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A new era of matriarchal lawyers

As a region, Latin America accounts for a 22% share of all lawyers globally, and an estimated 33% share of female lawyers globally. Despite this, just 25% of top management roles are occupied by women, and those in top management roles earn just 60% of that paid to their male counterparts. In Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, women earn between 49 and 68 cents for every dollar that men earn in the same or similar roles.

Disappointingly, this is in step with much of the rest of the world. According to a 2019 report published by the World Bank, just six countries globally achieved a perfect score in gender equality, which means that the law in each of those countries treats men and women equally in every dimension measured by the research. The report covered 190 countries.

While Latin America shares the struggle for gender equality with much of the world, it faces unique barriers (in addition to those common to the rest of the world) in achieving that goal. Chiefly, the region’s distinct cultural and religious history has led to especially institutionalised gender bias, informing modern day attitudes which in turn make efficient reform difficult. A 2013 McKinsey & Company survey of 547 executives across Latin America found that 70% of those surveyed indicated that societal views of women’s primary responsibilities – namely, the raising of families – were a strong influence on how women make career decisions.

In some countries in the region, the institutionalised gender bias is subtle, but in others it is more obvious. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-largest democracy, is renowned for his ‘government-by-machismo’ approach to politics, and is illustrative of populist attitudes toward women. Bolsonaro has been the subject of numerous protests since his inauguration, due to his inflammatory comments regarding women, as well as various ethnic and sexual minority groups. Bolsonaro has outright placed himself in opposition to what he pejoratively calls ‘gender ideology’ – a largely conservative term used to undermine pushes for equality as antithetical to religious and family values.

“Bolsonaro has outright placed himself in opposition to what he pejoratively calls ‘gender ideology’.”

But it is not just men who perpetuate gender stereotypes. Arguably, a large number of Latin American women also feed into these traditional gender roles. They believe it is their responsibility to take on all of the ‘home work’, which becomes more apparent after having children. Patricia Barbelli, Diageo’s legal and corporate security director of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, argues that men and women may take up distinctly separate positions at both work and home, to encourage a work-life balance.

Female perpetuation of stereotypes has also been seen through the remarks of Damares Alves, Brazilian minister of human rights, family and women, who assists Bolsonaro in his battle against ‘gender ideology’. Alves strongly supports traditional gender roles and is an opponent of so-called ‘ideological indoctrination’. In January 2019, when Bolsonaro came to power, Alves tweeted: ‘Women are made to be mothers’ and ‘It’s a new era in Brazil: Boys wear blue and girls wear pink!’. Alves asserts the view that diversity and inclusion programmes are a ‘threat’ to Brazilian families. Bolsonaro has also concisely propagated the long-peddled excuse for gaps in pay between men and women, arguing that men and women should not receive equal salaries and that he wouldn’t hire women with the same salary as men because women may fall pregnant.

The gender pay gap

According to the World Economic Forum, the gender pay gap of 29.2% in Latin America will take an estimated 64 years to close. The lack of practical regulation requiring businesses to observe compliance with equal rights legislation, especially gender pay regulation, to government and authoritative bodies, remains a substantial obstacle in ending the gender pay gap. Currently in Latin America, recording obligations exist only in Peru and Colombia. That said, Latin American governments are increasingly making an active effort to rectify this.

Gender discrimination is expressly prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. These nations all allow for provisions for differing legal action in relation to employees, against their respective employers, who permit gender discrimination within the workplace. For instance, in Mexico, employers who allow gender discrimination in the workplace may face labour ministry sanctions. Mexican employees are also able to bring civil action for ‘moral damages’ and criminal action under discrimination against their employer. These employees can also choose to file a complaint to the National Commission to Prevent Discrimination for payment of damages, a public warning, and/or a public or private apology.

In 2011, the Colombian Ministry of Labour stated that all Colombian businesses must document a gender pay record for audit or visits. Though this is not a direct recording requirement, it requires businesses to retain salary, job specifications, and requirements when beginning employment at the business via a gender lens.

More recently, in 2017, the Peruvian government passed a law prohibiting discrimination between men and women. The law prohibits salary discrimination between men and women, implements a recording specification (similar to that of Colombia) and prescribes businesses to notify their respective employees of payroll initiatives (and aspects affecting wages). Failure to comply with such laws may result in severe penalties for the employer. The 2017 law also recognised that sustained discrimination within the workplace would be treated as a ‘hostile act’, raising grounds for legal action against employers to allege ‘constructive dismissal’ and the payment of ‘mandatory severance’.

Research suggests that one of the primary causes of the gender pay gap is lack of representation of women in senior roles, but the lack of women in senior roles is a problem in itself. Companies and law firms are only now beginning to view gender bias as a problem. This is seen to be a separate issue that must first be addressed before the inclusion of women in senior roles. ‘The top levels of companies and most partners within law firms are still being filled by men,’ says Barbelli. According to the 2018 McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org ‘Women in the Workplace’ paper, men surpass women at every level within the workplace.

Mónica Jiménez González, secretary general of Ecopetrol Colombia SA, outlines how instead of taking slow and rigid action in addressing the gender pay gap, Ecopetrol is analysing its own company data. Ecopetrol assesses the salaries of their employees at all levels with reference to their job title. When the company has completed a comparative analysis of all job specifications, then Ecopetrol decides the employee salary. This comparative method disregards any gender bias.

Private progress

With negative attitudes toward the position of women in the workplace common at all levels of Latin American society – from religious institutions to the highest of national offices – and with governments occupied by more imminent concerns (such as widespread corruption), it may fall to private businesses to take the lead in correcting entrenched biases and disparity in the workplace.

‘We can see that in the last few years significant efforts have been made by various governments, but most importantly by the privately-owned companies, which I believe are the present leaders when talking about changing traditional mind-sets, not only as a part of natural evolution, but also as a way to improve their labour environments, which can surely lead to a revenue increase as well,’ says Ivonne Romero, SSA Mexico’s general counsel.

As such, internally developed policies and efforts in the private sector might become the most effective tool at advancing the cause of diversity, equality, and inclusion in Latin America.

‘We make sure that we have recruitment processes with an equal number of men and women candidates, in order to ensure that we have an expanded applicant pool that allows professionals to be selected objectively,’ says Sandra Monroy, legal director, Andean region for Uber and Uber Eats.

Programmes such as diversity in candidate pools, as implemented at Uber, are intended to safeguard the inclusion of women and other specified groups within the workplace. The 2016 Harvard Business Review article ‘If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired’ outlines that when ‘there were two women in the pool of [four] finalists, the status quo changed, resulting in a woman becoming the favoured candidate,’ and there would be a 50% chance of hiring a woman. These initiatives, if implemented, will undoubtedly increase women’s representation within the workplace.

Although law firms and companies have, in recent years, focused on recruitment processes to tackle the lack of women of women in top management roles, firms and companies alike are now increasingly identifying that more action is required to help women advance. Men and women progress through the workplace pipeline at differing rates and it is clear that gender prejudice and discrimination are an explanation for this. As far back as 2011, Catalyst’s report ‘The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead?’ outlined the idea of a ‘social penalty’ where women are more likely to be perceived negatively when asking for work promotions and salary increases, than their male counterparts. But thankfully, that is slowly starting to change with the growing influence of women in senior roles.

‘At SSA Mexico the legal function is part of the executive team, so we have the opportunity to advise the company on how to deal with gender inequality. In my team there are women lawyers (mothers and single). They know that they can count on my support when speaking of their development as women and lawyers,’ adds Romero.

As research continues to be conducted on the effects of diversity in firms – legal and otherwise – the business case is becoming increasingly hard to ignore, and charges of ‘meaningless box ticking’ hold less and less weight.

‘This is not just a moral obligation, but a sound business strategy,’ Barbelli surmises.

Diversity and business value

There is an established connection between gender diversity and a company’s bottom line profit. There is also clear connection between focussing on the gender pay gap and the war for attracting and retaining talent.

Regional trends Regulation concerning discrimination, harassment or sexual assault within the workplace differ from region to region in Latin America. However, ‘if a company has strong policies defining what is acceptable or not in regard to behaviour that may be considered discrimination or harassment in the workplace, this will help a lot to define the boundaries of what is tolerated or not from the employees,’ says Barbelli. Diageo implements a global ‘Dignity at work’ policy whereby every employee is individually responsible for demonstrating the highest standards of integrity in their behaviour, and harassing, sexually harassing or bullying, victimising, threatening or retaliating is not tolerated. Romero states that, ‘it is important to realise that although a company’s nationality can potentially help create a cascade effect in its corresponding subsidiaries in terms of policies, it does not necessarily mean that the company will completely follow that model in a local context, such as Mexico. For instance, we can see that a lot of Mexican locally-owned companies are currently putting a lot of effort in to inclusion, sometimes even more so than international ones. The latter are probably at a loss when trying to apply inclusion policies at a local level.’

Studies also suggest that one of the leading reasons women are deterred from pursuing leadership and partner roles stems from a lack of flexibility, and a lack of positive women role models and mentors.

Various businesses are now active concerning women employee advancement, and this often means going beyond statutory regulations. SSA Mexico, for example, operates ‘flex time’ working schemes and offers additional maternity days, which are not necessarily specified under Mexican law.

‘Uber has several employee resource groups, devoted to women, such as “Women of Uber” and “Parents at Uber” among others, which allow women to embrace themselves and improve every day in their working environment,’ says Monroy.

Mentorship can play an important role in development, with ‘a good role model inspiring you to be the greatest version of yourself, not only on the professional, but personal field too. We [women] are often seen as rivals, when we should be allies. The importance of advocating for women’s higher performance, mentoring, and establishing a support network, all help to erase damaging stereotypes,’ Monroy says.

Fatima Picoto, assistant general counsel and legal director Brazil at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), also speaks of the value in mentorship for progressing in the workplace, arguing that it is a valuable tool for all employees, not solely women. ‘However, considering the different challenges that women tend to face, identifying someone who can support and sponsor you will have a huge impact,’ Picoto adds.

Pregnancy discrimination (despite being against the law) still exists within Latin America. According to the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, ‘some employers sought sterilisation certificates from women job applicants or tried to avoid hiring women of childbearing age.’ In the past, it was known that some Latin American employers went so far as to dismiss women employees from their job after hearing of their pregnancies. Despite both actions being unlawful, these laws are seldom enforced across the region. Pregnancy discrimination is inherently linked to a society that has historically tended to view women as home makers and mothers, rather than individuals valued in a workplace.

González notes that Colombia’s 18 weeks of maternity leave is unsatisfactory. Ecopetrol has an extended maternity leave due to the benefits it provides to both parents and children (the World Health Organisation recommends at least six months breastfeeding): ‘This will mean more breastfeeding in Colombia. In the cities, breastfeeding is almost disappearing, but in rural areas, breastfeeding is very high. Working while breastfeeding can be very tough. At Ecopetrol, we still want people to be able to breastfeed, if that’s their choice. We have maternity spaces in our buildings for women to breastfeed, which is very important. But, there’s still a long way to go,’ adds González.

Barbelli adds that ‘achieving gender equality in the workplace requires fundamental changes to a range of working practices. It is of utmost importance to reinforce that men’s parental leave is key to women’s progression.’

The ‘trickle down’ effect

Many Latin American businesses have increasingly encountered demand from, mostly foreign, shareholders to implement equal pay for equal work, or at least conduct equal pay equity audits. According to the 2018 ‘Women in the Workplace’ report, women continue to remain considerably underrepresented in the workplace, and corporations and firms must alter their approach in the hiring and promotion of employees at both an entry and manager level ‘to make real progress.’

