The market needs to fly like a woman – 12/29/2023 – Policies and Justice

The gender system, among many forms of violence, produces inequalities and qualifies the work of men and women in different ways. Historically confined to the domestic environment, “female activities”, although essential for the preservation and continuity of life, were marked by gratuitousness and devaluation.

By fabricating and reinforcing behaviors and skills as inherent to gender, stereotypes hold many women hostage to roles related to care. These social constructions have not prevented us from entering and increasing our concentration in the paid job market, but, even today, they leave us at a disadvantage and relegate us to subordinate positions.

Proof of this is that, according to Insper (Institute of Education and Research), only 17% of Brazilian women hold senior leadership positions. When it comes to pay, even working five hours more, we experience a 22% disparity in relation to men’s salaries.

Data from the Ipea Institute (Applied Economic Research) and IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) show that we earn less in professional practice and absolutely nothing for the 24.1 hours a week dedicated to domestic work, which even consumes a large part of our time and energy.

The issue becomes even more complex when we conclude that our level of education is higher and, as the “Gender Reversal on Career Aspirations” research shows, the importance we attribute to professional success, too.

In aviation, despite some developments, the male presence is still predominant: a survey by the International Civil Aviation Organization showed that we represent 4.94% of the global workforce employed in the sector. The International Air Transport Association also highlights that only 6% of airline chief executives are women.

In Brazil, this market, which is already small for white professionals, is even smaller for black women. The Quilombo Aéreo Organization and UFSCar (Federal University of São Carlos), for example, demonstrated that there are no black female pilots operating on national air lines and that the reasons that discourage female concentration in the sector are: lack of information about the career, low representation, unequal selection processes, machismo and harassment.

In this scenario, it is worth mentioning, first, that the social construction of the feminine, dealing with various sexisms, tries to imprison us in a series of limiting characteristics that, consequently, restrict our choices and keep us away from activities dominated by men.

Women are not biologically docile, prone to care, cautious, among other absurdities. We are, in fact, taught to reproduce stereotypical fabrications and punished when we escape them. Therein lies the distance in relation to some professions. After all, we are not even encouraged to dream about occupations that, by social convention, were assigned to the male gender.

We also have to deal with market prejudices and harassment, overload, precarious work and low growth prospects.

Another point is underrepresentation in politics, which keeps us away from essential resources so that gender disparity becomes a central public debate.

To combat a cultural mix that is not very adept at creating diversity, we need governments and companies to develop inclusion policies, as Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) is doing, which announced the launch of a program in December to expand its presence female in the segment.

Overcoming the barriers imposed to our expansion in the job market requires public policies to encourage and protect women’s rights and also the commitment of the private sector. Looking at aviation, it is essential that airlines engage and adopt practices and guidelines to promote these professionals.

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The editor, Michael França, asks each participant in Folha de S.Paulo’s “Politics and Justice” space to suggest a song to readers. In this text, the one chosen by Roberta Andreoli it was “Magamalabares”, by Marisa Monte.

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