Passion for People

Women: they have reached top management levels. And did the salaries follow the rise?

Did the 21st-century woman reach the same salary level or even more than men in the same professional positions?

Most corporate groups have already realized that women are more sensitive, attentive to details, have a strong analytical capacity, are more fair, transparent, and that they bring equilibrium to the corporate environment in companies. The fact that women are every day gaining more space in the job market, holding positions that before were directed only to men, is also no surprise. But the big question is if women, in full 21st century, have reached the same salary level or even more than men in the same professional positions.

A recent survey taken by IBGE in 2008 regarding this is concerning. Though women have studied more than men–59.9% of them have studied eleven years or more compared with 51.9% of men–but they still have lower earnings despite occupying the same function. The discrimination’s fraction is great: they earn 40% less than men. That is almost half the salary! So in practical terms, if a man earns R$ 3,800 a month, a woman in the same function would earn R$ 2,200.

However, according to a recent survey taken by Catho Online, women today occupy 21.43% of the highest positions in the companies. Twelve years ago, the average was only 10.39%.

The Executive Vice-president for Catho HR Consulting Company, Silvana Case, is one of those women that it could be said has reached one of these so sought-after high positions. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with extension courses in Administration, Human Resources, and Marketing in the United States at Harvard Business School, she says that until today she has not been met with a situation of inferiority for the fact of being a woman.

“In my case, what has happened sometimes is more wear due to pressure from men who do not want to admit the competence of a woman occupying the same position as they of almost half their age,” she comments.

It hasn’t been by luck, but by competence and good doses of a doing-what-you-have-to-do attitude when facing adverse situations that she got where she wanted to get, and what is best of all, at salaries even higher than her colleagues of the opposite gender.

“Some years back, the fact of being a woman interfered negatively because many people in the market thought that these women were using unethical means to rise in their career. Their effort, wear, dedication, and hours of study in detriment to leisure and many time to even family many times was not taken into consideration,” she remembers.

Not all working women have had the same luck of being given the recognition due them as Silvana has. But others cannot complain because if they do not earn more than the men, since this would be another discriminatory fact on the other end, at least they earn what is fair, which is the same as the opposite gender in the same position.

This is the case of the first woman president of the Accounting Federal Council, Maria Clara Cavalcante Bugarim. She doesn’t earn more, but has never had to feel jipped in relation to jobs. “I have never earned less than my colleagues. I think that companies today recognize the importance of women in the work market. Neither have I been through a feeling of ill ease or discrimination. There has only been the surprise of being the first woman to hold a position up until now viewed as more male,” she shares.

On the other hand, the Channels Director at Polycom, Harumi Asahida, did not have the same luck. Different than this company where she is given value, in other previous opportunities she ended up noticing that though she had a higher position than her colleagues, she received 10% less than they.

“I think that some opportunities are given in different ways. For example, I have been a candidate for an opening for which I felt capable of holding and because I was a woman I felt like there was more pressure put on me to really prove my capacity and results,” she comments, bringing out that when she discovered that she earned less than her colleagues she questioned this, but a convincing answer was not given. “To question your salary is not viewed well by companies. The answer given me was that it is not a good idea to make comparisons.”

Since the beginning of the year, Harumi finally reached the objective of being channels director. She is satisfied with the new challenge that she is going to face and she feels more mature in this regard.

“Today I do not blame people. Being professional and transparent I believe were the essential ingredients to finally get to where I wanted,” she concludes.

 

Law in the USA

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 29, 2009 promulgated the first law of his administration, which opens the possibility of workers to appeal to the courts if they feel like they are being victims of salary discrimination. The initiative intends to settle once and for all the principle of equal salary for the same kind of work, independent of gender, race, nationality, and religion.

The legislation takes on the name of Lilly Ledbetter, a 70-year-old lady in the state of Alabama who twenty years after she began to work as a supervisor at the Goodyear tire factory discovered that here salary was less than her male colleagues who carried out exactly the same function.

Ledbetter took the company to court and saw the jury determine that she had been a victim of discrimination. But her fight ended up in failure in 2007 when the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the process alleging that the accusation of discrimination had to be done up to six months after it took place.

In the United States, women still continue to be discriminated against in terms of remuneration–for every dollar that a man makes, a woman earns only 78 cents.

 

“Women and the Work Market” Survey

A new survey by Catho HR Consulting Company, “Women and the Work Market”, sent to more than 100,000 executives throughout the state of São Paulo, identified the differences in leadership style between men and women.

Article written by Tatiana Aude and originally published in the 368th edition of Carreira & Sucesso newspaper by Catho Online.


Tuesday, 26 de July de 2011

Unemployment or Subemployment: The Bitter Cost of Ignorance!

From what I see published in newspapers and magazines recently, it seems as though the crisis begins to show signs of weakening and there is a downward trend in the country’s unemployment rate. Before celebrating, however, I decided to go deeper into my analysis and behold I found out a fact that deserves attention: yes, employment is on the rise for sure, but salaries are lower! This means that companies are refurbishing their headcount by contracting professionals many times even more qualified than before, but at lower salaries.

Obviously I am not saying by this that anyone should not accept a job offer simply because of the lower salary offered. Between receiving a smaller salary and remaining unemployed without a doubt the best option is the former. We also realize that the bargaining power of an unemployed professional is very small due to the oppression that comes with unemployment. You can say that a low salary is worth much more than no salary at all!

It has been proven, however, that there are determining factors in compensation and one of these factors is precisely the professional’s academic qualification. We have statistically demonstrated that as someone’s level of instruction increases, or the more they keep up-to-date, the higher will be the salaries offered or practiced. That is why our recommendation to professionals we assist is that they make every effort to stay up-to-date. Still, however, one out of every five professionals opts to not stay up-to-date.

I always say that there are innumerous opportunities to stay up-to-date professionally through courses or learning something new. What is most important, however, is to understand that this process needs to begin inside each person with a proactive and positive attitude on the part of each individual. Unfortunately, it is not just a few people that simply ignore any type of effort to stay up-to-date and who don’t even read a newspaper or a book. We have already published a survey where around 10% of the respondents said that they do not read any book, no magazine, or no newspaper. This is therefore the perfect time for professionals who are dedicating time toward a career transition to reevaluate their position in light of the ever more present demand from the market to consistently remain updated.

I understand perfectly that there is a cost related to this solution and that this cost is not small. But it all comes back down to priority, to a vision of the future, and of a cost-benefit assessment since there are good courses at lower costs and there are also expensive courses that are not worth their investment. I recommend everyone getting as much help as they can along these lines in order not to be disappointed later on. At any rate, one thing is sure: it is much better to invest in education, in professional development, than not do anything at all. In this respect, it is worth remembering a famous quote from American Statesman Benjamin Franklin: “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”

Paraphrasing Franklin, I recommend that everyone invest in keeping themselves up-to-date professionally as a way to avoid tasting the bitter cost of ignorance, which is unemployment or subemployment with a low salary. Here I use the word cost to illustrate not so much the financial implication of ignorance (how much it costs in money), but the social and temporal implication with harmful effects trailing the professional over the years causing unemployment or subemployment with low salaries.

That is why, dear reader, I recommend that you begin right away to renew your knowledge and get up-to-date professionally. If possible, cultivate the habit of reading. Increase your competitiveness and you will see that this bitter cost can equally be transformed into a sweet aftertaste–it all depends on you. Heads up!

 

São Paulo, july 22, 2009.
Article written by Norberto Chadad.
An Engineer who became an Administrator. Today Norberto considers himself to be a facilitator of people.