Nonetheless, international investment in Latin American conglomerates and corporate governance in global companies is having a progressive ‘trickle down’ influence via region-specific diversity and inclusion policies. Several international businesses with teams in Latin America have voluntarily begun to enforce reformist initiatives such as extended maternity leave, flexible working, and mentoring programmes. These initiatives are aimed to appeal to, engage with, and advance women in the workplace.

Romero notes that as a subsidiary of Carrix, which is headquartered in the US, SSA Mexico ‘offers additional benefits to me as a woman who is working in an executive position. At SSA Mexico, we have a great local executive team, which is on the same page as our US counterparts.’

Many Latin American corporations are now embracing and implementing initiatives that go far above the present national statutory guidelines. Barbelli states that Diageo, which is headquartered in London, England, is transparent and candid when it comes to discussing the progression of women with careers in legal with their panel law firms.

Diageo’s credentials concerning the betterment of women in the workplace, without the existence of formal legislation, is outstanding. Women at a senior level have grown from 22% in 2017 to a mammoth 50% in 2019 and 49% of employees in Brazil’s São Paulo office are women. From July 2019, Diageo has offered six months fully-paid parental leave to both men and women employees, without any existing statutory requirements.

Monroy raises how the development of technology has impacted the increase of diversity policies globally: ‘One of the perks of the digital era is having the possibility to be connected, and somehow close, as if we are all in the same place. Uber has a global policy on diversity and inclusion that applies worldwide, allowing diversity initiatives to take place everywhere without limitations like distance.’

Many Latin American corporations are now embracing and implementing initiatives that go far above the present national statutory guidelines.

There is now a strong movement whereby women and minority groups are gaining momentum in Latin America. Picoto observes that, ‘GSK has 51% of women in our total staff and 49% of our leadership positions are also occupied by women in Brazil offices.’

#MeToo #NiUnaMenos

The advent of the #MeToo movement (or #NiUnaMenos, ‘not one less’, the #MeToo equivalent term coined in Latin America) has created a sense of ‘familiarity’ across the board with all women in their respective geographical regions, while providing them with a platform to voice their own experiences and concerns.

Given the historical role that women have traditionally played in Colombia (and Latin America as a region), the movement has started conversations about what is appropriate in the workplace and what is not. González argues that ‘#MeToo made people think: “What is that?” “Why is that everywhere?” “Why is it on Twitter?” “Why is it in the press?” “What does #MeToo mean to me?”. I have heard a lot of conversations concerning #MeToo in Colombia – this is amazing because you’re seeing women, and vulnerable women, in Colombia talking about it, which means that they are realising that they do indeed have a voice and it’s not okay for those lines to be crossed.’

“Many Latin American corporations are now embracing and implementing initiatives that go far above the present national statutory guidelines.”

The #MeToo movement created an awareness of the difficult reality that many women were, and still are, facing within the workplace environment. After recounting her own experience of harassment, Monroy states that #MeToo has had a positive impact on the women of Latin America in that they are now able to voice their concerns. This helps other women to come forward. Monroy also describes how the #MeToo movement has had a direct influence on Latin America’s ‘cultural institution’ where women who were once afraid of speaking out now have the confidence to do so.

#MeToo is a spawned concept: despite not yet being on a legislative level, it has bought awareness to the topic in Latin America. González does however note that ‘the Colombian government is of course aware of the movement and it’s making them, along with companies, ask themselves “how is this impacting us?”.’

Monroy adds: ‘Don’t ever let society-established parameters define what you can do and how far you can get.’

The barriers that women face in the Latin American legal profession originate from their historically weak status within society: from traditional gender roles to the stereotypical cultural norms of Latin America as a region. This has led to the arguable continuation of work place sex discrimination across the region. We are seeing the remnants of the Latin American ‘cultural institution’ filter down into the way women in law are perceived, with research even suggesting that the gender pay gap primarily concerns gender representation rather than pay discrimination, naming the causes as existing bias and historical pay discrimination allowing for the continuation of the gender pay gap.

Discrimination due to socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and gender identity continues in schools, reproducing stereotypes and traditional roles for women, particularly in relation to their role within the household. This ‘cultural institution’ has not only been fed by men in powerful positions, such as politicians, but also by women themselves who believe that there are specifically established roles which men and women should play. This can clearly be seen with the lack of women in senior roles and the very existence of the gender pay gap.

However, Latin American firms and companies are now seeing more and more women question how executive corporate decisions are made. The current unstable political climate in several Latin American nations, supported by the arrival of the #MeToo movement, and the ‘trickle down’ effect of conglomerate businesses, have all encouraged women to contest their role within society and workplace. This intervention by multinational companies may even cue Latin American governments to begin to include gender-related issues in their own policy programmes.

But, only a handful of Latin American nations have made headway in making motherhood and employment harmonious. Despite the majority of Latin American countries legislating to require businesses who employ 20 or more women to establish day care facilities, these laws are rarely ever enforced. The same can be said about laws governing pregnancy discrimination. There is obviously a disconnection between Latin American legislation and general attitudes towards women in the workplace. Increased efforts are required on behalf of national governments to enforce inclusion and other diversity policies locally.

We are slowly starting to see cultural developments in Latin America that don’t necessarily conform to the traditional historical norms and this has been a direct result of the advancement of the lives of women themselves. This activity will help facilitate the ending of discriminatory obstacles that Latin American women in law must overcome. As Monroy points out, the stereotypes have ‘if anything, challenged us [women] to reach our best within the legal profession,’ and that the progress in Latin America in recent years is ‘extremely valuable because of its history and the rough path that women have been through to get to this point’. Although progress on this front may be gradual, the long established cultural perimeters of specific gender based roles are also slowly (but promisingly) being eradicated.

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Turning of the tide

Research continues to show the positive correlation between a diverse and inclusive workforce, and an organisation’s bottom line. In response, there has been a sharp increase in C-suites giving strategic priority to diversity and inclusion (D&I) challenges, and there has been a significant rise in roles dedicated to it. There has also been a significant increase in the number of initiatives and training sessions aimed not only at increasing minority representation, but also tackling the underlying culture, which frequently prohibits inclusion.

But many times, these initiatives don’t work – and sometimes achieve the opposite of what is intended. It is a sad fact that, despite the substantial number of programmes in place, equality isn’t improving. Or, at least, it isn’t improving at the pace one would hope. So, what elements need to be in place for a D&I initiative to work?

Through a series of in-depth conversations with senior in-house counsel across Latin America, GC magazine looks at some of the D&I challenges the Latin America legal industry faces, the common elements that make for successful D&I programmes, and offers advice for how to effect real change – now and in the future.

Legal industry challenges

The perception of the legal industry as – in the English phrase – ‘pale, male, and stale’, is not new and is, unfortunately, only too applicable to Latin America as well. ‘Latin American law firms are, generally, predominantly male and conservative environments; that is, not inclusive towards minorities,’ says Publicis Groupe’s LatAm regional legal director, Véronique Ramon Vialar-Déchelette. ‘This is perpetuated not only by a traditional men’s club perception of law firms, but also by women’s unconscious self-discrimination and behaviour.’

“It is easier and more comfortable to deal with people of the same gender. Because, historically, the majority of CEOs are men, it is easier for them to deal with other men.”

Women are also much more likely to adapt their behaviour to fit in to this environment. ‘Even today, in traditional law firms, many women do not dare to ask for salary increases or more senior positions, they are scared to compete “as men”, and frequently prefer to resign rather than to ask for flexible working arrangements when they have children,’ Vialar-Déchelette continues. ‘As a young lawyer in a law firm, I was often very careful regarding the way I used to dress (to avoid being considered too feminine or sexy), or the way I expressed myself about work situations or problems (to avoid being considered as less capable by my male colleagues). I also avoided being too friendly or empathetic in certain situations to avoid being considered too soft, too “woman-like”.’

Of course, the problem doesn’t only exist in law firms; those ingrained biases still exist and need to be challenged in corporates as well. ‘The biggest barrier is confirmation bias, rather than unconscious bias,’ says Valéria Camacho Martins Schmitke, Zurich’s LatAm regional general counsel. ‘It is easier and more comfortable to deal with people of the same gender. Because, historically, the majority of CEOs are men, it is easier for them to deal with other men. They go to have lunch together, they talk “man talk” – they care less about words and feeling comfortable with each other. Many times, this is not conscious, but it prevents many women being promoted or hired for key positions.’

Against this backdrop, effecting real change might seem impossible, but of course, it’s not. We are seeing a slow, positive evolution across the industry. Law firms and corporates alike are committing to strategies and programmes that go beyond lip service to embed D&I into their corporate DNA.

Positive reinforcement

One of the key elements in ensuring a D&I programme or initiative is successful is positive messaging and positive reinforcement. In their 2016 Harvard Business Review article, ‘Why Diversity Programs Fail’, authors Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev assert that most executives ‘favor a classic command-and-control approach to diversity’, which often leads to extensive lists of dos and don’ts. This approach, though, ‘flies in the face of nearly everything we know about how to motivate people to make changes… You won’t get managers on board by blaming and shaming them with rules and re-education. We can’t motivate people by forcing them to get with the program and punishing them if they don’t.’

This is especially true of lawyers, who can often be resistant to the idea that they might behave unfairly. Bias is often linked to being unethical, and it is ingrained in lawyers that their job is to be advocates of justice. Where companies start to see positive results is when they employ tactics that do not focus on control. When messaging is positive, involvement is voluntary, and there is social accountability, willing participants will come forward.

“People need to be conscious of their biases, and conscious of their lack of diversity. And then you can move to implementation of D&I policies, pillars, and training.”

For a D&I strategy to be successful, it must go through three phases, says Schmitke. First, awareness; second, training and development; and third, monitoring. ‘People need to be conscious of their biases, and conscious of their lack of diversity. And then you can move to implementation of D&I policies, pillars, and training.’ Once those are in place, you can start to monitor the success of your various programmes.

Policy change

Law firms and corporates are seeing their biggest successes when specific initiatives go hand-in-hand with actual policy change, and where D&I policies ring true with the employees they most affect. Matt Krentz, who leads Boston Consulting Group’s diversity and leadership efforts, wrote in a recent Harvard Business Review article that women employees seek policies that allow them to balance career and family responsibilities, and in particular ‘practical tools that would help them progress, regardless of their family status: parental leave, appropriate healthcare coverage, childcare assistance, and flexibility programs’.

The law firm perspective: D&I at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

At Willkie, we believe everyone benefits from a diverse workplace, and we are firmly committed to creating and maintaining a diverse environment by recruiting and retaining people of all backgrounds and cultural experiences.

The firm has several active committees that focus on the recruitment, retention, and promotion of our attorneys and, in particular, our women and diverse attorneys. These committees’ initiatives include expanding mentoring programmes, improving communication between partners and associates, recognising the contributions and accomplishments of our attorneys, offering insights from our clients on best practices for associates, and providing opportunities for attorneys to connect in informal settings.

Our Women’s Professional Development Committee (WPDC) was established more than a decade ago to offer professional development programmes and guidance to women attorneys. The WPDC is comprised of partners (including a member of the Executive Committee), counsel, and associates, and receive support from our chief human resources officer, chief marketing officer, chief diversity and inclusion officer, and associate director of professional development. The WPDC highlights the accomplishments of our female attorneys, providing opportunities for networking at the firm and with other successful women across industries, and ensure that they are positioned to assume leadership roles during their careers.

In 2019, Willkie also introduced a Parents Group for associates at the firm. The group provides a forum for attorneys to share strategies and ideas about parenting and work-life integration. The Parents Group is planning programming to hear from experts on topics ranging from financial planning for families, time management, and talking with children about sensitive topics.

