewee.

About the second financial institution, in one of its branches there are 31 employees,

of which 11 are male (35 percent) and 20 are female (65 percent), but no additional

information was given by the interviewee. However, the following general

106

information was obtained on s website: among the six executives who

compose the board of directors, one is a woman. Out of the seven executives who

make up the top management of this bank, five are male and two are female, one of

which is the very one on the board of directors.

The language school, where 2 women were interviewed, has 56 employees, of

which 21 are men (38 percent) and 35 are women (62 percent). No woman is

present on the board of directors (which is composed by one male) or top

management (which is composed by two men). Four women are in the middle

management (which is composed by 6 people in total) and 31 are in non-managerial

positions (which employ 47 people in total). Here again, in terms of hierarchical

be seen in t . This case is particular because here there is an abrupt break

in this relation, with a ceiling for women in the middle management. The

percentage of women in middle management (66 percent) drops dramatically to

zero already in the next level above.

107

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

males females

non managerial positions

middle management

top management

board of directors

Figure 5-4 Gender and Hierarchical Level - The Language School - 2008 (China)Source: Chinese interviewee, 2008.

The association of women has a 58-people staff, of which 18 are men (35 percent)

and 40 are women (65 percent). Five women are on the board of directors (which is

composed by 6 people), eight in the top management (which is composed by 11

people), seven in the middle management (which is composed by 12 people), ten in

the first line management (which is composed by 13 people), and 10 in

non-managerial positions (which is composed by 16 people). In this association, we

find, oddly, a general upward trend in the female participation throughout the

hierarchical levels: this is the case in which the male graph presents a decrease as

they rise in the hierarchy. This may strongly influenced by the own nature of the

association.

2008

108

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

male female

non managerial

first line management

middle management

top management

board of directors

Figure 5-5 Gender and Hierarchical Level The Association of Women - 2008 (China)Source: Chinese interviewee, 2008.

The shoe manufacture has 2,500 employees, of which 300 are men (12 percent) and

2,200 are women (88 percent). No woman is present on the board of directors. Four

women are in the top management (which is composed by 14 people), eleven in

middle management (which is composed by 21 people), eighty in the first line

management (which is composed by 120 people) and 2,100 in non-managerial

positions (which employ 2,250 people). Again the trend is repeated; the higher is

the hierarchical level, the fewer women can be found:

2008

109

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

male female

non managerial

first line management

middle management

top management

Figure 5-6 Gender and Hierarchical Level The Shoe Manufacturer - 2008 (China)Source: Chinese interviewee, 2008.

It is noteworthy that in China, as well as in Brazil, the female presence in the labour

market is higher in the service sector. In the case of the Chinese factory with 88

percent of women on its staff, most of them (2,100 females) are in the production

line because, besides being cheaper labour force, they have skills that sometimes

men do not have, such as greater dexterity, or smaller hands, considered more agile

for this segment of work, factors that may be applied to this company.

The last company, the one of engineering technology, has 80 employees, 65 of which

are male (81 percent) and 15 are female (19 percent). No woman is on the board of

directors, one is in the top management, two in the middle management (which is

composed by 8 people) and twelve in non managerial positions (which are occupied

by 71 people). Although we may not make a comparison graph for lack of data, an

overall view of the information obtained allows us to note that the female presence in

2008

110

declared.

Although the ceiling is clear just in the middle management of a company, it does not

mean that the companies herein studied are gender-balanced. Rather, it may suggest

that the women are little by little and slowly breaking through barriers towards the

leadership positions, yet in a very timid way.

We point out that, in the universe of women in the 5 companies that provided

complete data (none of the two financial institutions provided complete data), the

female presence totalizes 2,325 women, of which 5 are on the board of directors. It

provided are not sufficient and do not enable us to discuss the presence of women in

top, middle and first line management, or in non managerial positions.

The two Chinese financial institutions that did not provided additional data to

enable a comparison with the other Chinese companies have, the first, a woman on

the board of directors and the second, a woman on the board of directors and two in

top management positions.

5.4 The Questionnaire Analysis

As said before, the qualitative part consists of the application of a questionnaire

among 14 interviewees, 7 in Brazil; 7 in China, and intends to verify the hypotheses

considered in this study. The questionnaire is composed of sixteen questions

111

regarding responses and impacts towards the situation of women in the workplace,

the hiring process, career plan, their impact in the companies, the area with the

greatest concentration of women in a company, the strategies and the barriers for

stereotypes and their impacts, what it is holding them back, as well as a statement

concerning gender and financial performance, and a trend for the 21st century. The

questionnaire in whole is in the appendix.

The research includes a personal interview with seven outstanding Brazilian and

seven outstanding Chinese women to evaluate the achievements and also the

difficulties faced by them in their workplace. In China, the questionnaire was

applied in May, 2008. In Brazil in August, 2008. It is important to mention that,

because of an agreement between the researcher and the interviewees, this research

, mes were changed.

Here below are the considerations by the Brazilian and Chinese interviewees

concerning diverse issues already presented.

5.4.1 About the Hiring Process

Recruitment and promotion policies need scrutinizing to eliminate bias and to

ensure that women who demonstrate management skills are encouraged to apply for

promotion. Moreover, they should be objective and gender-free.

112

One of the Brazilian interviewees declares that the selection process requires

professional experience and technical training. Other points out that it is marked by

competitiveness. The Chinese, in turn, also mention technical training and

communication, besides suitability to the post, education level, age, language

abilities and job experience:

riteria: education level, age, professional skills,

language abilities, working experience (level of your skills). This is my

idea: actually there is much pressure for competition and the society

abrina).

The Brazilians did not mention any issues related to gender. On the other hand, part

of the Chinese identified a higher employment threshold already in the selection

process:

for not very crucial positions, the requirements will never be too hard

for the suitable employees who graduate from college or universities.

Generally speaking, the inequality does exist in the contract, whether in

China or Brazil, but that is to say that the employee has to accept these

unequal terms in order to get the job

113

harder for women to find a job than it is for men. The gender conception

is still not correct and not adapted to the mainstream international

Technical

capacity + English/French + capacity of communication. Technical

capacity + communication are the most important. 2) Criteria of hiring:

- She prefers to hire males

because, if the female worker is pregnant, she will be no longer able to

render a service to the client (who is used to her presence). That would

be bad for business, so she asks the Human Resources department to

hire males. In case a woman is to be hired, she should already have her

children. She used to think differently, but she said she changed her

mind when she became the "boss". She thinks it is too difficult if, for

example, the woman comes back after maternity-leave, because

someone is already working in her place regularly. She has to face too

much pressure and everyday is a war (she compares the market to a

battle field - sheng chang ru zheng chang - ). She thinks of

the competitors as enemies. One cannot send someone weak to the

battlefield; the best soldier should be sent. Even though, she says: ex

- She does not think the

women are soldiers, they want no battle, they think it is troublesome.

114

has to be a female to convince the males coming from Shanghai or

Beijing, for example, to come and work in Wuhan. Women also do good

secretaries because they need to be calm to soothe the soldiers who

and it values the

cultures. As shown by literature, companies often resort to this metaphor what

alone may limit their ability to identify and implement attractive strategies. To

cultures, and profit from their abilities (Wright; Noe, 1996).

According to the statement of a Chinese, business is seen as a battlefield where

there is the figure of the (male) warrior soldier and, with a more passive action,

there is the woman who comforts the soldier who comes from war. This statement,

especially for coming from a woman, just reaffirms the male-oriented model of

domination, corroborating the continuity of this model. A Brazilian interviewee, in

turn, mentions:

"The guidebook for the executive world is masculine" (Lidia).

is remarkable. For example, when the women are in a condition of minority, they

115

tend to reflect and defend the attitude of all minorities, not only the

gender-determined ones (e.g., ethnic). However, when they attain top leadership

positions, they often just end up sharing the positioning of the so-called majority

(basically, male and white). As an example, at this moment many avoid hiring other

women and start sharing male-oriented views.

Marshall (1984), in turn, says that any dominant majority wants to maintain their

positions of power and uses the psychological technique of labeling the

sub-dominant group as sub-standard and restricting them to appropriate social rules.

The latter then accommodate and adjust. Moreover, they define their own

aspirations in terms of dominant group goals because this is the group who controls

the cultural, social and political systems. As Falkenberg and Rychel (1985) state,

women, being lower-status members in management, are expected to provide

encouragement and support for higher-status men.

One of the interviewees describes women as appropriate for the Human Resources.

This is in accordance to data that indicate that female managers in China tend to be

concentrated in human resources rather than manufacturing, finance or even sales

and marketing.

In a research carried out in Brazil (Bruschini; Puppim, 2004) among ten executives

from several companies in the Brazilian labour market, one of the interviewees

116

although there are certain areas that attract more women. She also points out that

women make their career choices taking into account that middle management

positions, for example, allow them to better conciliate personal and professional

roles than top management jobs.

5.4.2 On the Career Plan in the Company

One of the Brazilians revealed that there was no career plan in the financial

institution she worked for. She believes this is due to the fact that this company is a

small family-owned one. All the others said there was a career plan, both for men

and for women.

As for the situation in China, four said there was no career plan and in the three

companies in which there was one, it was for male and female. One of the Chinese

interviewees stressed that a career plan was also related to age:

age: if one is too young, he/ she needs help to be guided. If one is middle

aged, he/ she can self guide, but he/ she needs a mission, play him/her so

that he/ she can find him/ herself and feel successful. A mature

employee needs space for self-development, not a plan like the young

117

5.4.3 Abou

The Brazilians stress negative and positive points on the presence of women in the

companies, with the increasing participation of females in organizations. The

statements below indicate opinions according to which the women are more reliable

than the men, more intuitive, more committed, and have a sensibility that these do not.

