The Increasing Power and Influence of Women in Brazil

The increasing power and influence of women in Brazil

A number of countries have seen major changes in recent years, but surely few can claim to have seen as rapid a transition as Brazil. Just a few decades ago, it was ruled over by a stern military dictatorship and was among the poorest nations outside of Africa. The economy was slow and cumbersome, and any recovery was blighted by high unemployment, low wages and a crippling interest rate.

These days, the country that will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics is enjoying a heady period of growth, and has seemingly thrown off the shackles of a somewhat forgettable past. Brazil is a forward-thinking modern society, as evidenced by the increasing number of powerful women in local and national governments, public authorities and in independent and state-owned businesses.

Maria Sílvia Bastos Marques, head of Rio’s Olympic organisation, has worked in banking, been a director of several major companies, and has served in prominent positions within local authorities. She, along with many other women, represents a new Brazil, one that has embraced female executives. More than a quarter of senior executives within Brazil’s leading companies are women, a higher proportion than in the UK or the United States.

In recent years, Brazil has emerged as a true consumer society, with an increasing number of people having access to the finest goods and services both in their local stores and on the internet. Indeed, e-commerce in Brazil has been on the increase for some time now, and with more and more areas of the country gaining access to broadband this is a trend that looks set to continue.

The increasing power and influence of women in Brazil has perhaps come as a result of two major developments. Firstly, families are smaller now than in the past, with women having an average of less than two children in the 21^st century, compared with around six only a few decades ago. Second, the access to prestigious business qualifications via colleges and universities has become as open to women now as it always was to men.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2013/05/29/the-10-most-powerful-businesswomen-in-brazil/2/

http://ebook.law.uiowa.edu/ebook/uicifd-ebook/why-brazil-emerging-market-economy

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