Long-term goals

We are particularly committed to continuing and further developing strategies to D&I on a long-term basis, including in the leadership ranks. In fact, today, 40% of members of our Compensation Committee are diverse and 40% are women. In addition, of the ten members of our global Executive Committee, 20% are women and 10% are diverse. Moreover, seven women and five diverse partners serve as department or practice group chairs or co-chairs, five women and three diverse partners or counsel lead firm committees, and three diverse partners and two women serve as office managing partners. Finally, from 2016 to 2018, our partnership classes have averaged approximately 36% women, respectively, and of the thirteen global attorneys elected to the partnership in 2019, five (or 38%) are women and four (or 31%) are diverse.

Willkie is deeply committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive environment by recruiting and retaining people of all backgrounds and cultural experiences. To that end, in mid-2016, the chairs of the firm charged the chairs of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Professional Personnel Committee, and Women’s Professional Development Committee to create the firm’s Task Force on Retention and Inclusion. The task force meets on a bi-weekly basis to collaborate on initiatives designed to retain, develop, and promote attorneys, particularly with respect to diverse and women attorneys at the firm. It focuses on an array of topics, including mentoring, work assignments, integration, partner accountability, annual reviews, and inclusive programming and reports regularly to Willkie’s chairs on progress and initiatives.

Working with clients

We welcome opportunities to partner with clients on D&I initiatives. In May 2018, we partnered with a client to host a panel on the business case for D&I. The panel was moderated by our chief diversity and inclusion officer and consisted of several of the client’s top female executives. In February 2018 we partnered with a client to host a panel on diversity, as well as a networking event for diverse law students in Willkie’s Washington, D.C. office. In addition, we presented a CLE on LGBTQ immigration rights at a client’s offices during Pride Month 2019 and we are currently partnering with a client to mentor foster children aging out of care.

Additionally, we’ve hosted programming that facilitates relationships between our women and diverse associates and clients. As an example, we partnered with four clients and invited diverse associates to host a Build-a-Bike event in our New York office, resulting in the presentation of new bicycles to 50 underserved children. In addition, the WPDC hosted a client networking event on International Women’s Day with women attorneys and clients.

We are always happy to share ideas with clients interested in our diversity and inclusion efforts. We welcome meetings to discuss our initiatives and how we can help clients implement them.

by Maria-Leticia Ossa Daza

‘My company has a very active diversity and inclusion group, with many different focus areas, one of which is women,’ says Erica Barbagalo, Bayer’s legal, patent, and compliance lead. ‘The aim is to enhance women’s participation in the company and in leadership positions, but mainly to ensure equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender. As such, our company has extended maternity leave, and also an extended paternity leave policy. Both offer more than the statutory minimum. We also offer flexible working hours.’

Anabell González Nava, legal director, North Latin America division at Arcos Dorados, agrees: ‘We implemented a programme, “Red Mujeres”, aimed at increasing the equity with women in our company. The programme focusses on developing initiatives in which we see opportunities to increase the number of women in key roles within the company, which has included implementing policies that ensure women have equity in salaries and compensation at the same level as men with the same responsibility.’

Schmitke, who was the first local leader on Zurich’s ‘gender pillar’ (part of their overall D&I programme, which started four years ago), points to several policy changes that have helped the insurer to attract and retain female talent. This includes extended parental leave (for both women and men), a milk room, and changes in the hiring process. Policy change and diversity ‘occurs in the HR function,’ she says, but ‘inclusion has to occur through the entire company, with all employees.’

Mauricio Rosillo Rojas, corporate vice president at Bancolombia says that companies are increasingly developing more policies favouring inclusion: ‘At Bancolombia, we are working to transcend the corporate environment in order to impact social structures through a transformation in our organisational culture, strengthening the competences for women’s empowerment, and providing support from the financial business to give a boost to the economic capabilities of women. We have set up a committee in charge of gender equality, and Bancolombia has also signed an agreement with the United Nations to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.’

Training and culture change

When approached in a positive way, formal or informal training can change how employees interact with each other, and in essence, change a company’s culture for the better. ‘To really implement D&I in a company or law firm, all employees must be educated and trained. It is pointless having more women on the board and more minority people in the company if they do not feel respected and included by their peers,’ Schmitke says.

“It is pointless having more women on the board and more minority people in the company if they do not feel respected and included by their peers.”

‘We are part of a global organisation, and we are subject to a set of global training, one of which is called “Be Bold for Inclusion”,’ says Guillermo Castillo, chief compliance officer at AFP PlanVital. ‘The objectives of this programme are to build an understanding and commitment to making progress on diversity and inclusion, increase insight into the beliefs and behaviours that are the main barriers to inclusion, and to increase confidence in how to lead change and walk the talk. Unconscious bias can be a huge setback in creating a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. We need to understand that employees need to feel comfortable and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion in order to be more productive.’

For Castillo, this has positively affected how his team works together: ‘The rule is that everyone gets a fair hearing and has an equal chance to give their opinion; everyone can speak out if they notice bias in the team; and, most importantly, offer an apology if they get it wrong. We can only really deal with bias if we’re honest and admit our mistakes.’

Training is also an essential ingredient at Bancolombia, where women represent 67% of the workforce, and 57% of senior positions. ‘We want to ease conversations about the experiences and day-to-day life of women in corporate environments to define what gender equality means, what decisions we have to take, the behaviours that need to change, and all the processes we must change,’ says Rosillo. ‘In our organisation, we run a programme called ‘Me la creo’ (I believe it), which is focussed on removing bias and stereotypes and promoting female empowerment. Under the initiative, we provide online and onsite training for every team member, as well as a toolkit for those in leadership positions.’

Creating spaces where employees are comfortable enough to call out the bias they see is important in moving things forward. Barbagalo points out that she has ‘often seen unconscious bias in action – for example in several situations of performance evaluation, or promotion discussions’.

‘Sometimes I have had to point out that the “aggressiveness” identified in a woman professional was the same “straightforwardness” valued in a male professional. I have been able to point out on several occasions the fact that women are generally not well versed in self-promotion. I have also been able to point out the bias in women themselves – they don’t believe in their own capabilities, and don’t apply for more senior positions.’

Training in the form of mentorship is one of the most valuable ways to educate and effect change. Every lawyer we interviewed for this publication pointed to mentorship as a key element in their success. A lack of formal mentoring initiatives is not a barrier, however, as Ana María Delgado, vice president of corporate affairs at Corona in Colombia, explains: ‘At Corona we have created and actively promote spaces for women to share their experiences with other women, and I have personally committed to mentoring several young women with great potential.’

Bancolombia has developed a training programme with CESA, a well-known training institution in Colombia that works with high-potential women for boards of directors. It also uses its ‘Me la creo’ initiative to invite women in high positions in other local and regional companies to join them in the mentoring process. ‘It is important to us that our mentors and mentees have a safe space for the mentorship to occur, and where there is a certain level of affinity, comfort, and familiarity between them,’ says Rosillo. ‘We provide several open spaces where top management executives (both women and men) and other relevant attendees address their experiences, obstacles, fears, prejudices, challenges, and misconceptions surrounding this subject. The dynamic of these events is meant to be sincere, open, and without a hidden agenda because the purpose is to start creating an environment where this subject is addressed by every employee within the organisation, to make the whole workplace a safe place to raise your hand and discuss pros and cons, and have an open discussion without feeling threatened or constrained.’

Be the change you want to see

Barbagalo believes it is vital to act as a catalyst to hear the challenges coming from other women and to ‘voice them to the leadership. It is important not to lose opportunities, and to point to all the things that could be different to improve inclusivity, no matter how hard or how challenging. If it is the right thing to do, then it has to be done.’

The legal industry as a whole has a long way to go before equity and equality are achieved. There needs to be more women in leadership positions – both in private practice and in-house: that is undeniable. What we are beginning to see though, is the turning of the tide. With each year, we see more representation, more women role models, and more organisations and law firms turning their words into very visible actions. While there may still be a lot of room for progress, it does mean that, from here, the only way is up.

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Andrea Gualde

My journey into an in-house legal role has not been a traditional one. I reached my current leadership position as Director of legal and institutional affairs without having any previous corporate experience. In fact, I had next to no previous experience in the private sector at all!

My career developed almost entirely in the public sector, where I focused on administrative and regulatory law. In 1991, almost exclusively I started working for the Executive National Legal Counsel and Solicitor General’s Office. This was the beginning of a career that lasted more than two decades. My roles over that time encompassed many different responsibilities, but mainly I was leading legal teams at the Ministry of Justice and the Secretariat of Human Rights, where I was the national director of legal affairs. During those years, I worked heavily in the international arena, involving topics as wide-ranging as investment protection treaties and human rights. Despite the diverse nature of those topics, they shared many common aspects: the development of complex strategies; the coordination of interdisciplinary teams for international arbitrations and trials; and human rights legal proceedings and negotiations. I learned from excellent mentors the skills I needed in cases before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Mercosur.

From a very early stage, I understood that these tasks demanded combining the law’s more technical aspects with wider political analysis and a knowledge of international relations. Thankfully, politics was not absent from my education nor from my calling.

I became a student at the School of Law of Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1985. I was part of the generation that lived during the transition to democracy, which started in 1983 with the election of President Alfonsin and ended seven long years of military dictatorship. This historic circumstance left a deep mark on law students who moved between classes and deliberation forums, thinking about the effects caused to a society whose rule of law had been substituted with terror practices. This was, definitely, the origin of my professional calling on the area of human rights, where I worked for more than 15 years as a public official, and which I continue to support even after leaving government. In fact, I currently head the regional advisory board for Latin America of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation in parallel with my corporate in-house role.

Another very strong influence for me – and one which shaped the way I perceived the law at a very early stage of my career – was the opportunity to continue my academic studies at Yale University as a visiting scholar. Throughout those years, I was exposed to discussions that weren’t yet taking place in Argentina: exciting discussions about feminism, diversity, and multiculturalism. These discussions had a lasting impact on me.

After working as a government official for more than 20 years, another great challenge was put before me: I received the invitation to join an Argentinian private healthcare company to help it strengthen its in-house legal department and to help it tackle important regulatory challenges related to the business’s growth and expansion. (Healthcare is a highly-regulated industry in Argentina.) And so, in 2013, I joined Farmacity to lead its legal department. Not long after I joined, my responsibilities expanded to include leading the area of institutional relations, communication, and sustainability.

“My point of view is that the gender agenda cannot be separated from the history of my generation, nor from my professional training.”

The transition from the public to the private sector was a steep learning curve for me, and involved having to adopt different cultures, languages, practices, and traditions. However, despite working in such a different environment, I realised that the training, principles, and my perspective on justice and the application for the rule of law remained the same and enabled me to adapt quickly to my new situation. I became aware that every position, every role, has been and will always be a continuous learning experience, in which the skills developed and assimilated at one time and for a specific context are adapted and used at other times and in other contexts.

In my corporate life, I find myself applying many of the skills I learned in my years as a government official: the ability to manage and resolve conflict, to lead big teams, to work under pressure, and to make decisions and face the consequences. My experience working within interdisciplinary areas also allowed me to learn vital communication skills: explaining complex legal concepts to non-lawyers, and managing interfaces between political decisions and technical structures. Those same communication skills are used daily in my job as in-house counsel. They are present in the relationships I have with external counsellors for the development of strategies, and during the decision-making process with our shareholders.

As a corporate in-house lawyer, it is important to understand who is responsible for the legal strategy or institutional decision, the scope of the external advisory services, and the way in which the in-house professional provides a unique view of the business’s needs. Also, it is vital to remember the point of view of your shareholders.

The combination of experiences I talk about are not reduced simply to the technical legal skills or qualifications I have gained. It is so much more than that. In this regard, I would like to focus on the human rights agenda – mainly in connection to the gender agenda – and the connection between cultural and societal values and beliefs, and how organisations behave.

My point of view is that the gender agenda cannot be separated from the history of my generation, nor from my professional training. Legal education and professional legal practice for women in Argentina historically reflect the same structural discrimination experienced by other professions and activities, and that women face daily in their lives outside of work as well.