However, they are also seen as competitive to each other, and not knowing how to

interact as accomplices. According to Walters and Mason (1994) women are fierce

competitors, and therefore they fail to support each other. They sometimes gang up

with men against their female subordinates, while men lend support to each other

through lobbying and networking.

financial market is still predominantly masculine, although in the

last few years, in certain areas, a major feminine presence can be

started there, there were more males than females. I think this is due to

She thinks that, in the beginning, they

that the women were more reliable in sales, and more committed

(Clara).

ocused, sensitive, and have a more strategic vision. However,

118

the women lack unity and respect. Anyway, there are positive and

e other

- The interviewee thinks the

women have centuries of a tradition in which they compete with each

other. Hence, they are not used to interacting as accomplices. The males

know how to deal with it, inside and outside the company. Therefore,

she makes efforts to approximate the women in the company where she

works. Competition has a deep impact in her company, as it makes it

collaboration. She has to make constant efforts in order to fight this,

besides fighting envy and jealousy (Marta).

ome and respected. In management, the interviewee

have to the business area in banks. Women deal a lot with intuition, and

have a different perception, which generates more business. The

119

feminine sensibility and the masculine rationality complement each

other, creating more business possibilities. This branch team has already

been 100 percent of females, and back then our evolution and perception

about the whole were incomplete. There was too much sensibility for

too little sense. You may have fifteen women in an environment, but at

least three men are necessary. A masculine figure is always necessary; it

is not good for a team to

A Chinese and two Brazilians, on the other hand, mentioned the presence of women

as important to balance the team or to keep the balance of the company:

n in

Human Resources or as secretaries, for example, are very important. In

the army you need to be a soldier (battlefield). In a company there

should be men and women. For the nature of the work of the company,

the team should have more men because automobiles have more to do

women is very well seen, for they have intuition and can see many

details. The women can see things in the values, figures, and mistakes

a woman. Her relation with the client goes very smoothly. Another

120

female employee is a purchaser, and she does it very well, too. She has

power of bargaining. The saleswoman who was pregnant got even better

(Silvia).

About the presence of women in a company, balance was the only common feature

between Chinese and Brazilians. The most frequently mentioned characteristics

among Brazilians and Chinese, about which the Brazilians mentioned negative and

positive impacts were:

Table 5-3 Impact of the Presence of Women in the Company (China and Brazil - 2008)

Impact of the presence of women in the companyBRAZIL CHINAPositive Negative

Being reliable Lacking unity BalanceBeing committed Lacking respect Being equal as menBeing focused Sabotaging each other Good performanceBeing sensitive Having strategic vision Having intuition Balance Paying attention to details

5.4.4 On the Area with the Greatest Concentration of Women

Due to the language barrier, when asked he

121

he way the Chinese interviewees answered this

question was different from the way the Brazilians did. The former focused on the

level of management (top, middle and first line management) and the latter spoke

about the areas of activity within a company (Human Resources, Marketing,

Administrative, and Legal).

It is also observed that the Brazilians believe that certain sectors are the gateway to

a company. It is perceived that the feminine sensibility is useful and that the women

pay more attention to details and are better interlocutors, besides bringing balance

to the company. The most cited areas by the Brazilians indicate a greater female

presence in Human Resources, Marketing and Administration:

Human Resources, Marketing or Administration areas. Over the last

years, an increase in the hiring of women in customer service and even

in sexist sectors, such as stock market, has been noticed. In my opinion,

graduation, mastership and doctorate courses); 2) an awareness that

female sensibility is very useful in the relationship with clients and in

122

the owner likes them to work under his rule (he dominates, involves and

manipulates), not in a symmetric relation. He is always on top,

submitting the relation to him, even with the legal person. Secondly,

because he knows that the women give better attention to the executives

in career transition, who feel freer to talk to women than to men. Women

(Marta).

(Paula).

Three Brazilians interviewees highlighted the following areas as having the greatest

female presence:

- She thinks this is related to trust.

(Clara).

percent), Private Banking (50 percent), Marketing (more than 50

percent). These are the gateways to a company, the easiest ways to get in.

123

The other areas are not

The Chinese point out the largest presence of women in middle management, first

line management and non-managerial positions. Some of them do not know the

reason for this situation. One relates this to the traditional Chinese culture and, for

this reason; there are so few women in key positions in companies. Another said:

dif

The first time she was interviewed,

she told us the majority of the women were in the first and middle

management. And for her this is natural, because the women have to be

mothers and have a family, so the issues are more complex. They are not

compatible to top management. For the male, in turn, it is easier, even if

their working periods are long. Even if she had this opportunity, she

would not accept a top management post until she had accomplished her

function as a mother, which is not until the child graduates from college

(more than 18 year-old) (Sonia).

There is a common wisdom which states the higher women climb, the more they

have to give up in their personal and family lives. Galinsky et al. (2003) found out

that female executives are more likely than male executives to have made important

124

life decisions in order to manage both their careers and their personal lives. Moreover,

they discovered that women executives in higher status jobs, however, have not given

up more in their personal and family lives to manage their careers than women

executives in lower status jobs.

Table 5-4 Sector with the Greatest Presence of Women (China and Brazil - 2008)

In which sector of your company isthe greatest presence of women?BRAZIL CHINA

Human resources (2)10

Marketing (2)Middle managementProduction line

Administration (2) Line managersLegal (1) Non managerialProject Development (1) All sectorsPrivate Banking (1)Customer service (1)Commercial (1)

It is not difficult for women to gain employment at the lower levels of organizations,

because the criteria for selection and promotion are more objective, but it is still

difficult for them to reach upper middle and senior management positions, where the

criteria are more subjective. To Povall (1990) women's advance into what have been

traditionally men's jobs is still very small. The distribution of men's and women's jobs

in the 1980s demonstrates a concentration of women in low-paid, low-opportunity

jobs despite women having longer working lives and being better educated. Moreover,

10 Number of interviewees who mentioned it.

125

presence in lower-

5.4.5 How Women Get Ahead

Besides the sensibility mentioned by two Brazilian interviewees, education was the

most cited (by three interviewees) as important for women to get ahead. Three

Brazilians claim that being academically prepared is important to "compensate the

preference for men" - as a director of a financial institution said:

academically, sometimes even more than the men, to compensate the

According to the Brazilians, women also get ahead:

The guidebook for the executive world

-control, sensibility, sweetness and

Two Brazilian interviewees see the adoption of male characteristics differently; one

126

describes the women as sexist, cruel, violent and even worse than men. And the

other says that women have to forget their emotional side and get their masculine

side. Both emphasize the adoption of male behavior; one is more critical in that

regard, while the other sees it as a more natural situation, as if there was no other

way.

they advance in a fierce competition with males and females they are

even more competitive than the males. A woman must be very good to

attain the position, with a strong self-esteem to impose herself in a male

and sexist scenario. Women in Brazil are winning markets in support

and subordinate areas. Many of them reach the middle management and

few reach the board. Many become male-like and are sexist, cruel,

violent and even worse than the men. Women need to advance, first, step

by step; secondly, they have to be deeply self-conscious; thirdly, they

cannot reject their femininity (intuition, capacity and communication)

and sensibility, all so indispensable to grow and make a difference in

their relation with men this makes them grow. They can read between

the lines and men cannot do this. They have to establish themselves by

their competence, not by their arrogance. Wanting to compete with the

men is the worst thing for the women. Nowadays the companies are big

enough for male and female on the board and, if they work together, the

127

he women advance in and with wisdom. This advance has a solid

fundament. Advancement is the same as progress. They advance as

they delimit their space and fundament it. It comes from the results

obtained. You can grow positive or negatively, and you can only grow

by making mistakes. A defeat is the first way of seeing the mistakes and

not repeating them. It is a planning in the short, medium and long run.

At work, women have to forget the emotional, especially if they work

rational and take your male side. Elasticity makes women get ahead,

As seen, the companies have enough space for men and women, according to a

Brazilian participant, and if they both work together, the gain will be wonderful and

complementary. But women, according to her, still do not have the tradition of

working together and end up competing with each other. The same interviewee still

considers that the worst thing that can happen to the women is their wanting to

compete with men. In order to advance, they must focus on femininity and

sensibility to grow and make a difference.

Among all the 14 interviewees in total, only one mentioned the "glass ceiling"

phenomenon this was when she was asked how women would get ahead. However,

this interviewee does not mention the phenomenon, which will be discussed later in

this questionnaire as a barr when

128

she was asked just about the barriers to the advancement of women.

In general, as she has been in the labour market for many years, she

thinks women have advanced a lot over the last 100 years

not ostensible, the female revolution is the greatest in this century.

Women started voting (in Brazil) in 1932 and in 1980 there was an

increase in the number of women in labour market. Women are just now

managing to show they are as capable as men to work in different

- When she started working at the bank, in 1970, to open an

account a woman would need the

could not get bank loans, either unless the husband allowed them. The

washrooms did not have a male/ female separation, as the female

presence was not even thought of. They advance in the hardest way, but

they have managed to show how capable they are and there are

companies who acknowledge that. The main thing is that the women

sought training/ knowledge to prove their capacity. Nowadays the

statistics report about more women holding MBAs/post graduate studies

then men. They also have to prove something to the ones who trusted in

their capacity. There are still difficulties, the glass ceiling, and a vision

Additionally, many other characteristics were mentioned individually, and the

Brazilians tended to state some opposing ideas: male way versus femininity, or

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aggressiveness versus sweetness.

Four of the Chinese participants consider important to give priority to the studies as

a way of getting ahead and constantly self-improving. Also, more than one Chinese

interviewee mentioned communication skills, being self-confident and not being

arrogant:

irst, women should invest in self-improvement and make

themselves more perfect through constant study to improve their

along well with others, including superiors and subordinates. They

should try to integrate in the team and strengthen the team's cohesion, in

communication, language and good manners. Secondly, to know the

present situation very well. It means: keep being yourself at the

obstinate, if you have an objective;

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We need to seize up the current situation. Keep the health in mind and

Although the Brazilians and the Chinese did not use the same terminology to talk

about how women would get ahead, it is important to note the characteristics

presented by them:

Table 5-5 How Women Get Ahead (China and Brazil - 2008)

How do women get ahead?BRAZIL CHINAStudy/ training (3)11

Sensibility (2)Do not be arrogant (1)

Study (4)Do not be arrogant (2)Be self-confident (2)

Credibility (1) Be independent (1)Commitment (1) Communication (1)Persistence (1) Capacity (1)Feminility (1) Be ambitious (1)Agressiveness (1) Get along well (1)Sweetness (1) Integration (1)Market awareness (1) Cohesion (1)Wisdom (1) Protocol (1)Elasticity (1) Language (1)Get your male side (1) Good manners (1)Competence (1) Flexibility (1)Clarity (1) Health (1)Objectivity (1)Self-control (1)Be self-conscious (1)

Be yourself (1)

It is important to note that two Brazilians understand female and male roles as

complementary. In addition, among the Brazilians and the Chinese, education was

the most mentioned item for the advancement of women. We would like to 11 Number of interviewees who mentioned it.

131

emphasize here that the questionnaire was not applied to induce to certain answers;

these were open questions.

For illustration, Catalyst study (no date) points out that European and U.S women

consider the following factors as important to get ahead:

Table 5-6 How Women Get Ahead (U.S and Europe)

European Women U.S WomenInternational experienceCross-functional experienceDeveloping and adhering to career goalsHaving school, family, and socialconnections

Personal style Exceeding performanceexpectations Networking

Source: CATALYST (no date).

