Amazonian entrepreneur challenges the job market in search of financial autonomy

Despite the advances made in recent decades, women still face double shifts, in the domestic and professional environments.

Manaus (AM) — The double shift marks the lives of women who work in the job market, when they need to balance domestic tasks and childcare with professional activities. This reality intensifies for women who seek entrepreneurship as a way to achieve financial independence.

Entrepreneur Elizandra Alves, owner of Mariah Doçura Brigaderiaalso faced difficulties balancing activities inside and outside the home, in parallel with her persistence in starting her own business.

“Without a doubt, the main challenges were working, studying, getting home, still having to produce our products and, even so, still taking care of the family, and people judging it as if entrepreneurship was not a ‘good’ source of income”,

he said.

In search of qualifications, the confectioner took courses on entrepreneurship and studied at gastronomy schools, to create the value of her business and also show the results to those who doubted her venture.

A survey carried out between the months of February and March by the company SumUp showed that, on average, 63% of female entrepreneurs are heads of families and 84% are mainly responsible for domestic tasks, demonstrating the overload in their activities. Furthermore, it showed that women earn less, with 41% of entrepreneurs earning less than 1 minimum wage.

Inequality in the labor market is evident, mainly due to women’s working hours. Economist Denise Kassama recalled that decades ago, when machismo was the dominant culture, this scenario was much worse and over the years and social struggles there was evolution in several areas.

“Many employers stop hiring women of childbearing age due to maternity, a huge prejudice and the company also does not want to bear the costs of having someone who will not work for six months or who is taking care of a young child. We still need to break this paradigm and transformation begins with education”,

details.

According to a survey carried out by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), published in 2023, with data from 2022, for every ten women of working age, only five participate in the job market, whether already employed or looking for a job. Meanwhile, among men, 7 out of 10 men are working in the market.

Still in 2022, the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) released the percentage of female entrepreneurs in relation to total businesses, with data from IBGE. The survey identified more than 10 million women who own their own businesses.

Financial independence is envisioned by women, Elizandra reported that the most rewarding moments in her career as an entrepreneur are the possibility of carrying out activities aimed at training other women and being able to provide her family with a good quality of life.

“It is gratifying to be able to train, encourage and motivate new women to have their own source of income and be proud of it. Through this income, make your dreams come true and promote the dreams of your family members, in my case, I love promoting family trips and seeing my daughters’ eyes shine”,

he stated.

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