Most students in schools of law in Argentina are women. However, that proportion is transformed in the labour market, where the pyramid is totally inverted. Let us specifically have a look at the proportion of women who are partners at big law firms, or the negligible proportion of women in managerial positions. Let us look at the public sector where most workers within the judicial system are women but only a small number of those women are judges – and those women judges hold office mostly at courts of first instance, seldom at courts of appeals, and where only one woman is among the justices of the Supreme Court. It is worth mentioning that only in 2004 did a woman become part of the highest court in Argentina, and only in 2009 did the School of Law from Universidad de Buenos Aires appoint a woman as dean – for the first time since it was founded in 1821.

Of course, this reality is not unique to the legal industry, not to Argentina. Across the corporate world, most of the top positions in companies are held by men. However, in the legal industry, this vertical segregation is also coupled with horizontal segregation. There are legal areas traditionally performed by women and others by men. The ‘women’s world’ of legal practice has been historically limited to family, labour, and employment law or to those areas considered protective, and related to care. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the world of power, dominated by men: public law, business, and diplomacy. These areas are rarely entrusted to women.

This double layer of gender segregation relies heavily on unconscious biases that support the training, recruitment, and professional development of men at the expense of women. The professional development of a woman lawyer when she graduates is different from that of men. The opportunities to study a major, to study abroad, to publish articles, to become a member of professional boards, and to attend networking activities have historically been more limited for women than for men. This is because the time for professional development often coincides with the time at which women are of reproductive age. If development opportunities occur without any accompanying active policies that allow women to balance their professional lives with their decision to become mothers – and also level caring activities between men and women – this gap will only become wider.

Inequalities and gaps are not fixed on their own. In top in-house positions, as with any other leadership role in any other organisation, corrective measures must be implemented to fix the original inequality. Organisatations should regularly review their selection and promotion processes, they should incorporate gender perspectives into their assessment processes, and they should develop policies to make work and family life compatible.

“All women who have been able to develop a successful professional career have a responsibility to our gender to offer support and guidance.”

For women lawyers in in-house leadership positions, there can be an additional barrier in their way – that legal departments in companies are often support areas, and therefore outside the ‘core’ business areas, which are still very much dominated by men, and seen as men’s responsibility. This segregation is, once again, not only vertical but sometimes horizontal.

Happily, though, a new paradigm is emerging in organisations. The global women’s movement, to which Argentina constitutes no exception, is changing the way in which the gender agenda must be considered by the private sector – almost mandatorily.

Diversity, inclusion, and, in general, human rights, are not only a matter for state or international bodies, but are also starting to become part of companies’ agendas. In 2011, the United Nations issued a document of Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. As a consequence of that universal declaration, the topic is, little by little, moving from the periphery of the private sector’s agenda and advancing towards the center of the business. Companies that embrace diversity and inclusion are committed to broaden the scope of their human rights work; they are moving from traditionally isolated actions that were undertaken under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility, to developing a whole agenda on gender, labour conditions, diversity, and environmental protection for the entire organisation.

This is what we propose to achieve at Farmacity. For more than five years, we have been putting actions in place related to the promotion of equality and the fight against gender-based violence; to educate, prevent, sanction against, and eliminate discrimination and violence against women in any of its forms; and to create alliances with government bodies and organisations from the private sector and civil society to boost the actions carried out together within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In line with our belief that words matter, we made a public declaration that Farmacity is a company with a focus on gender equality.

That said, actions speak louder than words, and so our first concrete action was developing an internal protocol for gender-based violence interventions. We established a procedure that must be followed when violence cases are detected; this includes the provision of special leave for women who are the victims of violence, and arranging assistance with the help of the legal and human resources teams, in a strictly confidential process. In collaboration with specialised institutions, we train all our personnel on gender-based violence: how to detect it and how to provide assistance to the person affected. We also contribute with public campaigns about this serious social problem, which in Argentina causes the death of one woman every 32 hours.

This was then followed by several other initiatives. In collaboration with the National Ministry of Justice, we developed a programme that trains convicted women or women recently released from prison in cosmetics and personal care. This empowers women and also provides job opportunities to an often invisible group of women that faces many different types of discrimination.

We also implemented self-assessment initiatives with the United Nations programme, which enables us to develop a sustainable equality agenda, tackling issues such as women in leadership positions and the reduction of the gender pay gap, amongst many others. These initiatives, along with others that we intend to put in place in the future, result from having an organisational culture that values and promotes an inclusive leadership, and that encourages individuals to be committed to gender equality and women’s rights.

I believe that all women who have been able to develop a successful professional career have a responsibility to our gender to offer support and guidance. The organisational culture that I am committed to promotes and encourages women in such way that they should not have to make any extra effort to demonstrate their value.

From the positions we have, we must contribute to make the road easier for future generations and I believe mentoring constitutes an essential activity within all organisations. For those who are already in senior positions, it is so important to share your experience with those starting their career, to enable an easier road, to reduce gaps, and to eliminate inequalities.

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Foreword: Steven Gartner

Diversity and inclusion initiatives have risen in prominence across the business world in recent years. They stem from core business goals – not abstract social objectives – and are publicly embraced and supported by leadership at the highest levels. Law firms around the world have long recognised the need to invest in diversity and inclusion programmes that further commitment to these ideals, but industry progress has been modest.

At Willkie, we believe everyone benefits from a diverse and inclusive workplace in which all personnel are treated with courtesy, dignity, and respect. The confluence of people of different gender identities, races, cultures, religions, beliefs, and sexual orientations across the firm yields a stronger team that is more adept at creative problem-solving on behalf of our clients. In fact, Willkie’s first female associate, Mary MacDonagh, was hired in 1939, which was extremely rare at the time. We have always known our most valuable asset is our people.

We are committed to continuing to enhance diversity and inclusion on a long-term basis, including in our leadership ranks. Currently, two women and one diverse partner are on our firm’s management committee. Seven women and five diverse partners serve as department or practice group chairs or co-chairs, five women and three diverse partners or counsel lead firm committees, and three diverse partners and two women serve as office managing partners. Of the US-based attorneys elected to the partnership this past year, 45% are women and 36% are diverse. The firm’s head of our Latin America Practice Group, Maria-Leticia Ossa Daza, who is profiled in this issue, has done a tremendous amount to support these efforts by actively supporting and mentoring other women at Willkie and across the industry. She leads our firm’s Latinx Affinity Group and regularly speaks about diversity at industry conferences in Latin America and the US.

As companies around the world have implemented comprehensive diversity programmes, law firms have welcomed the opportunity to partner with clients in these efforts. At Willkie, we regularly collaborate with clients on initiatives to further diversity and inclusion, including educational seminars, conferences and roundtable panels, and pro bono and mentorship programmes. Diversity also plays a major role in the success of our Latin America Practice Group, made up of lawyers from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay. This diversity enriches our practice and client relationships across Latin America, and our firm generally.

On a firm-wide level, embracing diversity and inclusion is critical to our overall success. We recognise that there is still much more to do at Willkie and across the legal industry. Diversity and inclusion will remain core to the values of the firm. We look forward to continuing our work, in conjunction with our colleagues and clients, of cultivating an environment that is diverse and inclusive at all levels.

Steven Gartner Chairman Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

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Breaking Latin America’s glass ceiling

Over recent decades, Latin America has seen significant change in the makeup of its labour market. An increase in women’s representation and participation in the workforce, and organisational and various governments’ strategies are evolving to incorporate practices and initiatives to manage, enhance, and promote the role of women in the workplace. Foreign investment into the region is having a positive impact as demonstrated by the increase in Latin American companies adopting HR policies that go beyond legal requirements. That said, many Latin American countries and corporates still fall well short when it comes to opportunities for women and their economic participation. The gender pay gap remains significant. And despite the existence of legislation prohibiting gender discrimination, it still happens on a daily basis.

Why, in the 21st century, is this the case and how can meaningful change happen? Unfortunately, there is no single, silver-bullet cure for the gender disparity prevalent across the Latin America region. Change comes slowly, through education, by having uncomfortable but necessary conversations, and through the subtle shift of centuries-old biases that have kept one gender subordinate to another.

In a series of exclusive interviews, GC magazine speaks to senior and general counsel from across Latin America (both women and men) about how the more traditional landscape of the region plays a large role in how women are perceived in the workplace, and how they, along with their colleagues and companies, are slowly changing the experience for women lawyers across the region – but also for women in general.

Chauvinist society

For women working in Latin America’s legal industry (both in private practice and in-house), the challenge of getting ahead, of being ‘heard’, and respected, is two-fold. The legal industry is, and has long been, dominated by men, but that is hardly surprising when seen through the lens of a still largely traditional societal view that men work, and women stay at home. Anabell González Nava, legal director, North Latin America division at Arcos Dorados, says that even though organisations are making important diversity and inclusion improvements, ‘the culture of a society plays a key role in the habits and behaviours of men and women, and consequently of companies.’

‘Traditional gender roles are still very strong and create real and persistent inequalities among men and women in the workplace and in general in Latin American society,’ agrees Mexico-based Véronique Ramon Vialar-Déchelette, LatAm regional legal director at Publicis Groupe.

“Traditional gender roles are still very strong and create real and persistent inequalities among men and women in the workplace and in general in Latin American society.”

Valéria Camacho Martins Schmitke, LatAm regional general counsel at Zurich in Brazil, goes further. ‘Women pay a high personal price for equality with men. Some countries more, others less – but all are very chauvinist societies, and men still believe that taking care of children is a woman’s job. They also feel less empowered if their wives make more money than them. They expect women to be home when they arrive, and to prepare dinner. Women can work, but more as a hobby.’

These entrenched views have a serious impact on the industry, and how it is perceived. As Andrea Camargo, director of international legal affairs at Odinsa S.A. states in her profile interview in this publication, ‘It is a paradox that the profession in charge of providing justice is so full of inequalities.’

Despite these challenges, change – although slow – is happening. In interviews, several factors were highlighted as having a direct impact on the region: (i) a new willingness to discuss gender diversity and inclusion; (ii) a concerted effort from leaders to address challenges head-on in meaningful and practical ways, and to lead by example; (iii) the increase in men putting their heads above the parapet to argue that gender diversity benefits everyone, not just women; and (iv) the growth of multinationals, with more advanced diversity policies, establishing subsidiaries in the region.

On gender equality issues, Ana María Delgado, the Colombia-based vice president of corporate affairs at Corona, believes her country (which the World Economic Forum ranked as 40 out of 149 countries in its 2018 Global Gender Gap Report) has been evolving positively and that the participation of women in the workforce, as well as in leadership positions, has increased significantly over time. ‘Although there is still a long way to go, I have seen an increased willingness to openly discuss these types of issues,’ she says.

A recent country survey of Chilean in-house counsel showed that only 25% of general counsel positions were held by women. However, ‘statistics also show an increase in professional women’s careers with far more successful female roles and role models,’ says Guillermo Castillo, chief compliance officer at AFP PlanVital. While women hold only a small percentage of board seats and other influential positions, the pipeline of future leaders is starting to swell.

Zurich’s Schmitke is also seeing progress at a societal level, which will, in turn, have an impact on the Brazilian workforce: ‘I have seen men participating more in family tasks, with some men following their wives to another country because of her career. I believe that with every generation, we get closer to equality.’

Although she believes that Latin America is evolving more slowly than North American and European countries, Vialar-Déchelette says the region is walking the same path. ‘Private and public conversations regarding gender and equality are common, but quite recent,’ she told us. ‘These traditional prejudices need to be properly, widely, and honestly addressed and tackled so that public and corporate leaders understand their stereotypes and are willing to act accordingly to change.’