5.4.6 About the Perception of Fairness Concerning Wage Gap

Difference in qualifications used to be the common excuse for the wage gap

between men and women, in the realization of equal work. Nowadays, according to

Catalyst (2007a), as many women are equally, if not more, qualified than men, it is

harder and harder to justify this situation. Now, more than ever before, it is very

clear that sex discrimination is a significant contributor to the pay gap.

Pay gaps in wages for men and women are due to inequality in access to certain

types of management jobs. Furthermore, while rates of pay may be similar, there are

different salary packages offered to managers, so the actual earnings vary. Women

132

rences in seniority and the concentration of

women in lower paid managerial sub-groups, in spite of their often being more

qualified than their male counterparts. In different countries there are different

levels of wage gap, in which women managers always make less money than male

managers. In Finland, 35 percent less; in Brazil, 50 per cent less; 43 per cent less in

Uruguay and 12 per cent less in Australia; in the United States, 16 per cent (Wirth,

2002).

to men for doing the same

that women had the same salary as the men, and three said the salary was different

the less equal it is. On the base it is equal, on the middle males earn from

A theory review (Daft, 2000) corroborates the quote above by the Brazilian

interviewee, according to which women earn considerably less than their male peers.

As women move up the career ladder, the wage gap widens. It is important to note

that gender wage gap studies (Leme; Wajnman, 2000) showed that, for the case of

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Brazil, the wage differentials between men and women over the period 1977 to

1997 narrowed from 70 percent to just 25 percent.

An interviewee says there is no wage gap between male and female because the

company where she works is run by a woman. Nevertheless, the literature review

showed no practical verification relating women in positions of command and

equivalent wage for men and women.

Another went even further:

the company who dictates (different

(Silvia).

Here, the company's financial director believes that they should follow the rule of

the market and pay less for female workers who perform the same work as their

male counterparts.

On the other hand, five Chinese stated that men and women were paid a comparable

salary for doing the same work, and two of them believed that sometimes the policy

within the company was equal, sometimes unequal:

-

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She justifies an eventual lower pay for the results and performance, not

gender (Laura).

the same in our company. According to the rule, everyone is treated

matter if you are a male or a female, you will get equal pay for equal

ion of

same post there are different salaries. For example, it depends on how

long you have been working - the longer, the higher is the salary, but the

post is the same. We will consider the average salary of the employees

per year and outstanding personal performance to give different

In the first Chinese quote, the gender issue does not seem to matter much, and the

director of a Sino-French corporation focuses the response on the individual and

result-oriented level.

According to the third quote, by a language school employee, the longer one works

there, the higher is his/ her salary. This answer conflicts with one by a Brazilian,

135

who earns more than a colleague who has worked at the same position and for the

same financial institution, but for a longer time. Although she has worked there for

a shorter time, she earns more. For her, this difference is due to her coming from

other company, what helped her to value her previous experience when she was

hired, what forced the bank to make more attractive proposals, so that she would

accept changing jobs. According to research carried out in Brazil (Bruschini;

Puppim, 2004), among ten female executives of several companies of the Brazilian

labour market, all were unanimous in stating that there was no wage difference for

the same posts. For them, the best positions happen to be occupied by men, who

have been in the market for a longer time, and thus earn more.

5.4.7 On Outperforming Men

Regarding the perception of fairness, when asked if they needed to outperform men

to get the same rewards in the organization, the Brazilians pointed out:

differently. T

Although five Brazilians said they did not have to outperform men to get the same

rewards in their organizations, one said that:

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women work more because of the feminine ego. Women want to

outperform men because of the feminine ego, rather than for recognition.

The bank she works for

stimulates competition among branches by promoting campaigns like:

branch managed by a man versus branch managed by a woman

the women won, just to show themselves as winners. The regional

la).

On the other hand, two participants believe that it is necessary to outperform men.

One says:

Some talk about success as an individual matter. Apart from the gender issues, this

may lead to a dangerous masking of inequalities, in case there is some type of

discrimination where those interviewees work:

have to o

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None of the Chinese respondents said they had to outperform men to get the same

rewards in their organizations:

She, for

example, is a leader / head of the team. Her mission is to realize the most

important and to give the correct assignment to the correct person, what

is related to character and capacity (Laura).

s a language training center. The females are

stronger than men in the language field, so our company is composed by

women in the majority. It is the nature of our company, so there is no

The

interview

management (see figure 5-5).

Unlike their opinion, a study of 100 business students with corporate jobs by Peking

University's Guanghua Management School and Korn Ferry found that, to get ahead,

women normally have to outperform men (Hymowitz, 2005).

It is important to mention that there is, among the Chinese, a strong belief in the

138

equality between male and female, based on deep cultural and political roots of

recurring in different answers along all the sixteen questions in the questionnaire.

When Mao Tse-Tung took over the power in 1949, the lives of women in China

changed dramatically. Based on a relationship of equality between genders, Mao

formulated the official position of

equality between male and female became a state policy (Wang, 1998), as well as a

signal of the success of communism. Many women describe their lives under the rule

of Mao as a period in which they were equal members of society.

Yet, one interviewee mentions that results are more important, regardless of gender,

although we do not know if, in the end, more men or women win awards in the

Chinese bank she works for:

an existing social phenomenon, as a company, we will give more

attention to the outcome of the assignments. When the job is

accomplished by two different persons (one male/ one female), the

worker. We will give the rewards to the one who accomplishes the best

and we will not make the job harder, just because it is a female doing the

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5.4.8 About Promotion

being equal, will a woman be promoted over a man in your organization? six

administrative or financial area, men would be more benefited. It

depends on the necessity of the posi

In a research carried out in Brazil (Bruschini; Puppim, 2004), among ten female

executives from several companies in the Brazilian labour market, one of the

interviewees suggests that, when promoting a person, whether male or female, what

counts is the competence, or being ready or not for a promotion, and being better

than the other candidates. The rise is seen as a natural consequence of the conquest

of spaces. Or else, one of them says that there is no discrimination in the strict sense,

but the promotions take place more easily for those who have more chances to

move.

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5.4.9

A discussion on the factors that constrain women's advancement to positions of top

management and decision-making reveals a series of barriers which need to be

overcome. These include some social, cultural, historical factors, educational

attainment, government policies, networking, and domestic responsibilities. Women

face many obstacles in society and, especially in the business world, in reaching

high-levels positions. Although the glass ceiling is a major

advancement, none of the interviewees mentioned this phenomenon.

advancement:

All other Brazilians showed several barriers: the lack of time, prejudice, sexism, the

own women, and motherhood as barriers to themselves were cited. It is important to

mention that motherhood has been mentioned in a positive (when it helps women in

being better managers) and a negative (when it keeps the women away from the

labour market) way:

-respect. In addition, the men

are always deciding everything by themselves, without management

141

women have only learned to seduce the men, not to compete with them.

They need to compete in a healthy way; thirdly: maternity it keeps

women away for so long and the companies are insensitive about this

issue, what makes it difficult for the women to go back and to be

promoted. They end up in support areas, not strategic ones. This not

only penalizes the woman, but also the husband and the family as a

whole, what makes the woman bitter. Sometimes there is no

motherhood. Motherhood makes the women better managers; this is

hat the women must have.

For this, women cannot use this precious time to perfect themselves.

Although many men take typically feminine functions, for their nature,

women will not let go of some things that are characteristic to them.

This, thus, becomes a barrier for the professional advancement, as

women will have less time. Another barrier: some people still have a

be re - It may be a barrier, but she thinks this is the

142

right thing (Monica).

probably think I can

humbleness), and the knowledge stagnation. We are limited, but some

Regarding the Chinese, biases are perceived as associated to a very traditional

Chinese way of thinking, and male thinking. They carry the old feudal idea

according to which women do not own their destiny:

And the females are not very aware that they own their own fate, and

Daisy).

Women are also limited by the fulfillment of their functions, such as motherhood.

The conditions of marriage and the family are also commented as barriers:

143

l and, secondly,

there are the women's body and responsibilities for the society. For

Moreover, one Chinese said that the nature of the gender awareness was a barrier:

ieve that the male

Among the Brazilians and the Chinese, the following were also mentioned as

barriers to women's advancement. Prejudice and the social roles assigned to women

were cited as the barriers Brazil and China have in common:

144

Table 5-7 Top Barriers to Advancement (China and Brazil - 2008)

BRAZIL CHINA

Lack of time (2)12

The woman herself as a barrier (2)Prejudice (2)Social roles assigned to women (marriage, motherhood, family responsibilities) (2)Sexism (2)Lack of respect (1)Lack of preparation in dealing with teams(1)Multiplicity of functions (1)

Chinese traditional way ofthinking (2)Social roles assigned towomen (marriage, motherhood) (2)Traditional male thinking (1)Prejudice (1)Lack of personal abilities (1)

The nature of social genderawareness (1)

Emotional (1)Lack of wisdom (1)

Lack of self-confidence (1)

Lack of humility (1).

Catalyst lists a number of barriers to female advancement to board level. The

women's lack of management experience is on the top of the list, closely followed

by women's exclusion from informal networks; stereotypes about women's abilities;

a lack of role models; a failure of male leadership; family responsibilities; and

naivety on company politics (Roberts, 2008). Galinsky et al. (2003) discovered that

the top-rated organizational obstacles primarily concern the availability and quality

of the support that the executives receive in their organizations. Having support

from higher-ups in the organization is paramount for both women and men to

advance. Nevertheless, women report facing many more obstacles than

men specifically being excluded from important networks, having a limited

number of role models, having limited opportunities for experiences in line or in

12 Number of interviewees who mention it.

145

general management positions, facing gender stereotypes, and being in dual-career

families. In a study by Catalyst and The Conference Board (2002), they found out

as below:

Table 5-8 Top Three Barriers to Advancement (U.S and Europe - 2002)

Top Three Barriers to AdvancementEuropean Women U.S Women

Lack of senior female role models Exclusion from informal networksLack of significant general management or line experience

Lack of significant general management or line experience

Source: CATALYST; THE CONFERENCE BOARD (2002).

Family responsibilities, mentioned by Catalyst (Roberts, 2008), and being in

dual-career families, mentioned by Galinsky et al. (2003), are the characteristics

also found in the answers given by the Brazilians and the Chinese as barriers to

advancement.

5.4.10 On Success

Studying was the most cited strategy among the Brazilians (04 respondents),

followed by persistence/ determination (02), calm/ serenity (02) and commitment

(02). All other strategies were only mentioned individually. Among many strategies,

Brazilian and Chinese women had only one in common: the importance of

networking.

