The Battle for Female Talent in Brazil - Center for Work-Life Policy

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Figure 1.4:
Brazilian women’s attitudes towards work
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love aspire loyal love aspire big loyal love
his sentences with the phrase “never before in
the history of this country…” 20 An explanation of
women’s ambition and aspiration in Brazil might
well begin with this very phrase. Simply put,
ambition and engagement among professional
women are influenced by the unprecedented
opportunities opened up by the nation’s
economic boom.
When we consider the top professional
motivators for Brazilian women, we discover that
a number of aspects of work are valued as much
as or more than pure compensation or prestige:
being oneself at work (99%); job security (98%);
quality of colleagues (97%); having access to a
new range of experiences (96%); and intellectual
stimulation (96%) are all top picks for women. In
sharp contrast, compensation—the centerpiece
of the traditional employee value proposition—
was the top pick of most, in fact 100 percent, of
educated Brazilian men.
Employers are noticing these trends—
and hiring accordingly. “When you look at
the statistics, [women] are graduating at rates
higher than average from some of the best
schools and institutions, so they’re among the
best trained,” observes Valentino Carlotti, who
heads up Goldman Sachs Brazil. For me,” he
concludes, “when you look at who’s coming into
the workforce and what they can mean for the
development of human capital, it’s a no-brainer
that women are a competitive advantage.”
Brazilian women are keenly aware of
the importance of recognition and career
development opportunities. A number of
the senior women we spoke to noted that
they had turned down more lucrative offers
with competitors, preferring to work for an
organization that allowed career growth and
leadership opportunities for women. “Work for
women is not just for the money, it’s the content
big
95%
loyal
Love their job Loyal to their
employer
big
and doing something you believe in,” said a
female managing director at an investment bank.
“For women, it’s easy to say, ‘I’m not going to
work, I’ll just take care of my child.’ Women who
work do so because they really like the job and
they like what they do.”
Work as a necessity:
the Rise of the dual-Income Household
In reality, economic pressures mean that work is
increasingly a necessity rather than an option for
educated Brazilian women. The cost of living and
inflation have skyrocketed, especially over the last
two years. In 2011, Mercer Consulting ranked São
Paulo and Rio the 10th and 12th most expensive
cities in the world, far ahead of New York (32nd),
London (18th) and Oslo (15th), which have been
long known to be enormously expensive. 21 In
this environment, dual-career households have
become a way of supplying the basics of a
middle-class life.
Figure 1.5:
Brazilian women’s top motivators at work
Being able to be myself
Job security
Quality of colleagues
Access to a new range
of experiences
Intellectual stimulation
Compensation
99%
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98%
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97%
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96%
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At the same time, as many Brazilian
professionals have grown accustomed to a
higher standard of living, women’s incomes have
become more critical to financing discretionary
expenses such as vacations and luxury goods.
One executive, commenting on the trend among
Brazilian women of returning to work after a
relatively abbreviated maternity leave, cited
the “need to work to complement the family’s
income.”
Interestingly, we find that women in Brazil are
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