Tone from the top

The importance of strong leadership in tackling gender equality is a common theme. In her article, ‘How to get more men to take gender balance seriously’, for the Harvard Business Review (November 2019), Avivah Wittenberg-Cox argues that ‘it isn’t enough for the CEO to say gender balance is important once a year in a management conference. Nor even to set draconian and highly publicized targets… Until leaders are convinced that gender balance is a strategic lever for the business and become authentically and articulately convincing to their colleagues about why that is, balance remains a politically correct sideline.’

The 2016/2017 McKinsey report, Reinventing the workplace for greater gender diversity, supports the idea that real change must be led from the top. For women in the workplace to have better opportunities, to train and work in skilled and better-paying jobs, and to work in environments that support work-life balance and reshape social attitudes, organisations must challenge their fundamental and prevailing leadership styles and thoroughly re-evaluate traditional performance models. This is something that is particularly difficult for the legal industry, where the traditional structures and performance measures – such as billable hours as the primary measure of success – are inherently biased towards men.

The report goes on to say that organisations with a strong CEO and senior leadership commitment to gender diversity (i.e. those who place gender diversity as one of their top three strategic priorities) are twice as likely to integrate gender diversity successfully through all levels of their organisation. However, the report also shows that most organisations are falling short in transforming that commitment into a truly inclusive working environment, with many employees citing that they often don’t see words backed up by action, nor do they feel confident calling out gender bias when they see it.

Authenticity and ‘walking the talk’ are, therefore, key. ‘There are lots of good intentions, but not a real, open-minded approach to challenge the existing establishment,’ says Erica Barbagalo, legal, patent, and compliance lead at Bayer in Brazil. ‘The tone has to come from the top. The company needs its leaders engaged and acting as role models to succeed in promoting diversity and inclusion. It is not easy: changing the culture to break biases causes discomfort, and only courageous companies and leaders can bear that.’

Sometimes, it’s small gestures that have the largest impact as Barbagalo explains: ‘At a company event for hundreds of employees, the majority of them men, a guest speaker made a light joke about women. After his speech was over, one male leader got on the stage and explicitly disqualified the statement, making it very clear that this behaviour was not accepted in the company. He apologised for the insensitivity of the speaker. Needless to say, that speaker was banned from future events. Nobody, though, remembers the joke. But everyone remembers, to this day, the leader’s message.’

Diversity is a men’s issue

What came through loud and clear in all our interviews for this publication was the need to redefine gender diversity and balance as not solely the concern of women. For far too long, it has been accepted that fixing sexism is women’s work. But, actually, this is work that everyone must be a part of, because real gender balance has a positive effect for both men and women (see Michael Bruce’s interview in this publication for more on that topic). Wittenberg-Cox’s article states it clearly: ‘Companies whose balancing initiatives involve men are more than three times more effective than those focussing only on women.’

Castillo concurs: ‘Men’s partnership is required in addressing the issues that hinder women, including structural barriers and discriminatory practices that prevent women from participating on boards and receiving equal pay. Male executives can help lead the charge with women in enacting internal regulation that promotes benefits for women and men equally, and repealing policies that discriminate and limit women’s opportunities.’

Vialar-Déchelette believes the support of men is absolutely vital for change to occur: ‘Latin America is traditional regarding gender roles, and women on their own are making slow progress; thus the proactive support of men is necessary as a starting point. These are not just “women’s issues”; they are issues for the whole of society.’

What is key is how companies go about engaging with men on the subject of gender balance and equality to ensure maximum commitment. While this might be difficult for many women to read, Wittenberg-Cox’s advice is, essentially, to present the argument using ‘existing male-dominated hierarchies.’ In short, making the case for diversity based on moral grounds rarely has the desired effect. Instead, frame diversity as a business issue; make gender diversity and balance personal, measurable, and accountable. Position and normalise the issue as a business skill. Make male support the norm, rather than the exception. When the link between gender balance and positive business results is clear and explicit, men are more likely to engage with and support it.

“Position and normalise the issue as a business skill. Make male support the norm, rather than the exception.”

Another key factor is for more men to mentor women, and to be open to recognising their own biases (this applies equally to men and to women). Many of the women we interviewed across this publication spoke of male mentors whose support had a significant impact on their careers. ‘I have been very lucky to have great male mentors through my professional life. They have offered me support in changing career paths, in taking risks, and following my dreams,’ Delgado says. ‘Those decisions have helped shape and define who I am today, and I am very grateful.’

Vialar-Déchelette echoes the importance of male mentors: ‘I was very fortunate to have a modern and supportive chief when I was first employed as a paralegal in a major firm. He repeatedly said that if I wanted power, I just had to take it and not to wait for someone to give it to me. He constantly promoted me over the years, in discrete but effective ways, by teaching the profession and encouraging me to take huge responsibilities without questioning my capabilities as a young lawyer, as a foreigner, or as a woman. In fact, in a male-driven industry and firm, gender has never been a subject between us. He acted with me as if gender didn’t exist. I believe that this kind of mentoring over the years gave me the confidence to drive my career as I have wanted, without fear or self-limitation.’

International influence

There are many reasons attributed to why, in Latin America, there is a growing openness to discuss gender diversity challenges, why more leaders are waking up to the power of a diverse and gender balanced workforce, and why more and more men are beginning to vocally and actively support women’s advancement in the workplace. One of these is, of course, the growth of multinational companies, headquartered overseas, which are now opening subsidiaries across the length and breadth of Latin America.

Many of these multinationals go far beyond local legislative requirements (particularly on the gender pay gap, where legislation in some countries is still slow to come), and are putting in place progressive policies, particularly in regard to flexible working arrangements, maternity and paternity leave, and mentorship programmes. These companies are consistently outperforming their peers, particularly in their ability to attract and retain top talent. The policies are seen as reflecting a commitment to equality and serve as an indicator, to current and future employees, of a more inclusive culture.

Barbagalo says that ‘countries such as the US and some European countries have been discussing equality long before Latin American countries, and by establishing their subsidiaries in the region, these multinationals are able to promote their culture and also set examples – some have women CEOs or other high-ranking women leaders. There are, of course, local companies with high levels of awareness and actions towards gender equality and diversity, but they are the exception rather than the rule.’

And while, currently, it may seem that Latin America-domiciled companies are not as advanced as their overseas competitors when it comes to diversity, progress is being made. Many of the lawyers interviewed can point to success stories thanks to increased awareness and understanding of gender balance.

‘In many of the countries in which we operate, we have seen an increase in women in leadership positions,’ explains Nava from Arcos Dorados’ headquarters in Uruguay). ‘We have three women market directors in Martinique, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. We also have a woman sitting on our board, who is the vice president responsible for government relations.’

While these steps may seem small, they are significant, and show that the tide is certainly turning.

Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, once said: ‘No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half its citizens.’ And what is abundantly clear throughout this publication is that Latin America is not short on talented, strong, passionate, and determined women lawyers who have begun to pave the way for other women to follow. Despite the still patriarchal and entrenched views of women’s place in the world, these women are breaking glass ceilings. They have gone beyond merely boosting the diversity statistics of their organisations to prove that the acceptance and inclusion of women in the workforce – at all levels – has a significant positive impact, both on business and society.

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Denise Guillen Lara

Roman jurist Dompia Ulpianus defined justice as ‘the continuous and perpetual willingness to give each one his own’. This concept of justice has always resonated in my heart; I have always seen justice as the solution to avoid conflict in a large community. This belief was especially relevant to me when I was growing up, given that I was part of a large family consisting of three brothers, one sister, and of course my two parents. For me to survive in this large community, justice had to be implemented amongst our group so that each of us received what it was of our own! I believe it is very important to acknowledge that everyone has a place in their community; my place was as the ‘confrontational member’, always trying to assert and achieve justice. It is no wonder, then, that I decided to study law! I paved the pathway of my profession out of my passion.

Like many other lawyers, I have been both in-house and outside counsel. I started my career working in a big law firm, which allowed me to learn the fundamental skills that have helped me along my career: thorough thinking; in-depth analysis; problem solving; network building; technology tools usage; courage to take new opportunities; understanding of and exposure to international markets; and business ethics. I was also lucky to learn from several role models who showed me how important it is to ‘walk the talk’.

I am an extrovert by nature, and this was particularly useful in my private practice career. It allowed me to confidently interact with senior partners, and to learn from them and their experiences; I emulated what they did to achieve a similar result. After several years working in private practice I took my first in-house role – as general counsel of General Electric (GE). Key to my decision to move was the opportunity to acquire new skills and to learn from new role models. In fact, a big motivator for me when I consider taking on new roles is the leader who I will report into. I look for someone who will support and encourage my constant professional and personal development. Also hugely important to me is that my employer fosters a culture of inclusion and supports the development of female talent. Specifically, I look for programmes and policies that allow women to have a work-life balance, for example remote working and maternity leave.

I have been extremely lucky not to have experienced gender-based barriers during my career. I have never suffered harassment; my bosses have been my biggest sponsors (I have been part of several mentoring programmes); and I have a good work-life balance. I was even once hired during my last month of pregnancy. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all female talent in Mexico. As demonstrated by a 2018 study developed by AbogadasMX jointly with CIMAD and Marea Consulting, there are both internal (personal and unconscious bias) and external barriers (organisational structures) that women face in progressing both in private practice and in-house roles, and that organisations and law firms must do better to create equal opportunities for women. That should start with those who are in leadership positions.

Ultimately, all organisations should be a reflection of the people working for them, and it is the responsibility of leaders to build a culture where the success of the company is intrinsically linked to its inclusion of female talent and to creating equal opportunities for all talent. Implementing programmes and policies that allow for this to happen are vital in eliminating both the internal and external gender-based barriers. When I think of my own experiences I would say that for women in the legal profession, companies (i.e. in-house) are doing a better job than law firms. While law firms most commonly implement special considerations for women at a senior level, in-house counsel seem to have the same opportunities at every level.

One final observation, though, is that neither law firms nor companies tend to have formal mentoring programmes or networking opportunities. The biggest barrier for women in Mexico, I believe, is the perpetuation of ‘machismo’ culture, something that even women seem to believe in and uphold. Approximately 95% of the women lawyers who participated in the AbogadasMX study still believe that they should be the ones taking care of the children and the house. Women lawyers who become mothers often decide not to continue working after having children, or if they do decide to continue, they decrease substantially the amount of hours they work and do not take on further responsibilities. This strong internal bias was shown to be almost equal in private and in-house practice; there was a slight trend towards private practice, mostly due to the need to demonstrate long hours worked because of the hourly billing structure.

“It is the responsibility of every woman in a leadership position to help other women reach their full potential.”

One of the biggest challenges I faced when I was hired to hold the position of LatAm regional counsel was the constant travel. I needed to make sure that my two daughters were taken care of, that they were safe, happy, and attending school. I was able to overcome the obstacles by building a support network (my sister, the nanny, school parents) to help me with the day-to-day duties. All of them have been amazingly empathic and have given me support when I needed it. I have also been able to work remotely, which allows me to compensate for the time that I travel by staying at home with my girls while I work. It’s also really important for me to communicate to my girls that I have to travel as part of my job, but that when I do they will always be well taken care of.

In my current role at Nielsen I help to promote diversity in many ways. Alongside my role as legal director, I am also head of the compliance and integrity programme. It is my job to make sure that no one is discriminated against in any way. I manage all harassment cases and impose penalties, and I make sure that all employees are treated equally and fairly. I am part of an Employee Resource Group (ERG) called WIN (Women in Nielsen), and participate in different activities to help more women achieve leadership positions. I have been invited to share my experiences with other women globally to inspire them, and am currently participating in Nielsen’s global mentoring programme, acting as a mentor for a female talent based in the US. It has been a real thrill to be able to influence the personal and professional development of another woman.

