A QUESTÃO «GÉNERO» NAS EMPRESAS E DEMAIS ORGANIZAÇÕES

O World Economic Forum selecionou, do seu blog,  um conjunto de posts  sobre o Dia Internacional das Mulheres disponível aqui. A nosso ver,  constitui um bom mosaico do universo de questões que integram a questão de «género». Mas um captou a nossa atenção de maneira particular, este:

«Five steps for companies to get serious about gender» 

Posted by Aditi Mohapatra and Racheal Meiers

Talvez tenha a ver com a nossa formação de base, na esfera das finanças e da gestão, e porque vai de encontro à necessidade identificada quanto às empresas do mundo dos negócios e demais organizações, nomeadamente as das Administrações Públicas, estarem atentas ao que decorre deste excerto (destaque nosso): Taking this approach means that gender diversity can’t be considered as simply something “nice to have”; instead, women and men should play an equal role in planning and implementing new projects, to ensure that this work does not have a negative impact on either gender. No post valoriza-se  o «gender mainstreaming». Está escrito: «We believe “gender mainstreaming” – improving coordination by removing structural siloes, and sharing commitments, accountability and messaging – is critical for companies to move forward on gender equality». E adiantam uma forma de atuação assente em cinco passos:

«Gender mainstreaming provides a useful framework for all companies, regardless of where on the gender leadership spectrum they fall. Companies can start with five steps:

1. Acknowledge that gender is a mainstream issue and that gender equality must be a shared primary goal for everyone. To be done well, this requires senior leadership engagement and cross-functional collaboration, to ensure consistent messages are sent throughout the company.
2. Analyse your company’s current efforts. Enlist key departments, including sales, human resources, government relations, community affairs, legal, supply chain and marketing to form a cross-functional gender council to review current efforts and progress on gender to date.
3. Benchmark your company’s performance against partners, competitors and leaders to understand the gaps and opportunities in your current practices. A useful tool for this could be the WEPs, which provide a seven-step framework on how to empower women in the workplace.
4. Broaden your commitments. Building from this assessment, companies should choose new areas to invest in and make public commitments to achieving progress. Focus on areas where you feel the company can have the greatest impact, but don’t ignore issues that are challenging or less marketable. The key to successful gender mainstreaming is establishing consistent messaging and broad attention to gender across issues and departments.
5. Monitor and report. Monitoring performance via dashboards that regularly display data on the representation and progress of women across the company can be critical for ensuring accountability. It will also help you tell a comprehensive story that consumers, potential employees and business partners can relate to».

A nossa síntese: na esfera das organizações, a questão género não é um adorno, é um problema que a gestão deve encarar de maneira profissional, de forma sistémica,  recorrendo à teoria, à técnica e ao treino.