Businesswomen demand greater equality for women in business

Annabella quiroga

07/31/2021 12:00

• Clarín.com

• Economy

Updated 07/31/2021 12:00

In economic and business activity, the glass ceiling that slows the advancement of women is still being felt.

Despite the advances made in female empowerment in the last 50 years, in Argentina

there are still barriers to be broken.

In the country,

less than 7% of large companies are led by a woman

.

And half of the companies listed on the Buenos Aires stock market do not have

not a single lady in your directory.

In this framework, last week the meeting "Women who cross borders" organized by

Clarín

within the cycle "The world that comes" was held.

In this fifth meeting the

 protagonists were

 Mónica Flores Barragán (CEO of Manpower Group Latin America), Rosana Negrini (President of Agrometal), Verónica Marcelo (General Manager of Natura), Sofía Soulez (CEO of Soaljo) and Irini Wentinck (Director of WTK Conductores Electricians, UIA and President of the Gender and Diversity Commission of the UIA).

The event was hosted by Daniel Fernández Canedo and Silvia Fesquet,

Clarín

journalists

.

#ClarinElMundoQueViene 🎙️ Rosana María Negrini: "My father opened the doors for me and I prepared myself for that. Today I have held the position for more than 20 years and, although generally our clients are men, I never felt discriminated against."

pic.twitter.com/3RNsHuMiO9

- Clarín (@clarincom) July 26, 2021

According to a World Bank survey, in our country

only 9.5% of small businesses are run by a woman

.

The larger the company, the worse the data.

The study shows that this percentage drops to 6.9% when it comes to a large company.

Although the participation of women in the labor market is high, they are

less likely to access hierarchical positions.

Proof of this is that among scientific researchers in the country, 61% of the attendees are women, but only 25% of senior researchers are.

The situation is replicated in the private sector.

According to a CIPPEC survey, in the National Public Administration only 39% of employees are women, and female representation is

barely 17% in board positions in public companies.

Video: Women Crossing Borders

The debate organized by Clarín summoned five referents from the private sector who spoke about the challenges they face.

"We are a bridge generation, we have not advanced too much," said Verónica Marcelo, the speaker who kicked off the talk.

Verónica has been working for 17 years at Natura where she held different positions: sales supervisor, manager and director in various areas, both in the country and for the regional operation.

And she said that in her personal history a very strong moment was when after being a mother they asked her

'why did you have children if you wanted to continue working?'

".

"We must

encourage extended maternity leave

, reduce the salary gap, and give visibility to the achievements of women so that women do not have to demonstrate why they are there," said the executive.

#ClarinElMundoQueViene 🎙️ Verónica Marcelo: "Why don't women reach senior positions? There are a lot of policies that we have to encourage to change that. But it is also a cultural issue that must be changed, which is to give visibility to the achievements Women's".

pic.twitter.com/nAbgLGg2FI

- Clarín (@clarincom) July 26, 2021

Mónica Flores Barragán is Mexican and has been working at Manpower for 20 years, in a career that, like many women, built in

two stages.

The first phase lasted seven years, until he married and his first daughter was born.

There he made an impasse to turn to parenting.

Four years later, she returned to the company and began this second phase that already

spans 20 years

and that led her to be Manpower's general manager for all of Latin America.

“At Manpower we live the philosophy of seeing talent instead of looking at gender.

My personal position is to open spaces for women who come back and seek that men join this cause.

It's incredible that in the 21st century we are still talking about gender, when we need to be talking about more sophisticated issues. "

Negrini has been president of Agrometal, his family's agricultural machinery company, for 21 years.

She is a public accountant and has a degree in administration.

"I prepared myself for this position.

I never felt any discrimination

or uncomfortable dealing with clients, who are mostly men."

The Cordovan businesswoman also fights in the entities.

He is part of the leadership of the Mediterranean Foundation, the Association of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers and Agrocomponents of Córdoba and the Argentine Chamber of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers.

#ClarinElMundoQueViene 🎙️ Mónica Flores Barragán: "The companies that integrate greater diversity are those that can innovate better, because they have diversity of thought. We also have the problem of stereotypes. What do we have to do? Break them and build more references."

pic.twitter.com/G2tISaoAnF

- Clarín (@clarincom) July 26, 2021

440 people

work at Agrometal

.

There are 25 women in the administration area and since last year they began to incorporate women into the plant.

"We already have 25, some already operate laser cutting machines and do tasks that historically only men did. They and the men who were used to being the only ones in the plant have adapted very well."

Irini Wentinck chairs the gender and diversity commission of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA).

"It is very important to

move forward with the deconstruction of stereotypes,

" he said.

He was in favor of the quota policy to give more space to women, but emphasizes that "the quota by itself does not generate changes, the fundamental thing is to work on the leaders of the organizations."

In turn, Soulez said that he has been in charge of the family business since 2018. "I think I contribute a lot from a generational perspective. In my generation we have much more naturalized the issue of equality and

I don't think that being a man or a woman makes any difference

. In the company, more than 50% of us are women. "

The cycle has the main support of Banco Macro, OSDE, DESA and the Government of the City of Buenos Aires.

And also with the accompaniment of Telecom and Afarte, as well as Natura and Soaljo.

AQ

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