External to my role with Nielsen, I am a board member of AbogadasMX, an association dedicated to helping women lawyers achieve leadership positions. I am also part of the board of INCAM, the longest-running bar association in Mexico striving for gender equality. I am convinced that it is the responsibility of every woman in a leadership position to help other women reach their full potential and progress in their careers. We need to ‘send the elevator down’ to new talent, and we need to see diversity and inclusion of female talent as a competitive advantage.

We are lucky at Nielsen that our CEO is also our chief diversity officer, because he believes that diversity and inclusion are inextricably linked to the overall success of the business: to drive systemic change, we look for diversity in people and thought, and aim to be consistent with our operating principle to engage, include, and decide. We have identified the need for accountability; by this we mean that every Nielsen associate owns diversity and inclusion efforts, and their involvement is linked to performance processes. This helps to ensure that every one of our associates is able to reach their full potential. The entire leadership team now serves as sponsors for ERGs; they are personally accountable for how they are driving diversity and inclusion and Nielsen expects that all people managers become active participants either in ERGs or as mentors. We are also working to achieve gender equality in top leadership positions.

It is important to me to build a diverse team. I lead by example, because I have learned from the example of the leaders that I have reported to. I am also in favour of hiring outside counsel that have diverse teams, because outside counsel should be a reflection of the in-house culture of diversity and inclusion. I need to lead by example in hiring providers that have diverse talent in leadership positions.

I am 100% in favour of gender quotas, but I also believe that positions should be occupied by the best talent. There are always excuses that quotas limit to hire/promote the best talent, but in my point of view this is only an historical excuse not to move forward with quotas and achieve gender parity.

If I could give advice to myself at the start of my career I would say ‘count your blessings every day and appreciate what you have achieved. However, don’t ever think that you’re at the finish line. There are always new opportunities for achieving new goals and it is more important to enjoy the process of achieving the goals than achieving the goal itself. Constant improvement of yourself will produce happiness, pride, joy, and self-accomplishment.’ n

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María Gabriela Alvarez de la Fuente

I began my career as a legal assistant at court while I was still studying law at Buenos Aires University. After graduating law school, I spent three years in private practice before moving to BASF Argentina S.A. as an in-house corporate lawyer. In 2003, I had seen a job advertised at BASF and I found it really interesting. While I had really enjoyed my experience working in private practice, I wanted to feel part of a company. I applied for the role, and thankfully was successful! The switch from private practice to an in-house role was not a difficult one for me, and I found that I really enjoyed working with people from across the different departments, getting to know what the business was about, and contributing to its success. Since then, my experience has been solely as an in-house lawyer. I spent 12 years at BASF, during which time I received several promotions, and then followed that with a shorter stint at adidas as their director of legal and compliance (Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay). I then joined Colgate-Palmolive in May 2016 as its regional legal director, Southern Cone. Colgate-Palmolive, the US worldwide consumer products company, focuses on the production and distribution of household, healthcare, and personal care products and operates in Argentina through its subsidiary Colgate-Palmolive Argentina.

In my current role, I have simplified several processes within the legal department, and have also worked hard to bring the legal team closer to the rest of the company – and the rest of the company closer to the legal team. I encourage colleagues from other departments to feel free to contact our legal team early, believing they will receive good advice from us, not just as lawyers, but as business partners. I believe that my attitude of openness and transparency has definitely proved successful. In the past three years, I have built up a rich portfolio by supporting projects that involved the launch of new products and technologies, facing challenges from competitors regarding product claims, as well as handling various business restructuring and litigation cases that are still ongoing. At the heart of everything I do, I aim to show that lawyers are not just a cost centre, but are creating value for the businesses in which they operate. I lead my team by example, and concentrate on providing commercially astute and solution-focused advice that enables the business to be successful in the marketplace while also protecting its business model.

While I have managed to build a strong reputation at Colgate-Palmolive for being committed to my vision, I believe I am also known for having a strong focus on people and being passionate about developing a diverse legal team to deliver results.

At Colgate-Palmolive, we are a small team of three people – all women. However, I have always managed very diverse teams during my career in private practice, and in-house at BASF and adidas. Diversity for me, though, is not only about gender; it is about embracing all the different ways of thinking. When I worked for BASF and adidas, I had teams that were very diverse: different ages, sexes, social backgrounds, and points of view. The more diverse a team is, the more creative it can be.

“Diversity for me is not only about gender; it is about embracing all the different ways of thinking.”

As well as being responsible for building my own diverse legal teams, I also promote gender equality across the business. I feel as a leader I have the responsibility to promote diversity. Within Colgate-Palmolive, I am the internal sponsor of the Colgate Women Network in Southern Cone territories, which is the region under my scope (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay). The Colgate Women Network is a global initiative that fosters an inclusive and diverse environment, and different activities are carried on in every country around the world. But the initiative has local implementation too. In Southern Cone, we organise activities and lectures and try to develop policies in order to help women grow in their careers with Colgate. For example, we organise inspiring breakfasts with women leaders in the region. These are often in an interview format, so that attendees can get to understand their experiences, the obstacles those women had to deal with while they forged their careers, and how they have managed their work-life-family balance. In 2019, we organised lectures on topics such as leadership, personal branding, and personal finance.

I am also committed to promoting gender equality outside my work environment, and I am currently involved with organisations such as IDEA to help promote diversity and inclusion in law firms and companies. While there is certainly a long way to go before there is gender equality in the legal industry, it is not the only industry in which it is more difficult to be listened to and to get ahead if you are a woman. I used to have that feeling – of not being listened to – especially when I was younger. But, the world has changed a lot… and it is still changing. Fortunately, in my current job, I don’t experience this anymore, and I’ve certainly been able to move ahead with my career. What I have observed, though, is that in private practice, the pace of change is much slower: the number of female partners is still much smaller than the number of male partners.

Quotas, of course, could go a long way towards solving the gender imbalance in the legal industry, but I do have mixed thoughts about them. In some cases, I believe quotas could be a good way to help those women who could not have got to a certain place without that kind of help; and I believe they can be helpful, especially in industries in which there is still a lot of work to be done with gender equality. However, using quotas to simply make up the numbers won’t work – for true equity and equality to take hold, there has to be a cultural shift and a change of mindset about women’s place in the workforce.

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Michael Bruce

GC: How did you become involved with representing Procter & Gamble’s diversity and inclusion initiatives?

Earlier this year, I was invited to an external training session by MARC (Men Advocating for Real Change). It was very eye-opening for me because, as a man you might say ‘Sure, I’m all in favour of D&I and equality’, but what are you really doing? Is it just the idea you like, or are you actually doing something real to achieve equity and equality?

At this training, a lot of very interesting things were said – issues that men don’t even have to think about in their day-to-day lives, but that are commonplace for women. And that’s mostly what I took out of it and what helped me to try to better understand my peers, the women close to me, specifically on the employment side of the issue. The training happened during the week of International Women’s Day, and at the end of that week P&G was participating on a full-day panel with 13 or 14 other multinational companies here in Costa Rica. The event was organised by the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency, so it was a big event with close to 600 people attending. One of the IT managers that was participating in the MARC training and was one of the organisers of the Women’s Day event (as you can imagine, IT is way, way underrepresented on gender), reached out to me and said, ‘We have a slot, about ten minutes. Do you think you can prepare something that you can present?’ And I said, ‘Sure. Count me in.’ And that was my first presentation on the topic.

I opened my presentation by saying ‘“He is hormonal.” “He is so intense.” “He got the promotion because the company needed to balance the bands.” “Next time we cannot afford to hire a man for that role.” Those are some of the comments women face every day and men do not.’ I have been using that opening statement ever since. It grabs people’s attention. But it’s also very true. You never hear someone say ‘next time we cannot hire a man for that job. He just couldn’t cut it’. But you hear it about women every single day. And it’s extremely unfair, because competence has nothing to do with gender. Hypothetically I could be a terrible lawyer, way over my head with my role, and people won’t say ‘Oh, it’s because he’s a man’. They’ll say ‘Yes, he was a terrible lawyer; we completely mismanaged the hiring process,’ but my gender is never the issue.

So, that’s how it started and from there I have been invited to give talks to other companies on gender equity issues.

GC: You mentioned that you ‘fell into’ representing P&G on D&I issues, but does the company have a central function that deals with D&I?

Yes, we have what we call ‘pillars’, and D&I is one of them. It looks at many different challenges, one of which is women’s initiatives. Another which was started this year is a neurodiversity project, where we hired six individuals within the autism spectrum. We also have GABLE (Gay, Ally, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Transgender Employees), our LGBTQ network. I also do a little work with GABLE. With the women’s initiatives, as I said, it was just something I fell into, and it has been like putting on a glove. It fits me perfectly. It’s something I believe in, it’s something I feel is important, because I hear so many comments that are not okay.

“I go beyond diversity and inclusion, and I say we need to talk about equity and integration.”

After the first time I went to speak, someone told me that the event was featured in the news. And I thought ‘Oh, good!’ I went to the news programme’s Facebook page, and I found the posting, and I made the worst mistake anyone can make: I read the comments. And there was one that specifically stuck out to me. It was roughly ‘Oh, this is useless, everyone knows women go to social sciences, and men go into engineering, blah, blah, blah’. To me, this was so outrageous, thinking that this might be a parent, a brother – if there’s a young woman starting university wanting to go into science, engineering, maths, technology, and that’s the support they’re getting at home? That was one of the drivers for me to continue finding opportunities to discuss this issue, to show people that if you want to be a pre-school teacher, lawyer, psychologist, engineer – go for it. For me, I’ve never been told ‘you can’t do this; this will never be available to you’. For women, that is something they hear EVERY DAY. And I say that not just because I’m the father of a girl. I could have no children or be the father of ten boys. It would be the same. This is important and we need to change.

GC: How important is it to you that men act as male champions, and also as role models for other men (for example, by taking up opportunities for flexible working)?

It is so important, absolutely. For example, I do flex hours. When P&G started flexible work arrangements here (which was fifteen years ago), this was driven by six or so women who came forward and said ‘Listen, it is difficult for us to keep the same hours; are there any possibilities to work flexibly? We want to continue improving in the company, we still want to work, but we need flexibility’. The company looked into it, and that was it. Those first women were able to take flexible working, and the policy was definitely targeted towards mothers coming back from maternity, or those with young children. But by the following year, the first man had requested flexible working arrangements. And now, today, approximately 95% of the company is using at least one of the flexibility options we have: working from home, not working full-time, etc.

I use it, and I need it. I am divorced, and when I was going through that, it was really difficult for me. My manager at the time said ‘Listen, on Wednesdays, why don’t you leave early, go and pick up your kids from school and spend the afternoon with them, and when you’re able to at night, log back on and check in.’ And I have done that for the last five years.

Often, these working arrangements start because there’s been a reason for women to seek them out, but the beneficiaries are also men. And I think that as leaders we need to show other men that it is okay to leave early, to go to your kid’s soccer game, band presentation, teacher meeting – whatever it may be. As a man, you can do it. The more gear-shifting there is, the more men in senior positions do it, the more we have role models.

It’s just like we need to role model D&I. I go beyond diversity and inclusion, and I say we need to talk about equity and integration. Because that’s what we really need. We need to remove any obstacles that don’t allow someone to achieve equity. We need for everyone to be able to achieve the same, no matter who they are and where they come from.

GC: Do you feel or have you seen that the underlying culture across Latin America, which is quite patriarchal, stymies the take up of those policies?

Yes, definitely. I believe multinational companies have a responsibility to bring best practices to a country where they will eventually become the norm. This year, Costa Rica finally passed a law for flexible working. And why? Because there are so many more multinational companies now, and for them, it’s every day practice. The commerce chamber and associations were also pushing for it. It got enough traction that a law was passed.

