In between light empowerment and corporate moderate feminism: Gender equality and women’s emancipation in organizations

Pedro Jaime; Mariana Lima  Bandeira; Janette Brunstein

doi:10.15448/1984-7289.2023.1.39808

Authors

Pedro Jaime Centro Universitário da Fundação Educacional Inaciana (FEI), São Paulo, SP, Brazil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9292-220X
Mariana Lima Bandeira Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB), Quito, Ecuador. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2277-9847
Dra. Janette Brunstein Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9019-3349

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2023.1.39808

Keywords:

Gender equality, Support groups, Diversity management, Emancipation, Ethnography

Abstract

The relation between the institutional frameworks and the promotion of gender equality, considering the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, has been scarcely analyzed from the experiences of developing economies. We aimed to contribute to fill that gap, bringing to the debate the concepts of emancipation in organizations and support groups. We asked: in which ways, gender equality fostered by initiatives implemented in developing economies by transnational corporations in the form of support groups allow for organizational transformations that strengthen the process of women’s emancipation in the corporate world? So, an ethnography was undertaken within a transnational company of the financial sector that operates in Brazil. The results show that these initiatives can only lead to organizational transformations that strengthen women’s empowerment if they are inscribed in an institutional framework that guarantees the participation of multiple actors.

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Author Biographies

Pedro Jaime, Centro Universitário da Fundação Educacional Inaciana (FEI), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

PhD in Social Anthropology by Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil, and in Sociology and Anthropology by Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France; and MSc in Social Anthropology by Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, Brazil. Full Professor in the Graduate Program in Management at Centro Universitário da Fundação Educacional Inaciana (FEI), São Paulo, SP, Brazil and Professor in the Undergraduate Program in Communication and Advertising at Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Mariana Lima Bandeira, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB), Quito, Ecuador.

PhD in Administration, by Escola Brasileira de Administração Pública e de Empresas, Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Ebape-FGV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and MSc in Administration, Human Resource Management, by Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Full Professor affiliated to Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB), Quito, Ecuador.

Dra. Janette Brunstein, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

PhD and MSc in Education by Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil. Full Professor and Researcher in the Post-graduation Program in Business Administration of Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Provost for undergratuate Education at the same university.

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