Gender and work: Representations of femininities and masculinities in the view of women Brazilian executives

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify and analyze social representations of femininity and masculinity, as reported by women business executives in Brazil. For that, the research resorted to semi-structured interviews of sixty-four executives from seven Brazilian cities. As a technique for data analysis, this research utilized the theoretical and conceptual basis of French discourse analysis. When gender issues become related to the specific qualities of being a woman and a business executive - or to the interfaces that gender may establish with an individual's work - contradictions may emerge from the construction of a particular thematic. Also, positive and negative aspects of being a female executive exist, namely: (a) representations of an executive; (b) feminine competency and incompetency; (c) dilemmas regarding sensitivity; (d) conflicts involving seduction power; (e) omissions, prejudice and violence suffered by women at work; and (f) motherhood.