Gênero e mercado de trabalho: as representações sociais das mulheres líderes no setor bancário

Abstract

In history, women have always been considered inferior to men, and because of that, had a restrict role in home activities and the raising of children, while mens held the house. In this context, the transformations of the workforce in the business sphere reflect on women's daily struggle for space within organizations. Therefore, this research aimed to identify the social representations of women who work or have already held positions of management and/or supervision in the banking sector, based on professional life history. For this, about the methodological procedures, this research is characterized as qualitative, applied, descriptive and explanatory, using as basis the Theory of Social Representations. The data collection was done through interviews with seven women who work or have already held positions of management and supervision in Banking Institutions, chosen through intentional sampling. The analysis of the data was done by the method of content analysis of speeches. Considering the results, it can be evidenced that the professionals begin their banking career in hierarchically inferior positions and little by little they are conquering their space, what culminates in the change of the feminine representation, for an active participation in the companies and not only like mother and wife. It’s noted that the professionals feel the difficulties of conciliation between personal and professional life, especially in relation to work overload, in the difficulties of conciliation of career with the role of mother and in the occurrence of harassment and abuses by the boss, colleagues and even customers. Based on this, the mother's social representations reflect on the constant difficulties of conciliation involving motherhood, which may have an influence on the decisions of life and the choices for maintaining a lower hierarchical position. Despite this, it’s noteworthy that women don’t perceive in a clear and direct way the difficulties of access and permanence in the labor market, perhaps becuse it’s a characteristic of difficult perception in our region, or perhaps, because it’s a phenomenon of difficult verification. It should be mentioned that it’s of fundamental importance that women's work be recognized, regardless of the sector. And that the role of companies is not only to insert, but to guarantee possibilities for growth and development, based on the desires and characteristics of each professional.