The Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) and bank union entities, such as the Union of Banking and Financiers of São Paulo, Osasco and Region, launched this Monday (10th), in the capital of São Paulo, the National Program of Initiatives for Prevention of Violence Against Women.
The project is a claim by workers in the category to combat gender violence and inequality between men and women at work. The initiative was incorporated into the sector’s collective agreement, such as Clause 86, which establishes the performance of actions through reference institutes, contracted to raise awareness and prevent violence against women.
The Maria da Penha, Papo de Homem, and Mee Too Brasil institutes will provide training, consultancy and advice to representatives appointed by unions and members of Febraban’s technical diversity groups.
“For us, this clause on the issue of violence is important. But at the same time, it always brings a sadness. Sad that we have to debate, in the middle of the 21st century, a policy to combat violence against women”, highlighted the president of the Union of Bank Employees of SP, Ivone Silva.
“We want a society that is truly egalitarian. That I, as an individual, can be whatever I want to be, including being in positions that today are really very masculine”, he added.
According to data from the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), women earn, on average, 21% less than men in the labor market. In the banking category, the inequality is more profound: their remuneration is 22.2% lower than the average of male colleagues. In terms of race, the remuneration of black women is, on average, 40.6% lower than that of white male bank employees.
Support channels
According to the program launched today, banking institutions have committed to implementing support channels for forwarding and handling, in secrecy, issues related to violence against women. They also assumed the commitment to send an internal communication to leaders and other employees with the aim of informing them about domestic violence and the conduct to be adopted.
“We need society as a whole to discuss violence against women. The numbers have actually shown the harsh reality of women. In 2021, every seven hours a woman suffered femicide in the country. In 2022, it became every six hours. We have the challenge of not allowing this to continue”, said the Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, who participated in the event in a way online.
“Feminicide is a preventable crime. We can prevent it from happening. We need to have the appropriate and necessary measures so that they are not killed, ”she added.
The president of Febraban, Isaac Sidney Menezes Ferreira, stressed that violence against women shows no signs of regression and needs permanent confrontation. “Febraban participates in this event and does so with concern and with the certainty that the fight against violence against women must be perennial and something that involves everyone. The advance, unfortunately, of violence against women is still a social problem, I would say critic,” he said, in participation online.
“We are far from having signs of regression in this situation. Guidance and dialogue, therefore, will direct us. They are fundamental for building more equal gender relations and also for us to be able to promote the changes that are necessary in relation to this very serious situation of violence against women”, he added.
According to Febraban, currently, 48% of bank employees are women, while in the labor market this percentage is 40%. According to the entity, in the sector, women occupy around 40% of leadership positions, also higher than the average in Brazil, which is 35%.
