The women of Contisystems
Today is International Women's Day, the day we celebrate gender equality. To tell us a little about this topic, we spoke to Rita, our Human Resources Director.
Hi Rita, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about women at Contisystems.
It's always a pleasure to be able to stop and talk for a while about topics that are particularly close to our hearts.
How many women currently work at Contisystems?
There are currently 56 women working at Contisystems, which corresponds to around 42% of the total workforce.
Is this proportion historical or has the % of women changed?
The % of women at Contisystems has grown overall, by around 8% in the last 5 years, and if we look at the % of women in management positions, we see that it has changed significantly over time. We currently have a woman coordinating one of our production areas and we have 3 women on the management team. Looking at Contisystems 10 years ago, we can really see a significant change in this area.
Are most of the women in management or production?
The distribution is very even, there isn't much of a difference, we have a rationale of 55% in Production and 45% in the administrative and support area.
Is there any area where you can clearly see that there are fewer women? Can you explain why?
In general we have an even distribution of both genders in the various areas, but we do have some areas where women are under-represented.
One example is the maintenance area, because it's rare to find women trained in this area. Another case is the printing and enveloping area in the Printing and Customer Communication Management divisions, where the jobs involve some physical effort, which is usually more easily done by men. The IT and Software area also has an under-representation of women, but we are gradually starting to see more women trained in these areas.
On the other hand, we also have areas such as Compliance, Human Resources and Marketing, where the teams are made up entirely of women. There are also other areas where we have a much higher incidence of women in the teams, because historically they tend to be more delicate and meticulous, aspects that are critical to the successful execution of tasks, such as VAS (Value Added Services) or digitalization.
I would say that we are a clear example of optimizing the skills that characterize each gender, and in our recruitment processes we never have any selection criteria associated with gender, but rather with the skills and professional experience presented.
Although we can aspire to be able to perform any function, our physiological characteristics and our commitment to our individual development will enhance our suitability for different functions.
As a woman, how did you feel your path at Contisystems?
As a woman, I'm very proud to say that I've never felt diminished or devalued because I'm a woman. I know that what I've felt since joining the company would probably have been very different 10 or 15 years ago, not only because society has changed a lot in this area, but also because we mustn't forget that Contisystems comes from a graphic design background, an area where most of the work was done by men, and changing these paradigms always takes time.
Let's also not forget that until a few years ago this wasn't the case, but gradually women have been taking on some management positions more and more easily, especially in the area of Human Resources, due to the high number of women trained in this area, compared to operations management or the areas of information technology. However, I would say that we cannot expect a different reality if we see few women interested in investing and developing skills in these areas. Whether it's due to cultural history, or physiological predisposition / suitability, we have to accept that different areas have different gender distributions, but I don't see this as discrimination, just as a fact that reflects our individual characteristics.
Finally, and still on this subject, I must stress that at Contisystems we have many proofs of our respect for people, regardless of their gender, and our openness to the integration or promotion of women to any type of position. I would say that I am an example of this, because at no time did I feel that Duarte's analysis and decision to invite me to join the management team were influenced positively or negatively by my gender, but rather by my competence, my alignment with Contisystems and my growth potential, and I think that this is a symbol of a very healthy company with enormous potential.
Would you like to say a few words to the women of Contisystems on this day?
I would just like to say that I see this day, more than Women's Day, as a day of gender equality, a day of respect for our individual differences, more than our gender differences. I see this day as a time to remember the many women who have been a fundamental part of our emancipation, and to promote the path that in some areas has yet to be built.
