Women have had, and have, to fight for all their rights and spaces in society constantly. Strive to be respected as an intellectual, political and autonomous being. We always need to position ourselves in a relevant way to be heard, recognized and respected.
Since the world is a world, women are prominent in the discovery of science and the creation of methods without earning due credit. Everyone knows who Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson or Galileo Galilei are, but few know who Katie Bouman, Dorothy Vaughan or Madam CJ Walker are, scientists and managers who should have gained immense prominence for their incredible performance.
Feminism is a movement that fights for equal rights between men and women. The search for equality is a process that has been present since the 1960s and still needs to remain on the agenda. Thanks to it, it was possible for women to gain rights such as voting, marriage, divorce, study and others, but even in 2020 we make less money for the same position, we need to stand out a lot more to have the same recognition and we always need to fight for our space of voice.
In management it is no different, when you are a woman leader there is a very fine line between soft and weak speech, strong and crazy pulse, self-confident and meddlesome. The difficulty we face in gaining the respect of your followers is immensely greater than that of a man, even if he has a job equal to or less than yours, because society is used to following orders from men.
Recently, with Covid-19 we had the opportunity to see some prominent women in management if we look at the countries that have been most successful in controlling the emergency situation of the Coronavirus. The countries at the top of the list were Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland and Denmark - all led by women.
One of the leaders who stood out the most was New Zealand's first minister Jacinda Ardern, who managed to pass on the seriousness of the situation to the population answering questions and doubts with the help of scientists and researchers during the pandemic. As a result, the country has had only 1100 confirmed patients with the disease so far and very few deaths, showing itself to be the best country in terms of disease control, while Brazil currently has 32,000 cases (data from 5/06/2020).
Other examples of women who stand out today are Malala, a young Pakistani woman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for women's right to education in her country, where there was a law prohibiting girls from accessing schools. Katie Bouman, a great example of a manager, was the woman at the head of the team who created the algorithm capable of obtaining the first image of a black hole.
Even so, with women having a high success in the organizational / political, scientific, mathematical and other fields, they continue to be underestimated, diminished and silent.
If you are a woman, you have certainly been interrupted much more than once in an argument with a man who seeks to explain to you what you want to say, or to repeat the argument which you refute; or had to say the same thing more than three times to be heard; it was not taken seriously or, in the worst case, was insulted by "" "praise" "".
At UFRJ Nautilus, we currently have 3 members in the coordination, mostly female management and 6 divided by our technical areas and we want women to be heard and respected.
We give our women a voice and space for them to have ideas, make them effective and be recognized and we always want to see more women in the field of science, management and in prominent positions.
Written by Giovana Veiga and Lara de Assis