Only 19 Percent of Companies Fight Violence Against Women in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – It is estimated that 536 women were assaulted every hour in Brazil in 2018. Concerned about how to deal with the issue and its impacts on the lives of working women, the Maria da Penha Institute, the Vasselo Goldoni Institute, and the Talenses Group, a business group for professional recruitment, interviewed 311 companies to determine how they address the issue in their facilities.

Entitled ‘Violence and Harassment against Women in the Corporate World’, the survey sent online forms to the participating companies.

Although 68 percent of the companies surveyed found it necessary to devote time to addressing domestic violence suffered by female employees, only 19 percent developed policies and actions to tackle the issue. Of this total, 11 percent stated that this commitment is made through awareness-raising and campaigns.

Only nine percent have an ombudsman channel to support women. In the same proportion, companies provide psychology services outside their headquarters and legal support. A lower percentage, four percent, offers support through a network comprised of women victims of violence.

Companies offering psychological care in their own work environment total five percent. The data also show that 13 percent of the companies declared that they are not aware whether they have domestic violence coping systems.

Profile

Another important indicator relates to the profile of the companies that are most committed to such initiatives. Large-sized companies are the most committed to tackling domestic violence. In all, 25 percent of companies with 499 employees or more invest in domestic violence.

Among companies with up to 99 employees, the proportion of those that structure actions and policies is 17 percent, ranking second on the list. Among mid-range companies, with a staff of between 100 and 499 employees, 11 percent have initiatives to address violence against women.

As far as the type of management is concerned, it was found that 21 percent of the businesses classified as professionals decided to contribute to the fight against domestic violence in this way, compared to 15 percent of family-run companies.

The study also shows that foreign companies tend to be more concerned. In all, 22 percent of them have actions and policies. In the group of national companies, the figure is 17 percent.

Less than a third of the companies interviewed (26 percent) said they monitor cases of violence against employees and intervene, compared to 55 percent that said they did not. Among the justifications presented are the following: it is not on the organization’s priority agenda (33 percent); difficulty to monitor and control (13 percent) and lack of leadership support (12 percent).

Sexual and moral harassment

The study also showed information on how entrepreneurs have acted in the face of sexual and moral harassment against women. According to the Superior Labor Court (TST), last year alone, over 56,000 moral harassment lawsuits were filed in the Labor Court.

The industrial sector stands out positively: 74 percent of companies claim to develop initiatives to face these crimes. In relation to the representatives of the trade and services sector, the percentages are 57 and 54 percent, respectively.

In the case of harassment, the highest rate of participation is among companies with a professional profile (66 percent) and a staff of over 499 employees (77 percent), mostly women (64 percent). The data show that 60 percent of the participating companies take action against harassment and that the reporting channel is the main means (38 percent).

Equity, equality, and restraint

Talenses’ Communication, Marketing, and Market Intelligence manager, Carla Fava, points out that there are other factors that can contribute to the fight against gender violence in organizations. According to her, by valuing female employees, assigning them to management positions, a company will be strengthening these women and mitigating the losses that power relations can generate.

In the manager’s assessment, organizations are “more open” to monitoring harassment than domestic violence because the latter occurs in a private environment and outside of companies. In Carla’s view, this reinforces the perception that domestic violence is not a social issue and that managers may refrain from discussing it because they are not supposed to be involved. “This detachment from domestic violence makes it difficult for [the company] to see that this problem also affects it,” she says.

The survey, which was conducted over two months in the second semester of this year, is available in its full version on the Talenses Group website. In order to prepare it, the authors had the institutional support of the Patrícia Galvão Institute and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women), among other organizations.

Source: Agência Brasil