146

ound, committed commitment is

everything. You should try to develop yourself by attending courses and

irmness; one has to be firm, clear, objective, serene, intelligent,

and like people, besides being honest and true to him/ herself. Besides

13 and self-confidence (not to

14.

The major risk is erotizing the relationship and using seduction to

achieve positions. This is a dangerous way. There is also the risk of

wanting to play the avenger, or of gossiping, spreading information

(women talk too much). Another risk: one may not be led by the

emotions. Emotional balance: in this aspect the male wins comfortably.

13

14 The interviewee defines healthy paranoia as the awareness that somebody can always try to put you

down.

147

would be training, knowledge. It is useless to try to grow

without proving this value. Women have great difficulty in living with

other women. In order to succeed, they have to stop wanting to be bigger

and better than the other women. They have to give way to other women

and recognize their value. As the women are growing, this is a real war.

together so that all can grow together. Secondly: networking

is important, besides having determination and

For the Chin

careful (02), meticulous (01), patient (01) and communicative (02). All are

converted into strategies for the advancement of women. Besides these, the most

cited were self development / improvement (03) and quality (02):

148

If you are good, maybe you can advance, but if you are not good, you

Actually, she

thinks that chances are not the same for male and female. For the women

it is much harder (Laura).

Raising awareness of women s independence to help them to

self-develop, improve the social policies of the legal system and

eliminate the social discrimination. In addition, regulating a balanced

allocation of resources

Table 5- cited by more than one interviewee (Brazil /China - 2008)

(cited by more than one interviewee)BRAZIL CHINAStudying (4)15

Persistence / determination (2)Calm / serenity (2)Commitment (2)

Cordiality (2)Care (2)Communication (2)Self-development/improvement (2)Quality (2)

All the others were referred to once:

15 Number of interviewees who mention it.

149

Table 5-10 Top Strategies f cess cited just once (Brazil and China - 2008)

Top Strateg (cited just once)BRAZIL CHINA

PositioningNot being intimidatedBeing observant Fighting spiritFirmness Clarity Objectivity Intelligence NetworkingHonesty /ethics Healthy narcissism16 Healthy paranoia17 Self confidence Emotional balance Liking people Reducing competition between womenOriginalitySensibilityElasticityBehavior Adaptability

Chances to studySupport from familyIndependence awarenessImproving the social policies of thelegal systemEliminating social discriminationBalanced allocation of resourcesAwareness of the barriersNetworkingRealizing goalsBeing meticulousBeing patient

Among all the 14 interviewees, Brazilian and Chinese, only one Chinese mentioned

awareness of the barriers as a strategy to succeed.

Although men and women are commonly believed to have different personal

strategies to succeed, Galinsky et al. (2003) found out just the opposite. The

16

17 The interviewee defines healthy paranoia as the awareness that someone can always try to put you

down.

150

descriptions men and women give on the personal strategies that have helped them

-

and able to manage change; taking on risks and challenges; being able to motivate

others; having very high personal standards for work; being a hard worker; and being

an effective problem solver are the top rated personal strategies to succeed.

As an illustration, being adaptable, cited by Galinsky et al. (2003) is the common

characteristic also found in the answer of a Brazilian woman as a strategy to succeed.

In a study by Catalyst and The Conference Board (2002), they found out what U.S

and European women believe to be the top strategies for success, as below:

Table 5- - 2002)

Top Three Strategies for SuccessEuropean Women U.S Women

Taking initiative Consistently exceed performanceexpectations

Having recognized expertise in a specific contentarea

Develop a style that men are comfortablewith

Seeking high visibility assignments Seeking high visibility assignments

Source: CATALYST; THE CONFERENCE BOARD (2002).

5.4.11 On Stereotypes

To Catalyst (2005), women are portrayed as lacking the qualities that people

151

commonly associate with effective leadership, and this is related to gender-based

stereotypes in business. They limit opportunities for women to advance in the

stereotypes to corporate leadership applied by the senior managers, and they still

persist. Sensitivity and being emotional is attributed to women, while aggressiveness

and rationality to men. When women leaders work in occupations that are

stereotypically suited to men, they will be judged less effective than when they work

in occupations stereotypically suited to women, regardless of their true competencies.

Therefore, women who manage large healthcare systems or cosmetic companies may

be seen as more effective than women managing steel mills or construction

companies, for instance. Although people believe that their perceptions come from

objective observations, they are often unaware of how their thinking is automatically

influenced by stereotypes. About this, Catalyst (2005) presents some overall

conclusions:

(1) Gender-based stereotyping is still strong in business both men and women do it;

(2) Differences between women and men leaders may not be perceived by senior

managers;

(3) Gender stereotypes are the only source for these perceptions of women and men

leaders; they may not be verified in reality;

(4) vate followers may be seriously undermined

because they are believed to be relatively poor problem-solvers;

153

In the same proportion, the Chinese said that stereotypes were not an invisible

threat, and some even said they did not exist. The two respondents who see the

stereotypes as an invisible threat say:

-conscious level, this phenomenon does exist. As I

mentioned before, women are facing the condition of getting married

and giving birth. If the company invests heavily in human and material

support, and focuses on training for the women, then the training and

support will be nothing once the women get married and leave the

company. Then the company will get no benefit at all. So, once facing

this condition, the possibility of further developing in the company is

but b) it exists somehow because, in case the female workers get

pregnant, there is this invisible threat - For her there is no proof about

this in the company (Sabrina).

5.4.12 On the Impact of Stereotypes Over Women and in the Company, as well

as Measures to Combat Them

The subtle impact of stereotypes was not perceived by five of the Brazilian

interviewees, either. One did not answer and only one said that it affected women:

154

mislead them in their strategies. Like this, they may be exposed and

misunderstood and the strategy falls through. The emotional is the

This participant also adds that the bank she works for actually fights these

stereotypes:

you call them and talk to psychologists, etc. Yes, the bank cares

However, it is perceived that the action is just a support to ease the psychological

consequences of the action of the stereotypes, but it does not fight them in its

essence or cause, neither prevents them.

This issue was perceived in equal proportion by the interviewees from the two

countries: in each country, one did not respond, five did not think there was any, and

one said there was. One interviewee who worked for a Chinese bank acknowledged

their existence, and said that the bank was taking measures to fight the stereotypes,

but she did not specify what actions were taken:

are

155

word, as a male, the superior will take this factor into account. This also

5.4.13 On What is Holding Women Back

Nothing is holding women back, according to three Brazilians. They suggest that

the women are growing a lot and reaching achievements:

revolution is 50 year- She

personally believes that there is room for everyone, either in housework

or in companies

It seems here that the advancement of women is just a matter of time, and not of the

existence of obstacles. On the other hand, four Brazilian women point out that there

are situations holding them back, such as the overloading of functions:

upport, the

Or that society is sexist:

156

Many women play this role and even explore this. This is an obstacle for

dvancement as it creates prejudice and generalizations to

harm themselves. In the executive world, men see women in support

areas. Now they start thinking of the women for functions other than of

support. When women attain positions of command, these are still in the

difficult to find women ruling or in a core area (maybe in a cosmetics

a woman from the househ

Moreover, that there is a lack of self-respect:

-

(Paula).

And finally, that there is an inadequacy of strategy towards situations:

confront. Above all, they have to be wise and diplomatic in all situations.

She suggests for women the Book of Esther, in the

Bibl

157

Unlike the Brazilians, all Chinese said there was something holding women back

and they presented different points, such as:

-awareness, and the lack of

Or the female condition itself or social factors and background:

work until the last moment. She thinks it is normal. If the baby has some

problems, even if the boss had planned something different for her, a

(Leila).

Moreover, motherhood appears again:

One said that women do not have enough personal abilities, or sometimes their post

158

does not match their abilities and this is holding women back. Finally, limited

knowledge and accommodation is holding women back for one of the Chinese:

Daisy).

Table 5-12 What is Holding Women Back (Brazil - 2008)

What is holding women back?

BRAZIL CHINA

Conciliating different roles (mother, wife, professional)Sexist society Lack of self-respectInadequacy of strategy towards thesituations (confronting, not beingwise, not being diplomatic)Women themselves

Limited knowledgeAccommodationAgeWeak self awarenessLack of competition awarenessSex itselfSocial factors

Taking care of and raising childrenLack of personal abilitiesYour post not matching yourabilities

According to Catalyst (2003), executives from Fortune 100018 companies listed

what they believed to be holding women back, as below:

18 Fortune 1000 is a reference to a list maintained by the American business magazine Fortune. The list is

of the 1000 largest American companies, ranked on revenues alone. Eligible companies are any which are

incorporated in the United States, and for which revenues are publicly available.

159

Table 5-13 What is Holding Women Back (U.S - 2003)

U.S - What is holding women back?Lack of significant general management or line experience (47 percent)Exclusion from informal networks (41 percent)

percent)Commitment to personal or family responsibilities (26 percent)

Source: CATALYST (2003).

As an illustration, commitment to personal or family responsibilities cited by

Catalyst (2003) is one of the factors in common with Brazilians, when they say

5.4.14 On the Opinion About the Statement "Recent Studies Have Shown that

the Companies with More Women Board Directors Experience Higher

Financial Performance"

To Catalyst (2004), companies that develop and advance women will benefit

specifically and financially, by accessing a large part of the available talent pool, as

well as employing individuals who reflect a substantial consumer variety. On

average, the financial performance of the group of companies with the highest

representation of women on their top management was better than the one of the

at least,

for the following financial measures: Return on Equity (ROE), which was 35.1

percent higher, and Total Return to Shareholders (TRS), which was 34.0 percent

160

higher. Catalyst establishes a connection between gender diversity and financial

performance. Although they are exploring a link, they are not demonstrating

causation of a sample of 353 Fortune 500 corporations for the period 1996 to 2000.

All Brazilians agreed with the statement, and only two Chinese, in turn, agreed with

the statement. Brazilian and Chinese women highlight features that contribute for this,

such as:

Table 5-14 Characteristics of the Feminine Gender considered Advantageous in the Obtaining ofHigher Financial Performance (Brazil and China- 2008)

BRAZIL CHINA

SensibilityManagement of the moneyKnowing how to divide the moneyBeing less boldHaving temperanceHaving a complementary roleMore facility in understanding theother person Having a different view onnumbers

Being good at financialmanagementPractical suggestionsPreventing blindinvestmentHelping the members of theboardCompleting the judgmentsof the members of theboard

I think the women learn how to manage their money very early.

