If you are a woman and have been trying to take your place in the market, you certainly have faced many situations of inequality, especially if you are black.
As a mentor in women’s leadership, I argue that the lack of economic balance and the influence that the categories of gender, race and class have on it, are factors that cannot be ruled out in order to understand the countless challenges that women must face in order to achieve a prominent position in the market.
That is the subject of the article by Luiza Franco and Paula Adamo Idoeta for BBC News, in which it’s possible to observe through the data presented that women not only occupy less senior positions (nor 40% of managerial positions are women), but also earn less in relation to men as they ascend professionally . In leadership positions, the discrepancy reaches 27%. The gap between the highest salaries for men and women at the top is 38%.
In an interview with the website movimentomulher360, Nina Silva, CEO of the Black Money Movement and one of the most important voices that defend gender and race equity in Brazil, reinforces that the fact we have very few black leaders in Brazil , mainly by women, generates the need for a movement that starts from the individual to the collective, allowing the next generations to have references to be followed.
Analyzing these two perspectives, there are some fundamental actions to be taken in order to hack the system:
Have a clear purpose. If you don’t know where to go, you will agree to go anywhere. Defining your purpose will help you to draw a consistent plan towards your goals.
Be prepared for opportunities. Invest in knowledge. Invest even more in self-knowledge. When a good opportunity comes, you need to be ready for it. And if it doesn’t, be ready to create your own opportunity.
Become responsible for changing the social structure. When reaching a high level in the market hierarchy, create solutions so that more women can also reach the top of the pyramid.
Only then will we be able to build a better future for those who come after us.