One area that I see as low-hanging fruit for companies is paternity leave. You want to get good press for your company? Do paternity leave. It’s so easy. In Costa Rica, by law, mothers have the month before and three months after birth. But offering some type of paternal leave is an equaliser. Because if the conversation shifts from ‘Oh, this woman might one day leave to go on maternity leave’ to ‘Oh, anyone could one day take parental leave’ then it’s a great equaliser. We do it here at P&G, and we are working towards granting more time to fathers so that they can enjoy more time with their children and can help around the house. The president of Costa Rica was pushing for paternity leave and a group within government is working on it. Definitely some organisations and associations are against it, because the money comes from social security. I am completely in favour of it. And hopefully – while we won’t get the full three months – we might get to one month. It’s one of the things I like to talk about.

I talk about gender equity and why it’s important for companies and why we need a diverse workforce, but we also need to talk about the benefits for men of gender equity and more women being in the workforce and the impact is has on society and commerce – it generates more money for the economy. It helps men to move away from these patriarchal strictures: where men need to be the breadwinners, where you have to earn more than your wife or partner. There is a statistic that says women are more likely to try to commit suicide, but men are on average more likely to succeed – they use more brutal means to achieve it. Those suicides – where do they stem from? So often they come from economic problems. Men who lose jobs, men who are in debt – the more we have diverse workforces, the more we have women in work, the more that economic burden is taken away. So, yes, it is a benefit for women but it is also a benefit for men. It’s a benefit for the company. The numbers back up the importance of diversity.

“In our own team, we have a very good gender balance, and we are lucky that this has grown very organically.”

GC: What challenges do you feel the legal industry has in tackling these issues? What does P&G do to tackle gender imbalance?

In the legal profession, we are still way behind. Most law firms, while they may have close to 50/50 representation when it comes to total attorneys, when you get to partner level, it dips substantially. And that’s where we need to call ourselves to attention on it: what are we doing and why? Why are women not achieving partner level in Latin America? That said, it is not just a challenge in Latin America. It is a global challenge.

In our own team, we have a very good gender balance, and we are lucky that this has grown very organically. There haven’t been any team changes in several years. Our chief legal officer is a woman. We had a global meeting in Cincinnati, and these are some of the things we discussed. To me it’s really important how she role models and the things she does. Before Vanessa, the role was filled by a man. The decision wasn’t a conscious ‘oh, it was a man before, now it must be a woman’. It was ‘who is the best person for this role?’ and that person was Vanessa. But I don’t think we will see those big issues here at the company – there might be individual biases – but the company pushes enough what its intent is on the social issues and even more now where the consumer is changing. Consumers, like millennials and Generation Z, want the company to stand for something, not just how much money it can make the shareholders. They want to know what your social issues are, and we have been able to do that through our advertising campaigns.

Our consumer base is predominantly women, and so we really need to practice what we preach. And I think we have three specific campaigns I like to speak about: #LikeAGirl, Share the Load, and We Believe: The Best a Man Can Be. Share the Load started in India and it’s about how, in a very patriarchal way, we assign jobs at the house for women and you go to work and do a full day’s work and then you come home and you have a full day’s work ahead of you again with household chores. And it’s fascinating to see what parents see in how they are raising their kids, or how dads are raising their daughters and how they wished they would have role-modelled differently. And then in 2019 we had our Gillette campaign, where we got clobbered on social media, because apparently there’s nothing more fragile than the male ego. And I don’t get it. I guess the other two campaigns were very inspiring and this was very ‘in your face’, deliberately. But it delivers a message and in the end the numbers backed up that we were right. It was the right call to go that way.

GC: From the legal industry perspective, when you’re thinking about panel law firms and who you give work to, do you look at diversity statistics? Does it influence your decision?

The law firms that I specifically use right now were in place before I started at P&G. Unfortunately, that’s not something I can say we reviewed or I reviewed at the time. But at least one of the firms has a very diverse and very close to 50/50 representation in partners. The other one does not. It’s a very much more traditional Costa Rican set up. But now that I’m more into the importance of this, in everything I try to look at where it is: what does the firm stand for, what does the company stand for, and I look at it in other firms here in Costa Rica. I like to look at whether firms are ranking for diversity.

I think we’re on the right track; we’re starting to talk more about the importance of diversity. It’s a long-term commitment to change, and sometimes you have to start small. It’s like in your personal life, you can’t just say, from now on I’m going to wake up at 5am every day and run 10km, and get to the office early, and eat vegan, and at night volunteer with charities. Choose one initiative, internalise it, commit to it, and then move on to others when you’re ready. Companies can’t go from zero to 100 in a few seconds – it has to be gradual and we have to work on it, work on the culture. Leaders have to role model and show that what they are saying is definitely what the company stands for. Eventually we will reach our goal.

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Brenda Puig and Carmen Roman

GC: Please tell us a little about your pathway into law. What made you move from private practice to in-house roles?

Brenda Puig (BP): I spent my first years as a lawyer in a law firm. It was a large and prestigious law firm in Buenos Aires. I worked long hours and I really loved my job. After some years working for this law firm, I got married and became a mother, and balancing my career with my personal life became a challenge. At that time, at least in Argentina, there was not much debate about these issues. Even though both the law firm and I made great efforts to make it work – I actually became the first part-time attorney – after my second son I felt the need to make a change.

I joined Walmart 14 years ago. I found in the corporate world – and especially Walmart – a much more favourable environment for my personal needs. I also found a completely new way of being a lawyer. The in-house world is so different from private practice, and I just love it. I have been very lucky to experience both sides of the profession, and have learnt a lot from both. I believe this combination has made me a better lawyer.

Carmen Roman (CR): Although I started my professional career in a law firm, what made me move to an in-house role was the opportunity to know about the corporate world, to understand its dynamics, its strategic role, its contribution to different stakeholders, and at the same time interact with different professionals in the same ecosystem. I feel that in the in-house role I have been able to maximise my abilities, improve my strategic thinking, and achieve a work-life balance.

GC: What do you believe are the biggest barriers to women progressing in the legal industry? Are the challenges similar across private practice and in-house, or have you seen differences?

BP: There are many different barriers, which I believe are common to so many other professions, not just the legal profession. Work-life balance is an issue for many women, and even more challenging for mothers of young children. Lack of adequate networking opportunities and visibility is another factor; men tend to have better opportunities for this. The fact that there is a much higher percentage of men in leadership positions plays a role as well – there are fewer women role models for emerging talent. In my personal experience, even though law firms have evolved over the past years, I would say that on average the in-house world is more advanced in designing strategies for solving the gap than law firms.

CR: Yes, I agree. Although we have seen some progress in law firms, I believe that there is more flexibility and career development in the in-house world. There are still large barriers for women in private practice. Even though we see the number of women lawyers growing in private practice, they don’t have equal access to senior positions. The working environment and the long office hours in most law firms are still more suitable to male lawyers compared to their female counterparts. The lack of work-life balance is one of the major obstacles that female (and male) lawyers face. A majority of law firms are reticent to innovate or change with the times, meaning in general that the legal profession lags behind other industries in terms of senior women reaching the top. Law firms should adopt different, realistic working options for parents and actively remote working or a flexible-hours system.

GC: What challenges have you specifically faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?

BP: I have faced many challenges over the years! If I were to find a common ingredient in how I overcame them, I would say that attitude is the key. Whatever challenge you face, having a positive mindset and self-confidence is essential. Believe in yourself and try to find what you can learn from each situation. Also, team-work. No single person on this planet knows everything: we need to rely on our teams, peers, partners, mentors, family and friends. Working collaboratively is a great virtuous circle – help whenever you can, and you will be helped whenever you need.

“Whatever challenge you face, having a positive mindset and self-confidence is essential.”

CR: I am the opposite in that I have never experienced an obstacle that was solely the result of being a woman. I have often been the only woman in the room and almost always the only woman at executive level, but I have never viewed that as an obstacle, because of my attitude. I think the biggest challenge in my career is maintaining a good work-life balance. Progressing in your career while having time for family, friends and hobbies is a constant struggle.

I have always expressed to my different bosses how important family is to me. I request certain benefits as non-tradable. For example, to be able to do school pick-up and drop-off with my children once or twice a week. I make sure this never interferes with my results, and it also has the effect of making my commitment to the company stronger.

GC: Walmart has a strong commitment to empowering women (working with women-owned businesses in its supply chain; the establishment of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum). What success have you seen with these initiatives? What metrics are used to measure their success?

BP: We are very much focused on developing our female talent internally and supporting women externally. We truly believe in the power of diversity and inclusion and we put a lot of work and effort into this. We have consistently been working on initiatives for the past ten years. The Global Women Leadership Council was first appointed in 2008 at our US-based headquarters and is an advisory council formed by female business leaders, reporting to our global CEO. This was replicated in each market and we work both locally and globally. I have been part of this council since it was first formed in Argentina in 2009, and I currently serve as its chair. The council is not only focused on the legal department but on the whole company. We have several lines of work and KPIs. I believe that seeing more women in leadership positions as well as in our talent base is the best indicator.

We do awareness activities with men and women: specific training targeted to specific needs of specific groups; mentoring; policies that assure equal representation in recruiting and development; and policies for enabling work-life balance. And we also have an active voice externally. We believe that being such a large company comes with a responsibility because we can inspire change in other companies. We share our best practices and encourage others to have the courage to give it a try. Companies must play their role in improving the work environment and therefore our society.

Our initiatives are both global and local. We have a global framework and there is a lot of market freedom within that framework. We do have company-wide goals and objectives, but challenges around how to tackle those goals and objectives might vary from market to market – the fact is that cultures and realities are different across the region. Each market needs to find the solutions that best fit their specific needs in order to make it locally relevant. And each market can also benefit from benchmarking with other Walmart markets. We like to call it ‘powered by Walmart’.

CR: Yes, that’s right. At Walmart, we know that our people and culture help to make Walmart successful and that different perspectives lead to innovative solutions for our business. Developing inclusive leaders is the key to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. To develop inclusive leadership at Walmart, the executive team has inclusive leadership expectations as part of their annual performance evaluation, and this means (i) participate in at least one approved inclusive leadership education offering such as unconscious bias training, LGBTQ+ training, or sexual harassment awareness training, among others, and (ii) actively mentor two associates, host a mentoring circle, or participate as a mentor in a programme such as our Lean In Mentoring Circles.

In terms of gender, we are focused in developing female talent under the Global Women Leadership Council that Brenda mentioned. We also have a local Diversity and Inclusion Council in Chile; I’ve been a member since 2009 and I’m also currently its president. We are constantly measuring the female participation at leadership level and the programme effectiveness. In addition, I was also part of the International Diversity and Inclusion Council for two years.

Our recent statistics show that 57% of our 51,000 employees are women and 25% of our frontline positions are held by them. At Walmart, we believe that men and women should have the same opportunities, and we ensure internal wage equity with a compensation policy that does not discriminate with respect to gender. We have a range of programmes that promote the development of female leadership within the company:

  • Empowering: Development acceleration programme for women executives with high potential, helping them prepare for the challenges of executive positions in the company.
  • Women in Retail: Development of leaders for the retail of the future through training, networking, and empowerment.
  • Wired Chile: Development, empowerment, and promotion of female talent at Walmart Chile Real Estate through mentoring, conversation sessions, and workshops.
  • More Digital Women: Courses on web development and digital marketing, to contribute to women’s development and empowerment through digital training and employability.

We also have several support programmes for women outside Walmart, because our ethos is about making improvements not just for the women who work for us, but for the communities we serve as well. Some of those programmes include:

  • Women for Chile, developed with the support of ONG ‘Mujeres Empresarias’ (Women Entrepreneurs). Women for Chile seeks to strengthen women-led enterprises through personalised training, boards, and mentoring, with the possibility that some of the selected enterprises will become Walmart Chile suppliers.
  • Solidarity Spaces for women entrepreneurs. These are spaces located in our Leader and Leader Express locations throughout the country. This initiative is developed in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity. The women entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to sell and publicise their products in different parts of the country.

