Survey shows participation of women executives in public companies
03/16/2023
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Valeria Café — Foto: Silvia Zamboni/Valor
Women represent 15.2% of the professionals on boardrooms and management teams of listed companies in Brazil. This figure signals a slow progress in relation to the participation of women in 2021 (12.8%) and 2022 (14.3%). This is evidenced by a study conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC). The study analyzed data relating to 2022 from 389 listed companies, which employ a total of 6,160 professionals in boards of directors, fiscal councils and management teams. “The numbers show that companies need to be further sensitized to understand that diversity creates value,” said Valéria Café, director of vocalization and influence at IBGC.
According to her, despite the progress made, there is still a long way to go – the survey shows that 17.5% of the companies surveyed have no women on their boards of directors. “When we find diverse profiles on boards, the organization tends to benefit from more plurality in the construction of its arguments, with more innovation and, consequently, with higher quality decision-making processes,” she said.
The survey shows that 82.5% of companies have a female executive in their management, and almost half of them (49.2%) have professionals in management positions. In terms of composition, 65.8% of companies have female representation in the board of directors, ahead of the advisory committees (52.3%). On the other hand, 25% of the companies have professionals on both the board and the management.
According to the study, the most active professional is a member of advisory committees who works for 10 companies, while the second one in terms of number of seats is in seven advisory committees and in one board of directors. For comparison, the most active male manager is in 12 advisory committees and sits on the board of one organization. The second on the list, among the most requested, works in 10 advisory committees.
As for the most common careers of the female members of the boards of directors, they are mainly business administrators (20.3%), lawyers (15.9%) and economists (14.1%). According to the survey, the average age of board members is between 53 and 57.
Among the companies surveyed, the listing segment with the highest number of female executives on the boards is the Bovespa Mais, with 17.1% of women, above the Novo Mercado (16.5%), which is considered the highest level of corporate governance among the six sectors in activity at B3.
In light of the results of the study, Ms. Café said that affirmative action can contribute to the development of equality in top management. “Among them are the training of the entire ecosystem of the organization, the creation of standards and policies that lead to a sense of appreciation of professionals, and diversity and inclusion programs with funds and people set aside to putting them into practice.”
According to the executive, diversity is an issue that must be addressed by everyone, but it needs to be prioritized within corporate boards and management. “These are decision-making spaces,” she said.
Last week, mining giant Vale unveiled the slate of candidates for the company’s new board of directors, which will be elected at a shareholder meeting on April 28. The 13-seat board has only two candidates: consultant Rachel Maia, who served on the previous board, and Canadian Vera Marie Inkster, former CEO of mining company Lundin Mining.
*Por Jacilio Saraiva — São Paulo
Source: Valor International