Even if the male brings the money home, the female knows how to

divide it and she brings this skill to work, what leads to a better

management. Women are less bold, and they are more concise about

161

t may be true because the women are going to try. Men are impulsive,

whilst women try to cool things down. Men are slow and women push.

In a board of directors, they bring temperance. They see the

competitors differently from the men, and play a complementary role

to enhance the board s efficiency (Marta).

It is remarkable that one of the interviewees emphasizes feminine features as

coming from the nature:

our institution is gathering

companies and saying what happened in them from the moment

women took over the administration. In Norway, 40 percent of the

o make it clear on profitability.

Women can more easily understand the other for they are natural born

providers/ caregivers, they use empat .

The interviewee is mentioning a Norwegian law approved in 2003, according to

which women must fill 40 percent of the country's corporate board seats effective.

By doing so, Norway was the first country in the world to demand gender balance

162

within the boards of public limited companies. The Norwegian Government regards

the legislation on women in boards as an important step towards equality between the

sexes, a fairer society and a more even distribution of power, and as an important

factor in the creation of wealth in society.

Regarding the second part of the answer, would the women really be caregivers by

nature? Or would that be a culturally learned construction to justify male supremacy

in the business environment? Would it be one more stereotype? In general, the

dominant discourse resorts to the argument of nature to legitimize their domination.

Concerning the statement, if we consider the data from the Brazilians, no company

has sufficient and proportional representation of the number of women working in

the company board of directors to support the assertion that companies with more

women on the board of directors experience higher financial performance, because:

(1) Out of the seven Brazilian companies, only three have one woman on the board

of directors;

(2) Among 30,000 employees, one woman, out of 14,700 women working in a

Brazilian financial institution, is on the board of directors (composed of 24

executives);

(3) In another company with 25 employees, where 23 are female, one is in this

board;

163

(4) At last, in the third company, among 41 employees, 36 are female, and one on

the board;

(5) The other three companies have no women on the boards, yet the interviewees

from these companies agreed with the statement that companies with more women

on the board of directors experience higher financial performance;

(6) One Brazilian financial institution did not provide any data on the staff.

Generally speaking, the interviewees agree with the statement. However, they do

not seem to be based on their reality or current situation, but maybe on a wish that

things were like this. This also seems to be a need for recognition for the female

labour.

On the other hand, only two Chinese agreed with the statement and only one

explained her reasons. It is also important to remember that this respondent works

for a Chinese financial institution that has a woman in its presidency and six women

in management, who make the decisions:

risk

control, for their unique characteristics. In crucial moments, women can

come up with important and practical suggestions to help the members

of the board, complete their judgments, make decisions and prevent

(Leila).

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Another agrees, but not totally:

, but not totally. For example, in case of corruption, there are

more males. Females, in turn, have their special character, what also

influences in the financial performance. For example, in traditional

Chinese families, it is the wife who takes care of the family's money.

Another example is that women are stronger in accounting matters

(Sabrina).

Two of them do not know for sure. One of these, a general director of the

engineering technology company, cannot say much about women on the board. She

only knows about male board directors and can tell they are very good and strong in

business:

ell. All my superiors in France are male guang li hen hao

(very good management) But she is sure that men are

very good and strong in business.

Two totally disagree and just one explained why. In her explanation, she sees no

relation between gender and high performances:

s: 1) if the company has better financial

performance, it depends on the prudent decisions made by the managers.

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2) reasonable capital composition of the company, 3) good functioning

It seems that the Chinese, unlike the Brazilians, give their answers based on their

personal work experiences, because:

(1) Out of the seven Chinese companies, only three have women in their boards of

directors. And in these three companies, only one of the interviewees agreed with

the statement that companies with more women board directors experience higher

financial performance. Perhaps because, in the company where she works, the

president is a female and there are female managers and decision makers, what

makes her more accustomed to decisions made by women. This financial institution

in China has 150 employees in one of its branches, of which 100 are women and

one is on the board (she does not provide the total number of employees);

(2) The other, who works in an association of women, tells that, in a total of 58

employees, 40 are female, 5 of them on the board. We should here stress that, for

being an association of women, its staff and board have a strong tendency of being

composed by a greater number of women. Still, the interviewee from this

association with 5 women on the board does not agree with the statement that

companies with more women board directors experience higher financial

performance;

(3) The third interviewee, who works in a bank with one woman on the board of

directors, totally disagrees with the statement.

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Although one Chinese seems more accustomed to women in decision making, the

other parties do not give opinion, or do not know for sure. They are accustomed to

male leaders and only recognize the factor of success and high performance in

business management in the male.

5.4.15 On a Trend for the 21st Century

Some authors signal a trend for the 21st century from a male-oriented hard power

situation to female-oriented soft power situation. Capra (1982), for example, states

that the western society is the model yang in crisis. This competitive society,

dominated by man, rational, for its unbalance, is about to give rise to a society more

cooperative, intuitive, peaceful, with more feminine wisdom - yin.

When asked about the trend for the 21st century, from a male-oriented hard power

situation to a female-oriented soft power situation, the Brazilians and the Chinese

listed the following characteristics as belonging to the women:

Table 5-15 Characteristics Ascribed to Women (Brazil and China- 2008)

BRAZIL CHINAParticipative management Capacity of listening much better than menSoftness HumanityFacility in expressing themselves Adaptability in diverse situations

Charming personalityHigh capacityHigh talentBeing superwomenUnique approachGreater kindnessMore carePatience

Two Brazilians disagree and four agree with the statement. It is interesting to note

that, between two Brazilian interviewees with different positions (one agrees with

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the statement and the other does not), there is a confluence of views on the

following aspect: both do not believe in the softness of the female power, and the

latter emphasizes how much the women still follow the male power model in the

management:

. Not all the women are so soft when they have power. And there

are also men who are soft. Men are as soft as some women, and some

is based on the male power. Maybe at war the women are softer, as they

For another participant, this highlighted trend is only going to come true in the future.

However, it is not going to be purely feminine. For her, opposite characteristics are

complementary:

Nevertheless, she

does not think this is the way

Therefore, we have father and mother. They complement each other.

Firmness, affect, hardness and softness are all necessary, a bit of each.

entrepreneurship and

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service-

Another thinks this trend is already a reality:

She agrees. For her, it is already like this

some time. Male and female have different characteristics. The feminine

ones are

when authority solved everything. What is necessary is a balance.

Masculine and feminine characteristics are both needed. This is the way

to better understand the situation and solve it more softly

(Monica).

Also, two Brazilians who agree with the statement say:

characteristic

She agrees: - en have in expressing themselves

Four Chinese agree with the statement, emphasizing the space conquered by women,

the importance of education and gender equality. Here the strength of 60 years of

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communist China 19:

important influence in different fields, and they play an important role in

the society. Their power is i

they have high capacity and high talent. They are gradually released

from the family care and have a higher status in the society - the men are

(Helen).

man who conquers the world with their hard power, while the female

(Leila).

One of them takes the discussion of the issue to a biological level:

19 Mao Tse-Tung's statement on men and women in the People's Republic of China, where the sexes were

to be seen and treated in a communist state as equal.

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are normally the symbol of human power, and this determines that they

need to play the strong men at work and in the personal life. Au

contraire, the female are more kind, careful and patient. In some

situations, they will have some influence with their soft po

(Sabrina).

Within the two who disagree, one disagrees with the own idea of male-oriented hard

power and female-oriented soft power:

(hard power situation), but also have a charming personality (soft

She does not think this is a matter of the men being strong at

hard power and the women at soft power. She thinks each can have both

(Daisy).

The other discusses the issue as a matter of gender, where men and women are

equal, but with different skills and education:

nowadays, women and men are equal and have the same chances. The

performance of their abilities, their character, and the education

received are d

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One did not answer the question directly. She believes that men and women do not

necessarily need to have different ways of exercising the power. All is, according to

the interviewee, related to the individual level, to the personal qualities, regardless

of gender. She also talks about the expression "Nu Qiang Ren" - - which

according to her, in China, designates the female high leaders. In English it would

derogative connotation of women:

nu qiang ren - that means

She thinks this is discrimination because, if the person is good,

this is because he/ she is good, not because it is a male or female

believe that some people are smarter than others, and therefore they are

e or a female, it will

able to take the responsibility, but she is still a woman. You may change,

scream and calm down afterwards, but if a woman does the same, she

She believes that, if the

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society changes, the individuals change

women want to imitate the men. It turns out that there are new

necessities coming up, urging for a more feminine

- She gave an example of the day she went to buy herself a briefcase: she

found no feminine model, just masculine ones

square, and the female is elegant, curvilinear and one cannot forget

The women are somehow contradictory; they do not seem to have global vision of the

times in which they are historically inserted. They work without being very

conscious about the statistics on gender issues and their situation (for example, the

glass ceiling was not cited as a barrier, although it is still the major obstacle for

in an individual level and may, therefore, lack complicity besides thinking of

certain situations as occurring exclusively to them. If they looked around, they would

see that other women go through similar situations in the labour market. The use of

the word "class" by one of the interviewees (Lidia, item 3 of this chapter) draws our

attention class, according to sociological theories, indicates the position in the

production process. The ones who own the means of production are called

bourgeoisie; the ones who do not have them are known as the proletariat. Perhaps the

issue should not be addressed as a matter of class, but of gender. However, it may

make us wonder whether gender relations can influence class relations. Or vice-versa?

Women are partially aware of the problems they face in the labour market. For

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instance, some of them, for having already overcome the barrier of glass ceiling,

think the phenomenon is a problem already solved and no longer exists, reinforcing

the idea that women do not think and act as a whole group, but individually.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION AND CONSIDERATIONS

6.1 Research Creative Points

Regarding the benefits and outcomes of the research, this study would contribute in

two ways: a theoretical and a practical contribution. The vital issue is to acquire

knowledge of the situation. In management literature it is clear that the study of

women in management is a very new field of research. One might say that in the

theoretical part, this is a very unique study because it is the first time a comparison

of Brazilian and Chinese women in management was done. On the other hand, the

practical contribution may be considered as a new focus on the matter is provided,

what enables the awareness on the importance of this issue for women, companies

and the society. The issues pointed in this research and the topics of the

questionnaires are very relevant to the understanding of the reality of women in

management. This research s outcomes may be of help in future researches about

the subject and even in future comparisons between the two countries.