GC: Do you think the growth of international companies expanding into Latin America is having a positive effect on LatAm domiciled companies and their D&I initiatives?

BP: Yes, absolutely. We live in a global world today – everybody and everything is connected. Local markets benefit from the influence of international companies that bring best practices. And, likewise, global companies benefit from the local wisdom and practices that can be taken to other geographies. That is the beauty of this synergy.

CR: Definitely. Multinational companies have had more time to develop their best practices, and that is having a positive influence on local markets. In addition, because they are willing to share these good practices with other companies, we are starting to see major cultural changes at the country level.

GC: In what ways do you work with your panel firms to improve representation of women in the legal industry?

BP: This is, again, just using our influence. We look favourably on firms that foster diversity and inclusion, and we give them priority. There are more structured ways and there are other informal ways, such as mentoring other women working for law firms.

CR: We also have ‘Walmart’s Outside Counsel Guidelines’, which establish the expectations the company has of its outside counsel. We expect law firms to stress excellence, integrity, and provide value in resolving legal problems, while also honouring the company’s culture and principles. One of those expectations is to demonstrate commitment to diversity, respect flexible work schedules, promote work-life balance, and to have women as senior partners. We take time to talk about it, and recognise the law firms that advance this cause. Ultimately, we give preference to law firms that foster diversity and inclusion.

GC: You have both been commended for being active promoters of female empowerment and leadership in the workplace. Can you give any specific examples where you have helped other women to reach their full potential and progress in their careers?

BP: I believe that the first thing is to walk the talk. When you reach a leadership position, you need to be aware that people are looking at you. In a large organisation, the few women who reach those positions must be good role models. It is not enough to talk about work-life balance or to talk about supporting and empowering women; you need to live it every day and actively show it. If any young talented woman with the ambition of growing within the organisation looks up and sees that the few women who made it have a miserable life, they will not feel inspired to get there. And, of course, mentoring and sharing one’s experiences is very powerful.

CR: I am counsellor of the Chilean NGO Comunidad Mujer (Women’s Community), and for 12 years, I have been mentor of professional women who seek support and guidance in their career development. This activity has given me much satisfaction, and is also something from which I have benefitted greatly.

“If any talented woman with the ambition of growing within the organisation looks up and sees that the few women who made it have a miserable life, they will not feel inspired to get there.”

Ten years ago, I was the first woman to become part of Walmart Chile’s executive team. I believed I opened the door to other female executives. Today we are four women from ten executives.

I have also supported the career development and promotion of a female lawyer from my Chilean team who is now general counsel in Costa Rica and Central America. I’m so proud of her growth.

GC: How do you go about building a diverse team and leading by example?

BP: Of course, recruiting is key, but also important is the way we form teams for specific projects, the way we manage our team members’ requests, the way we act in every day decisions. For example, a team member who has a sick child will feel more confident in being absent if they see there is an understanding environment for family needs. And the way this is shown is by actions, not words: they need to see that such absence is accepted, that their supervisor shows interest in the child’s health, and that the supervisor also takes leave for family if needed.

“Building a diverse team and leading by example has to be something we constantly have in our minds.”

CR: I consciously aim to recruit different types of talent. I listen, and try to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of each of the team members by having deep one-on-one conversations with them, identifying their biases, and helping to mitigate discriminations.

I am a promoter of career development for men and women, and I’m particularly vocal in promoting both maternal and paternal responsibilities: for example, I always encourage my male lawyers to take on childcare responsibilities during the week (e.g. dropping children to school, or picking them up, etc).

In 2014, we launched a special diversity and inclusion programme, developed with the support of Walmart Legal International, where we assisted law school students (selected by gender, ethnic background, and socioeconomic vulnerability) during their third year. We helped them obtain tools useful for their future professional activities such as English language, mentoring (provided by us or our external law firm partners), and advance networking. This has been a very successful programme.

GC: There is quite a divide between those who believe in quotas to address gender imbalance in the workplace, and those who don’t. Do you have any specific thoughts on that?

BP: I am personally not a fan of quotas, and think they may be very harmful. If you force somebody who is not ready into a leadership position, the probability of failure is high. That failure will not only damage that person and may damage their career, but it also sends the wrong message to the organisation. It can be seen as a counter-example and even limit future promotions. What we need to foster is more talented women in leadership positions, although of course this is not just about gender – it is about talent, and generating the conditions for both talented men and women to reach their full potential. Having said that, sometimes an organisation might need to force things a bit to make the wheel start moving. If that is the case, it has to be done very carefully. In my organisation we do not have quotas, but we have mechanisms in place that seek to ensure that opportunities are equal. Let’s say there is leadership training with open positions for a limited amount of people and that a certain business area only presents male candidates; we would challenge that leader to re-visit the list, to look harder and see if there are any women in whom they see potential and wish to invest. The answer might still be no and that is ok; remember, we look for talent, not just gender.

CR: For me, over time, I have become convinced that quotas are necessary to level the playing field. Sometimes, you have to push for things to happen and quotas are certainly one way of achieving more equal representation of men and women. There are plenty of examples of women who are better qualified for senior roles and have more experience, but aren’t being promoted to top positions because of their gender. I think appointing women to senior positions would create greater confidence among other women.

However, the quotas must be essentially transitory to cause the change; later, when the reality has shifted and equality has been achieved, then quotas will no longer be necessary.

GC: If you could give advice to yourself at the start of your career, what would it be?

BP: I would say to enjoy the ride and each experience. I am more experienced and seasoned now; when I was younger, I was tougher on myself. Now I see my life and career from a different perspective. I am very grateful and feel blessed for the life I have and for the opportunities I have been given; and that includes my career. Sometimes we forget to take the time to stop and appreciate what we have; or we fail in finding the time to support others, which I personally find so rewarding.

CR: My advice would be:

  • Feel passion for your work;
  • Your mistakes are learnings and without them, there is no growth;
  • Do not rest until you find the workplace where you feel comfortable and valued and where you can develop your strengths;
  • Be curious about the opportunities that come your way;
  • Take care to always integrate new knowledge and experiences;
  • Find strength in working collaboratively.
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Andrea Camargo

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to have a job that would allow me to help others, and, like most law students, I wanted to be part of the dream of ‘justice’. When I graduated from high school, I immediately enrolled in one of the top law schools in Colombia, and ever since, I have not stopped learning. I declare myself an eternal student! I am convinced that one should never stop learning, because law and life are in permanent transformation. You have to be ready to reinvent yourself every day.

After law school and at the same time that I was working, I decided to pursue postgraduate studies with various universities in Colombia. I first studied commercial and corporate law, then financial law, and finally international law. I also wanted to expand my horizons, and so I knew I had to leave my country and travel around the world. I am convinced that this is the only way to understand other cultures and ways of thinking. First I went to France to study international law before moving to Berkeley in the United States to study international trade and commerce. From there, I was awarded a scholarship to study in Spain, where I did a master’s degree in corporate law and an international master of business administration at IE Business School, one of the top five ranked schools that year. I wanted to get an MBA from one of the best-ranked universities because I wanted to fight the stereotype that women and lawyers are ‘not good with numbers’. I was tired of the prejudices of my colleagues who graduated in engineering or financial areas. Also, I wanted to give them better advice by speaking their ‘own language’.

I started my professional career in private practice, before leaving to work for several years in financial institutions both in Colombia and in Europe. Those positions then led me to my current role, as legal director of an infrastructure company in Colombia (Odinsa S.A.). I decided to take an in-house role rather than to continue with private practice for many reasons.

First, I believe that working as an in-house lawyer allows me to have a better and more complete knowledge of the business. I enjoy working more closely with the financial and commercial areas, and being surrounded by people of different professional and cultural backgrounds. I am convinced that this kind of diversity is much easier to find in a company than in legal private practice. I also believe that working as an in-house lawyer makes me a more rounded lawyer and human being, since it allows me to hear and discuss different points of view that do not always coincide with my owns views. One of the other reasons I prefer working in an in-house role is that it allows me to have a better balance between my personal life as a mother of two, and my professional life. This is due to the fact that companies are more prone to provide flexible working than law firms.

Of course, all professions are affected by gender inequalities, but I do believe the legal industry is still one of the more male-dominated industries, probably because of its patriarchal tradition. Even though there is a larger proportion of women law students, after they graduate men are offered better job opportunities than those women. It is a paradox that the profession that should be in charge of providing justice is so full of inequalities. The patriarchal configuration and structure of the legal industry moves law away from its social function and its task of contributing to equality.

Unfortunately, this means there are still many barriers for women in law. During my career I have seen several examples of this:

“We need to teach our girls that they can be whatever they want to be.”

Co-workers and bosses usually assume that if you are a woman, you are not going to be able to take charge in big cases or projects. Women have to prove their value before they are granted trust and confidence.

Women in law are judged by first impressions. As a woman, I definitely feel I have been compelled to dress in a certain way – to ‘dress as a lawyer’ – to be taken seriously, which simply does not happen to male lawyers.

Salaries are not equitable between men and women. Women lawyers are paid less than their equally qualified male colleagues.

Women are usually in middle management roles, but they hardly get to leadership management positions.

It is very difficult for a woman who is also a mother to become a partner in a law firm or to have a post of responsibility in a company, because it is not easy to find balance between personal and professional life. Moreover, our culture tends to dictate that the woman is the one who is expected to take a step back from her career to raise children.

Legal work usually requires you to attend social commitments in addition to your office work – this is always a challenge when you are a mother.

Women in law also usually have to face sexist conversations and jokes from colleagues or clients.

I have seen female lawyers sexually harassed by their bosses.

From my own experience, I would say that the main challenge I had to overcome was to stop my career when I became a mother. I knew that I wanted to spend several months with my newborn children and I was sure that this would halt my career progression – which is exactly what happened. After spending one year with my two children (who are now six and seven years old), it was very difficult to find a job with the same level of responsibility to the one I’d had before. The salary was also an issue, and I was not able to get a job with a similar or higher salary than the one I had before I was pregnant. In fact, I had to start all over again, with a job and a salary at a lower level. Even now, my former male colleagues have better salaries. This was, and still is, the cost of being a mother.

As working women I believe that we all have responsibility in closing the gap between men and women. Being the mother of a boy and a girl, I want them to have the same opportunities. There are many actions we can take to help other women to reach the full potential of their careers:

First, education is fundamental. We need to teach our girls that they can be whatever they want to be. There should not be professions reserved only for men. We are equally capable of performing any job. When boys and girls are equally confident in their abilities, and are given equal opportunities, the gender gap narrows.

Second, women must support other women. Build networks, promote each other, and demand equality in salaries.

Third, we must vocally support policies that promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Fourth, we must adopt flexible working policies that allow women to have a real balance between their family and professional life.

And finally, we have the responsibility to make the problem of gender inequality visible to society through publications, forums, and seminars. Be vocal about the need for equality.

I believe that quotas may help and may be a first step to working towards gender equality. However, I am convinced that they don’t always translate into more power or gains for women. For me, quotas are only one of the tools that can help to solve the problem, but they are not the only tool. Other mechanisms, such as the ones above, are also necessary to achieve equality.

I am also profoundly convinced that as women leaders, we should build teams that are diverse in every sense. We need different genders, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds present in our teams so that we can get to better solutions. Different opinions and points of view add value, reinforce the commitment and pride of belonging to a team, improve the richness of the analysis and therefore, the decision-making, and increase the creativity and innovation that support the sustainability of the company. I try to promote these kinds of teams in my work. For any woman considering a career in the legal industry, I would give the advice I gave myself: ‘Dream big: everything is possible. You are just as qualified as any man to perform any job you want. Don’t accept stereotypes, fight inequality, and don’t ever let anyone else tell you what you can or cannot do’.