You are the key piece

Flowers, chocolates, pink gifts… Gone are the days when the tributes to International Women’s Day boiled down to clichés that reinforced a fragile profile that rarely matches reality.

We still face many obstacles, but every day women show that our strength is incomparable, and that the checkmate for equality and recognition is getting closer and closer!

Almost half of Brazilian households are supported by women

If you read the term “head of the household” and straight away you think about a man, you’d better to reconsider that. According to Ipea (Institute for Applied Economic Research), the percentage of Brazilian households headed by women went from 25% in 1995 to 45% in 2018.

The main reason? The increased female presence in the labor market, but the crisis of recent years has also contributed to the unemployment of partners and women’s rise to being the main provider.

Besides maintaining the family structure, gaining financial independence makes women increasingly less vulnerable in our social context.

Women consult more with doctors than men

Even with difficulties in finding time or even problems with access to health care systems, in 2019, the proportion of women who consulted a doctor was higher than that of men: 82% versus 69%. And this number grows even more when women have more financial resources to take care of their own health, reaching up to 89%.

Visits to the gynecologist are already routine in most women’s lives, usually followed by preventive exams requested by the doctor, such as Pap smears or mammograms. But this behavior can and should be extended to other specialties, and especially to men!

Prevention is always the best approach, and women are leading the way. We just have to keep our appointments and exams always up to date, right?

The proportion of women in management positions has increased

We have a long way to go, it’s true, but data from Rais (Annual Social Information Report) show that women aged 30 to 49 holding management positions increased from 31.9% in 2003 to 42.4% in 2017.

We represent more than half of Brazilian workers (51.7%), and the search for equality in leadership is not only a matter of representativeness. According to McKinsey, in Brazil, increasing the role of women in the labor market and in leadership positions has the potential to inject US$ 410 billion into the global GDP by 2025.

The good news is that the inclusion of women in leadership is a priority for CEOs of large companies: 68% said they have formal leadership to promote gender equality. The future is promising!

Breaking beauty standards boosts women’s self-esteem

Despite centuries of living with stereotypes and unattainable beauty standards, it is already possible to observe an interesting change in the representativeness of women through fashion, advertising, cinema, and, more recently, the internet.

The body positive movement, which has emerged in recent years, has been driven by the power of social media and advocates the idea that our bodies are different – and they all deserve to be treated with love and respect.

Instead of dangerous diets, plastic surgeries, dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem, we started to celebrate different ages, personal features, sizes, ethnicities, hair colors and types, style, etc. And a survey from the United States has revealed that this positivity is improving the acceptance of every woman’s body. After all, beauty belongs to everyone!

In this Women’s Month, we celebrate our role and continue to seek new achievements.

You are the key piece