6.2 Challenges in the Further Development of Brazilian and Chinese

Women in the Labour Market

Globalization increases trade, information, and cultural exchanges. It brings new

opportunities but also many challenges. Trade and financial liberalization have

created new opportunities for women around the globe. And the world today is

feeling the impact of women workforce. However, both in Brazil and in China the

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subordination condition of women is historical, and only in recent decades has been

changed. In spite of regional and cultural differences between the two countries, the

available literature seems to agree that Brazilian and Chinese women still make a

disproportionally small percentage of those participating in public decision-making

roles, especially at top management levels. Surprisingly, even in the traditionally

female-dominated professions, women are in secondary positions relative to men. It

seems that prejudices and stereotypes approached along this research promote and

perpetuate this situation. Fighting prejudice, offering equal opportunities, and

increasing their chances in the labour market and the training for specialized

functions, with better jobs, s for equal work, and access to

directorship positions are the main concern.

In many countries women are in fact gradually increasing their share of managerial

work but the pace of change is slow and the progress has generally been uneven

(Wirth, 2001:35). There is a remarkable increase in the female participation in labour

market and, consequently, in companies. It is also perceived that this presence is

more common in positions that require lower qualifications and skills. This means

there was an increase in women s participation in the labour market, but they hardly

ever see their rising within the company. Little by little women advance to higher

posts, although the bottleneck remains large, and because these positions are still

originally masculine, some more barriers are still imposed to women. They have

more challenges than men when it comes to companies and there are still hurdles to

overcome. Gender stereotypes keep on putting women in the labour force in a

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disadvantaged position. As previously seen, they are often regarded as working only

on a short-term basis between school and marriage and as secondary income earners.

Gender analysis has been recognized as a significant aid to improve decision making.

The Brazilian and Chinese governments have made commitments in global and

national policies to take steps to remove barriers faced by women and to facilitate

women's equal access to resources, employment, and opportunities.

To UNIFEM (1999), only when women achieve equality of access and opportunity

they will realize their full potential to contribute to economic and social well-being.

Differential patterns of access for women and men to land, capital and training tend

to be influenced by gender roles, norms and biases in institutions. Therefore,

women are often less able to seize the new economic opportunities created by trade

and financial liberalization. Females may be less able to benefit from the positive

opportunities, and more affected by the short-term negative consequences of trade

and financial liberalization due to their specific gender roles and the impact of

stereotypes. Improving labour market outcomes for women and for economic

Women entering the paid labour force have actually gained income, autonomy and

status individually. As a group, their increased labour force participation has created

incentives for investments in education and training for women, as well as new role

models to change traditional perceptions about women's roles and capabilities The

jobs gained still tend to be poorly paid, but they offer better opportunities than those

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previously available. Disproportionate growth in relatively new areas such as data

entry, computing, tourism, recreation, banking and financial services has been

generated by globalization. Better quality jobs for women in these new sectors are

due to comparative lack of traditional gender stereotypes and tighter labour

markets.

As presented before, Hausmann et al. (2007) show a gender gap list of 128 countries

by the World Economic Forum. Brazil and China are ranked on the 74th and 73rd

places, respectively, what may suggest they are in a very similar position on gender

relations. However, a careful look at the subindexes might reveal that they are in

some aspects very different. While the subindex ranking for wage equality for similar

work is 105 for Brazil, it is 49 for China. Brazil ranks on the 1st place (with 53

percent of females) and China on the 64th (with 45 percent of females) about

professional and technical workers. In Brazil, 34 percent of legislators, senior

officials, and managers are women, what puts the country on the 21st position on the

list. China, in turn, ranks on 93rd, as only 12 percent are female.

Every country, every economic sector and all types of activity are affected by

discrimination at work. Its formal condemnation is universal nowadays. This is

particularly true for race or sex discrimination, where ignorance or denial gave place

to awareness and remedial action. Governments, employers and workers share the

responsibility of working together to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.

Groups that are discriminated against need equal access to education and training,

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non-discriminatory labour market institutions and processes, and equal treatment at

work to aspire to decent work. Affirmative action and sanctions against those who

perpetuate discrimination will help to achieve a level playing field, what also

indicates a raise of awareness (ILO, 2003: 119).

According to ILO (1998), women represent more than 40 percent of the global

workforce and now have achieved higher levels of education than ever before. How

much, and what kind of education women and men acquire is somehow determined

by cultural norms and societal beliefs on gender roles and relations. In most societies,

women are expected to take time off from work to look after the children or other

family members and to undertake household tasks. Their share of management

positions is still very low, with just a small proportion succeeding in breaking through

the glass ceiling. Significant progress has been achieved in the advancement of women

over recent years indeed, with their increasing in occupations, professions and

managerial jobs previously held only by males. More and more women have the

necessary qualifications to aspire to top jobs in the financial and business services by

improving their access to education and training. Attitudinal and institutional

discrimination which bar women from certain jobs and hinder their career

work itself is organized and the difficulties involved in reconciling work and family

concrete efforts and debates to attract and retain women in order to benefit from their

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qualifications and talent could provide perspectives for the increasing of their share of

managerial jobs. Although females hold management jobs, they tend to be clustered at

lower levels, in less vital areas and in all cases their access to top managerial jobs

remains restricted.

6.3 Suggestions for Gender Relations in Companies

The organizations, society and citizens overall are influenced by regional and

national culture. At present, a concerning in guaranteeing conditions for the equality

of opportunities starts to gain importance in companies. To Catalyst (2005)

corporations today face an alarming gender gap in leadership. Since leadership

talent is crucial and scarce, organizations cannot afford to underutilize the talents of

women in senior management positions. Some companies had already realized the

importance of attracting, developing and retaining women as a competitive business

strategy. However, according to Human Rights Campaign (2006) just 90 out of

Fortune 500 companies have non-discrimination policies including gender identity.

For this reason, one can see how underutilized, unknown and under considered the

gender issue is in organizations. A gender management system can also be utilized

where the firm can put in place to monitor and manage the integration of gender.

We strongly advise companies to capitalize on the advantages of gender-diverse

management teams and the transformation of planning through a gender perspective.

And we understand that these research outcomes will be valuable to Chinese and

Brazilian women, as well to companies in these countries to better evaluate this

situation. But we also suggest that

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should be routinely collected and regularly reviewed. According to UNIFEM

(1999), companies should be encouraged by the government to collect and use more

ex

should be formally recognized to propose more effective policies that would be

sensitive to the different roles and experiences of the genders. In order to identify

the differential impact of policies, programs and activities on women and men,

analysis should be undertaken routinely.

equity as a

business goal and its links with organizational effectiveness, besides working to

Charlesworth; Baird, 2007).

This way g

work opportunities, services, and resources. What is missed is that, gender equality

refers to a situation when both men and women realize their full potential.

Programs encouraging respect for diversity with focus on gender and race require

the commitment of all sectors in the company, starting by its directors. The

involvement of management is critical to breaking the glass ceiling and to help

. In order to promote positive change, executives must

change their own assumptions and recognize that employee diversity must be

valued. Differences among people must be understood. Managers must find their

own definitions of diversity and should be encouraged to think beyond race and

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gender issues to consider education, background, personality differences and other

factors. As soon as a vision for a diverse workplace is created and defined, the

This comes with a willingness to change the status quo in order to modify current

ways of thinking. For the people in pioneering roles, training and support are

important. Training programs, for example, can promote knowledge and acceptance

of diverse cultures and educate managers in the valuing of differences. Helping

people to be more flexible in their communications with others, to treat each person

as an individual, and not relying on stereotypes is the main point of training (Daft,

2000). Affirmative action programs should not be de-emphasized, because they are

crucial to give minorities and women access to jobs in the organization.

Training is not only a process of developing awareness and capacity on gender issues,

but also of bringing personal or organizational change towards gender equality.

Gender training is one the possible kinds of institutional strategies to integrate gender

into the work of development co-operation agencies. Raising general awareness of

analysis, gender-aware planning, program design and implementation can also be

included in its objectives. Typically, gender training involves: group discussion and

reflection about gender roles and relations; case studies regarding the impact of

development policies and programs on gender relations; also role plays and

simulation games which highlight gender dynamics (Reeves; Baden, 2000:20).

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If people are continually exposed to information that disconfirms their stereotypes,

they may be less likely to reproduce them. Therefore, organizations can highlight

-solvers.

To Catalyst (2005) companies can address the stereotypic bias by:

(1) Evaluating Objective performance and planning succession processes;

(2) Educating managers about stereotyping; and

(3) Showcasing the successes of female leaders, especially in stereotypically

masculine fields.

The women, the companies, and the society as a whole have big losses due to the

barriers to full participation of women in the labour market. Investing in the

promotion of diversity among employees with a strong focus on gender is, for the

companies, the chance of using a yet little explored potential of creativity, capacity

management and productivity. More effective teams, more satisfied employees and

reduced turnover can be seen where there is diversity at all levels. The women in

special, who today represent a major force in public opinion and consumer market,

give social recognition to companies that contribute to equal opportunities for both

genders. Promoting women in the working world helps the increasing of the skills

of professionals available in general, so it is also interesting for companies as a

whole. Moreover, a larger and more dynamic consumer market can be achieved

with better educated women, and with higher income, so one might say that their

empowerment has positive repercussions throughout the economy. Explicit policies

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to promote gender equity or to include only fair criteria of access to promotion are

not kept by all the organizations. Therefore, the Instituto Ethos (2004) considers

important:

(1) To evaluate the proportion of men and women among all employees, in all

segments of the company, and at all hierarchical levels;

(2) To observe the wage levels of men and women in all functions, calculating the

differences: average and per function;

(3) To calculate the time of working progression of men and women;

(4) To measure the expectations on the training and see if there is proportionality

between the number of men and women who take training or specialization courses,

in the company or elsewhere, or who receive encouragement to do so, in relation

with the total of employees of each sex.

Moreover, this set of ten points proposed by the same source summarizes the major

issues that need to be addressed and resolved in order to value the women in

companies and the labour market.

(1)Ensuring equal employment and career development opportunities by promoting,

when necessary, specific training to enable the functional advancement of women in

the company;

(2) Ensuring equal pay for equal or equivalent functions;

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(3) Ensuring that the participation of women on the boards of directors is

proportional to the total number of women on staff;

(4) Committing to the protection of motherhood and the rights of children;

(5) Protecting the female employees against physical, sexual or moral violence in the

workplace;

(6)

responsible parenthood and on avoiding all forms of violence against women and

children;

(7)

employees to participate in internal organizations for workers in the company;

(8) Prohibiting marketing strategies that stimulate unequal treatment between the

sexes;

(9)Supporting ventures led by women by giving them credit and signing contracts to

provide them products and services, besides promoting education opportunities for

women and girls in the community;

(10) Encouraging gender equity among suppliers and partners.

