“Aqui, menina não entra!”: a influência dos estereótipos de gênero a escolha da alta liderança

• Ano de defesa: 2021
• Autor(a) principal: Mota, Karen Spencer
• Orientador(a): Tonelli, Maria José
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Palavras-chave em Português: Estereótipos; Mulheres; Liderança; Firewall; Preconceito
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Stereotypes; Women; Leadership; Firewall; Prejudice
• Link de acesso: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/30770

The number of women in top leadership in Brazil does not exceed 13.5% and the question is why this index remains so inexpressive, despite all the growing concern with gender equity in academic, social and organizational. Academic research indicates that one of the main causes of this gender inequality in executive positions is related to judgment biases, the result of gender stereotypes that are ingrained in society. To this end, this thesis aims to understand the influence of gender stereotypes in the choice of the new leadership. This objective reveals an important theoretical gap in the theme, which deals with the need for empirical research of a qualitative nature that shows how this process happens in the organizational dynamics. The theoretical reference that supports this work uses Social Psychology as a basis and its understanding of the impact of social role and stereotypes on the organization. The thesis is a unique case study in a large professional services organization, and included: 30 hours of observations in 10 performance meetings (686 evaluated professionals), 80 interviews with managers of high leadership and documentary analysis. This research was structured based on a qualitative approach and used the Thematic Analysis method for its investigation and understanding of the theme. The study confirmed the influence of gender stereotypes in the choice of the new leadership, by understanding the dynamics of the selection process. The survey showed that executives choose their peers based on self-defined characteristics that belong to the male stereotype. Men and women, regardless of the functional category, attribute the characteristics of emotional control and self-confidence as desired for the executive position, behaviors identified in men, and not associated with women, seen as emotionally uncontrolled, conflictive and fragile. Understanding that a leader is a man, when these stereotypes in leadership are incongruent, prejudice against women is generated, impacting their career, self-confidence and resilience to deal with the challenges of reconciling an executive career and their family demands. Inequality between genders in the organization is seen as a social problem, restricting the reflection on possibilities for organizational change.