To Instituto Ethos (2004), these principles should be encouraged by the companies

committed to gender equity throughout their chain of business, marketing policies,

selection of suppliers and criteria for partnership and funding. Ensuring that the

policies regarding wage, recruitment, promotion, etc. eliminate all possibilities of

discrimination and stereotypes relating to the gender, race or color of the employees

is the best way to promote gender equity. An organization's commitment to gender

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equity can be indicated by the female participation in its directorship and

management positions.

In terms of the society, all these points are valid as long as there is recognition of

equality of opportunities as essential in the building of societies that are both socially

and economically advanced, otherwise any progress will be, nothing more than slow

and uneven. It is, thus, crucial to ensure that a greater proportion of women

participate in decision-making functions in all entities that are relevant to economic

development. In terms of a company, without the support of the senior management,

an equal opportunity program within an organization is unlikely to be effective. All

human resources management policies must have top management commitment and

keep the CEO involved in diversity practices to be successful. The literature review

showed the challenges that women still face in a variety of situations in the society

and the workplace. Studies also permitted us to see that women have achievements

in all kinds of positions, and success at all levels in different parts of the globe.

However, yet they still have a long way to go and barriers to overcome.

asingly in demand, only a

companies believe that promoting women produces more talent and, hence, more

long-term profitability. Companies promoting women today expect to gain

advantages only in the long run as competent and qualified women are harder to

attract and retain. Besides, by making women visible at the top, companies can

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provide a competitive edge in selling services and products to the growing number

of female customers.

6.4 Research Questions: a Resuming

The final results showed that the women in our sample are in positions where there

are relatively few women. Our hypotheses initially considered were as below:

(1) From which hierarchical level is more difficult to find the presence of women?

The majority of the women are, as shown by primary and secondary data, in

non-managerial, first-line management and middle management positions. Most of

the interviewees are in the middle management, and some of them are also present

in the top management and on the board of directors. The middle management is

seen, in some of the companies where the interviewees work, as the level at which

labour market, in the literature review and in surveys, although some women are

already advancing and breaking through this ceiling, the majority of them still come

presents that the higher the level, the smaller the presence of women.

(2) Is increased participation of women in management positions a general trend in

both countries?

This trend is not only real in the two countries, but also presented as a worldwide

trend, where women make 40% of the workforce and are increasingly present at the

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diverse hierarchical levels of the companies, and have been gradually moving up the

hierarchical ladder of organizations. They are making remarkable inroads in middle

management, especially in banking (Walters; Mason, 1994). In the Chinese and

Brazilian situations, women are mostly in positions considered traditionally female

areas such as the social, cultural, welfare service and health. And in both countries

they represent more than 40% of the labour force. Once again it is important to

observe that the number of women in directorship positions in companies is not

proportional to the total of women in the organizations, let alone to female

participation in the labour market and their representativeness in the society.

Hausmann et al. (2007) show that in a gender gap list by the World Economic Forum,

in Brazil 34 percent of managers, legislators, and senior officials are female. In China,

on the other hand, only 12 percent are women.

(3) Are there barriers that Brazilian and Chinese women face to advance in their

careers? If so, would they be the same?

Among Chinese and Brazilians interviewees, were considered common top barriers:

prejudice and social roles assigned to women. Those were followed by lack of time,

the women themselves as barriers, sexism, and lack of respect, among others, for

capacity, Chinese traditional way of thinking, traditional male thinking, and the

nature of the social gender awareness. The concept of gender awareness should be

highlighted as it means the ability of identifying problems arising from gender

inequality and discrimination.

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Concerning what is holding women back, conciliating different roles (mother, wife

professional), sexist society, inadequacy of strategy towards situations, among

others, are the factors considered by the Brazilians as holding women back. Chinese

women, in turn, believe that accommodation, limited knowledge, age, sex itself,

social factors, and taking care of and raising children, among others, are holding

women back.

(4) Are there strategies that the Chinese and Brazilian women take to succeed? If so,

would they be the same?

The results of the questionnaires indicated that, among the Brazilians, studying,

persistence/determination, calm/serenity, and commitment are considered top

strategies for success. Those features are followed by positioning, firmness,

objectivity, intelligence, adaptability, originality, among many others. Among the

Chinese, cordiality, care, communication, self-development/improvement, and

quality are considered top strategies for success. Those characteristics are followed

by chances to study, support from family, independence awareness, eliminating

social discrimination, and realizing goals, among others. Networking is the only

strategy in common between Brazilians and Chinese, considered important to

succeed by both. Yet concerning this subject, it is remarkable that, out of 14

interviewees, just one Chinese mentioned that awareness of the barriers is important

to succeed. This may suggest that, in general, Brazilians and Chinese may not

believe in the existence of barriers for success that need to be overcome, and they

believe that succeeding is just a matter of time or of applying the strategies above.

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Good barrier awareness, as previously seen, allows both men and women to take

actions consciously and, if applicable, adapt their action strategies to advance in a

personal way in the labour market.

Moreover, three Brazilians and three Chinese consider studying an important factor

to get ahead, followed by sensibility (Brazilians) and being self-confident (Chinese).

One Chinese and one Brazilian also pointed not being arrogant as a relevant factor

to get ahead.

(5) Are gender stereotypes a kind of barrier to the advancement of Brazilian and

Chinese women in decision-making and top management positions?

Although gender based stereotyping is still strong in business, and both men and

women do it (Catalyst, 2005), 10 out 14 interviewees believe that stereotypes are

not an invisible threat in the companies they work for. Just one company has a

program to fight these stereotypes. However, it is perceived that the action is just a

support to ease the psychological consequences of the action of the stereotypes, but

it does not fight them in its essence, neither prevents them.

(6) Are there wage differences between men and women in fulfilling the same

function?

According to the theory review (Daft, 2000) women earn considerably less than

their male peers. As women move up the career ladder, the wage gap widens.

Difference in qualifications used to be the common excuse for the wage gap

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between men and women, in the realization of equal work. To Catalyst (2007a), as

many women are equally, if not more, qualified than men, it is harder and harder to

justify this situation. Now more than ever before, it is very clear that sex

discrimination is a significant contributor to the pay gap. To Jackson and Schuler

(2004), a comprehensive audit is the first step to achieve pay equity. This should

examine job evaluation, external market pay levels, pay administration procedures,

and recruitment practices. Pay equity is basically to remedy wage inequalities for

underpaid workers, not to penalize other group of employees. Three Brazilians and

work. In the case of the Chinese, not always but still the inequality is there.

(7) Do the Chinese and Brazilian women have to outperform men to achieve

recognition within the organization?

While female managers attribute their achievement to hard work and their

their success to their own ability (Rosenthal, 1995). Although minorities in general

often believe they must work harder and outperform their male counterparts (Daft,

2000) just two out of seven Brazilians believe they need to outperform men in order

to get the same rewards. The Chinese, in turn, just one out of seven said this is a

necessity. Yet, concerning the perception of fairness, four Chinese and six

anizations.

(8) Are Chinese and Brazilian women generally unaware of the role that gender

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may represent and its impact on the labour market?

Many are the disadvantages and problems faced by many women in the working

world, and gender stereotyping still limits their contribution to the companies.

Women are not employed in sufficient numbers in key-positions, but there has been

growing acceptance of the importance of their full participation in decision-making.

Women are a major resource for companies, and now they start to recognize their

own potential. Nevertheless, they face many obstacles seeking career advancement:

besides low participation in the direction and management of business, less

participation in training courses, a slower pace in the evolution of their careers,

wage gap between men and women for the same job, glass ceiling and glass walls

phenomena, lack of mentoring, and stereotypes. Along the making of the survey,

these obstacles, so important to be overcome, did not seem to be treated as so

relevant by the interviewees, maybe because they were not perceived as real

barriers by them. Anyway, policies that aim to treat women with equality have been

insufficient because they treat people equally in situations that are unequal from the

beginning. Therefore, those are barriers that need to be overcome along the new

century. The strengthening and increasing of women's participation in the

workplace and in society, as well as the guarantee of equal opportunities for both

sexes, may be reflected in a more developed, prosperous and just society.

6.5 Final Considerations

The research provided insights indicating that women in both countries have similar

192

development and others concerning specific Brazilian and Chinese cultural aspects.

One of the important outcomes of the study was finding how similar these so

geographically distant women are. On the one hand, they are similar in their

professional achievements concerning their increasing participation in the labour

market, inroads in higher level hierarchical positions, and breaking through barriers,

even timidly. On the other hand, they are also similar in their apparent lack of

awareness on how their professional lives suffer the impact of gender issues.

Sometimes, the ability to identify problems arising from gender inequality and

discrimination is not a very easy task because they are not very evident, or are

hidden. Also, in their eventual adopting of masculine postures for their insertion in

the business world.

The surveys and interviews in both countries show that women have some things in

common, and other very different things. Concerning the hiring process, for

example, the Brazilians did not mention any issues related to gender. It is not

known whether this problematic did not exist or they were not aware of them. On

the other hand, part of the Chinese identified a higher employment threshold

already in the selection process. Moreover, the Brazilians point out the feminine

sensibility and the masculine rationality as important to complement each other, in

order to create more business opportunities. At the same time, they mention women

as too competitive and not knowing how to work as accomplices. The Brazilians

also mention how intuitive and observant to details the women are. The Chinese

women s strong belief in the equality between male and female draws the attention,

193

whilst the Brazilian females stress their complementarities with the masculine sex.

Female presence s impact in companies brings along the balance issue, mentioned

by the Brazilians and the Chinese, being the factor commonly pointed out by both

nationalities.

The link perceived by Catalyst between gender diversity and high financial

performance is agreed upon by all the Brazilians. Just two Chinese, in turn, agree

with the statement. However, characteristics such as being less bold, having a better

management of money, temperance, being good at financial management,

preventing blind investment, and having a complementary role, among others, are

mentioned by the Brazilians and Chinese as the feminine gender s characteristics

considered advantageous for obtaining higher financial performance.

The Brazilians and the Chinese presented some features ascribed to women, when

talking about a trend for the 21st century from a male-oriented hard power situation

to a female-oriented soft power situation, such as: participative management,

softness, better capacity of listening, humanity, adaptability, high capacity and talent,

unique approach, more care and patience, among others. Four Brazilians and four

Chinese agree about the existence of the trend, emphasizing the space conquered by

women, the importance of education, the need of complementary gender roles, and

the necessity of gender equality. It is remarkable that two Brazilians do not believe

in the softness of the female power because, for them, women still follow the male

power model in management.

194

One of the interesting aspects of this project is that it allows an overview of the

situation. As an illustration, we found out that among the Chinese companies there

are 7 women on the board of directors and 15 women in top management positions.

tors and 8

women in top management positions. This may suggest that women in Brazil or in

China share a common situation when it comes to work relations. Even though they

face barriers, they are slowly succeeding in their fields.

In the business world, feminine occupations tend to cluster in staff, and masculine

occupations in line functions, due to gender stereotypes. Human resources and public

relations are the areas women are expected to excel in, and sales and general

management are the areas in which men are expected to excel. Organizations need to

take measures to stop this powerful prejudice; otherwise female leaders will be often

misjudged, regardless of their levels of preparation and aptitude for leadership roles.

Leadership talent is a scarce resource, so organizations cannot afford to waste their

talent pool (Catalyst, 2005). Yet to Catalyst (2004), developing female managers,

leveraging their talent and giving them a seat at the decision-making table is smart

business, as adopting these measures is characteristic of companies with excellent

financial performance. Why men have higher status jobs than women cannot be fully

explained by any of the factors we have explored. Of course, each of the topics

presented along the thesis makes a differenc

careers. This thesis recommends changes on how to improve the advancement of

women, and how this is crucial to understand what companies need to do to recruit,

195

advance, and retain their top talent of both genders, so that they keep productive and

competitive. Having a balanced mix of genders at all levels is increasingly important

for organizations being effective.

In order to be inserted in the labour market, the women do not have to take the

men s place, or become manlike to become equal to their working peers. This

becomes a pitfall for the women as they recognize the correct model to be followed

in the masculine structure. At a first moment, it may seem an accomplishment, but

in the end it just reinforces the status quo. Becoming equal to men reinforces the

. Perhaps,

instead of incorporating masculine characteristics, women need to understand

which of the female characteristics bring them better results. In Leiras (2008) Iêda

Novais, partner and founder of a Brazilian consulting company, affirms that being a

respected female leader in the corporative world does not mean giving up feminine

characteristics. The secret to work on equal footing with men is thinking like them,

but acting like women. In the period of information technology, the trend will be the

replacement of the authoritative, compelling leadership model by the humanistic and

emotional leadership model, which is more in line with female characteristics. As

pointed out by Peter Drucker (ACWF, 2006), female characteristics are more

suitable for management in modern society. Nevertheless, female managers are not

able to discern gendered arrangements in their organizations. And management is

about coping with complexity. Therefore, in this search the women need to find

their way and they need to discover who they are and what they want to do in a

196

company. Women also need to learn which obstacles remain in companies and

society that prevent them from succeeding, besides identifying and better knowing

their situation both in the society and in the labour market. Recognizing the

existence of differences and evaluating how these differences impact in their lives.

Understanding and recognizing the market s rules and learning the corporate

cultures (which are almost always male-dominated environments), so that they can

know how to act in face of the previously established rules of the dominating

masculine profile. And then they can act their own way and be the transforming

agents of their own situation.

two-thirds of all labour, yet, women own only about one percent of the world's assets,

cording to the Global Fund for Women (2008).

Recapitulating, some authors stress a trend for the 21st century from a male-oriented

hard power situation to female-oriented soft power situation. Capra (1982), for

example, states that the western society is the model yang in crisis. This competitive

society, dominated by man, rational, for its unbalance, is about to give rise to a society

more cooperative, intuitive, peaceful, with more feminine wisdom - yin. It seems that

this new century is, in its beginning

whether in leadership posts or not, is no longer a matter of being politically correct,

but a matter of doing what is best for the business. In some sectors, the women have,

even discretely, managed to break the present glass ceiling. Yet, they have to

197

overcome many discriminatory obstacles when seeking higher positions in a

to be perceived either in

China or Brazil. However, it can be a matter of time, knowledge, and social-cultural

changing before women are seen as competent as their male counterparts. If

competition is the name of the game and studies have shown that there is a link

between corporate financial performance and gender diversity, the companies who

perceive and value diversity in corporate world sooner, will have a strategic and

competitive differential. Another point to consider would be that women from

different parts of the world have similarities and differences, and their presence in the

labour market, too. The most important is to understand what their needs and

expectations are. On the one hand, women are called to work because of

responsibilities that they did not have before. On the other hand, women should not

have to work because this is what they are supposed to do rather, if they decide to,

opportunity to show their competences. Therefore, the process for the women to

reach high management positions should be objective, not subjective. Studies have

shown that women, in general, understand gender as a neutral issue concerning

success. However, they need to work hard to be accepted and perhaps tend to see the

obstacles faced in the workplace as an exception, as something that happens just to

them (which is not necessarily true). This situation is contradictory because women

do not know clearly how important gender is in the business performance process.

yin (the

198

feminine) is better than the yang (the masculine) per se. The proposed idea is that the

unbalance between them is harmful and this can lead to a crisis in the dominant

model. Changes have certainly been made in the last decades, but it is still necessary

for Brazilian and Chinese women to realize what gender can represent in the

workplace so that they can achieve equal opportunities, participation in decision

making and career advancement.

199

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Appendix: Interview Questionnaire

RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY: ERIKA ZOELLER VERAS (MBA Candidate)

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF: DR. CHENG GUO PING (Deputy Dean)

WUHAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY / SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Dear Madam,

Thank you for accepting to take part in this MBA study! MBA

This research intends to gain an understanding of the presence of women in management in companies in

Brazil and China. .

It also intends to understand the situation faced by women in the workplace (companies), which includes

rriers, gender stereotypes, equal rights,

equal salary at the same level and equal access to promotions. , ( )

, : , , , ,

, .

Below I am sending some questions that I would like to ask you. So I thank you in advance for taking time

to fill out this questionnaire. It will take some minutes of your time to finish but for sure you are helping not only

women in your company but also other female workers to better understand the present situation for women in

management. . .

, ,

.

By filling this questionnaire, the researcher will understand that you agree to have your responses published

as part of this MBA thesis. Please feel comfortable to freely write about your ideas.

MBA .

If it is the case please feel free to answer the questions in Chinese. ,

. Please do not hesitate to contact me in case you have any questions: Ms. Erika Zoeller Veras (86)

134-0718-7488 mobile China. , Erika 86 134-0718-7488.

Your participation is very important. Welcome you to take part of this research!

Erika Zoeller Veras

MBA Candidate Wuhan University of Technology

erikazoeller@gmail.com

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PERSONAL INFORMATION

NAME / PROFESSION / TITLE/POSITION

YEAR OF BIRTH /

MARITAL STATUS PLACE OF BIRTH / NATIONALITY /

NUMBER AND AGE OF CHILDREN/

(if it is the case / )

EDUCATION LEVEL /

(e.g.:

YOUR ANNUAL SALARY/

(USD or RMB)

COMPANY INFORMATION/

TOTAL NUMBER OF

EMPLOYEES /

TOTAL MALES / TOTAL FEMALES /

GENERAL QUESTIONARY /

Considering the information you gave above please answer the following questions using the chart

below:

MALES / :

From the total number of males how many are on the board of directors?

From the total number of males how many are in the top management?

From the total number of males how many are in the middle management?

From the total number of males how many are in the first-line management?

From the total number of males how many are in the nonmanagerial employees?

FEMALES / :

From the total number of females how many are on the board of directors?

From the total number of females how many are in the top management?

From the total number of females how many are in the middle management?

From the total number of females how many are in the first-line management?

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From the total number of females how many are in the nonmanagerial employees?

Number of

Male

employees

%

Number of

Female

employees

%

Number of

employees %

Board of Directors

Top management

Middle management

First-line

management

Nonmagerial

employees

Total

What were the selection criteria in your hiring process? What is your opinion about it?

Is there a career plan in your organization? If so, is it for both men and women?

3. How do you assess the impact of the presence of women in your company?

In which sector of your company is the greatest presence of women? Is there any specific reason for

that? What do you think?

,

5. In your opinion how do women get ahead?

6. Are women paid a comparable salary to men for doing the same work in your organization?

7. Do women have to outperform men to get the same rewards in your organization?

213

,

8. All other things being equal, a woman will be promoted over a man in your organization?

9.

10.

11. Are stereotypes an invisible threat to women in your organization? If so, please explain.

,

12. Would you recognize the subtle impact of stereotypes in your organization? If so, how do they affect

women in your organization?

13.

gender stereotypes?

14. In your opinion, is there anything holding women back? If so, what would that be?

15. Recent studies have shown that the companies with more women board directors experience higher

financial performance. What do you think about this?

, , . ?

16. Some authors signal a trend for the 21st century from a male oriented hard power situation to a female

oriented soft power situation. Do you agree with it? Why? Or why not?

214

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, I am thankful to God for guiding me in this journey and making me

stronger to always get ahead.

Many people and institutions deserve my special thanks, for without them the

realizing of this work would have been impossible.

To China Scholarship Council for granting me the scholarship for the Mastership

and for the financial support for the making of this research. To the International

Office of Wuhan University of Technology for their assistance whenever necessary.

To my advisor, Prof. Dr. Cheng Guo Ping, for his attention and support during the

supervision process.

To Ms. Chen Yun - Christina, who has always helped me in any situation.

To all the MBA Professors who taught me in the completion of the credits. To the

Professors who participated in my TPR presentation for their important suggestions.

I am also thankful to the Professors invited as examiners on the defense day.

215

To Charles Hui and Pierre Muratelle, who helped me in the introducing of Chinese

interviewees.

To all interviewees, Brazilian and Chinese, whose inspiring professional trajectories

helped me in the making of this project. Furthermore, the Chinese and Brazilian

women who informally talked to me and taught me about the female presence in the

Brazilian and the Chinese labor markets.

To Ms. Lu Wang and Ms. Zhong Chan for the help in the translation of the Chinese

part of the questionnaires.

To for all the data on the

situation of women in China.

To Phyllis Weisbard, from the University of Wisconsin, for all the help in the

bibliographical search.

To Marcella Cassiano for the support to the China project.

To BPW Business Professional Women and in special to the president of the São

Paulo chapter, Ms. Marcia Kitz, for somehow having approximated me to the issues

I deal with in this thesis.

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The research would not have been possible without the fundamental support of my

mother, Hélène, who, besides having always encouraged and inspired me, was also

so important when I came to China, helping me and giving me all the essential

support from distance. I thank my father for the incentive in my coming to China.

I am grateful to my sisters Sandra and Cristiane, for their continuous taking care,

even from a far distance. To my brother Paulo and my nephew Georges for the

cheering.

I am equally grateful to José Maria and Maura Véras, as well as to Fábio Morelli for

all the help.

In the English language part, I thank Daniel Véras.

Also, I would like to express my appreciation to friends, colleagues, and other

international students who, in one way or the other, helped in my attainment of this

education. At last, I thank all who direct or indirectly gave a contribution to the

realization of this work.