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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.’

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.

My decision to pursue a career in law was driven mostly by the male role model I had when I was teenager: my father. He has always shown strong passion, commitment, and energy. He was also very dedicated to his legal career, having been an executive of a large bank and a Judge for some time. I was inspired by him to also follow a career in the legal industry.

I completed my undergraduate degree in law, my postgraduate degree in contract and tax law, and then completed an MBA. Unlike a lot of lawyers, who often begin their careers in private practice, I have always worked in in-house counsel roles. I began my career as a lawyer for PepsiCo before moving to Bayer, where I was promoted to the role of senior legal manager. After six years with the company, where I was also a member of the executive team (as corporate secretary to the CEO), I became a GC for the first time at Pirelli. I then moved to Whirlpool as their legal director of Latin America. I was at Whirlpool for almost four years when I was contacted by a head hunter to speak about an interesting opportunity at Diageo.

There are many reasons why I decided to move to Diageo. The main reasons, though, were its reputation (in having strong governance, values, and compliance); its solid and remarkable brands; its leadership in the spirits industry; and, finally, its bold diversity and inclusion agenda.

For me, the role of the legal department is so much more than simply a business partner – we are a business peer. The legal department must, fundamentally, help the business to do business. At the end of the day, in-house legal teams must consider themselves as a department that helps to sell and helps to deliver the company’s goals and strategies. We are not a support function for the business. Legal is a role that thinks not only for the consumers, but also for both the stakeholders and shareholders. It is important to challenge the often-held belief that the role of the legal department is to say no! We are there to ensure legal compliance, and to find solutions, always bearing in mind the consumer, stakeholder, and shareholder interests, and to help the business to grow.

This belief is very much reflected in how my team is structured and how our work is done. My team and I typically have very intense work days, which usually involve business meetings, discussions, projects, and deliverables that link to the company’s strategy. And, of course, we are responsible for all legal matters across the business. This involves various kinds of litigation, including tax, which is a complex area of law in Brazil. Our litigation work is not limited to liability but also includes asset litigation, contract litigation, environmental law, data privacy issues, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, brand protection, and corporate security.

I believe it is very important to emphasise the different roles men and women may (and often do) play at home and work. It is even more important to establish limits when necessary in order to support the work-life balance, for both genders. This is where we must count on mentors or leaders within companies and organisations to support diversity and inclusion initiatives. Alongside this support though, it is just as important to lead by example.

Since the beginning of my career, I’ve personally faced many challenges as a woman. But I overcame these by being professional, resilient, and by showing my commitment and capabilities. I can recall many business meetings in my career where ‘manterrupting’ and ‘mansplaining’ were commonplace. I overcame this by being respectful, while also creating a space to put across my point of view. More importantly, I stood up for myself, and was not afraid to show my points of view and capabilities.

Some years ago, I joined the executive team of a multinational company (a more traditional business) and I was the only woman to occupy an executive position. The other executives were much more senior than me and had been working for many years for this company. In the beginning, it was very difficult for me to gain their trust, their attention, and to be included in the most important discussions, to really ‘sit at the table’. I faced challenges to build the relationships and get closer to them, but I am glad to say that they have turned into very nice colleagues… and one of them is currently my mentor!

In my opinion, the largest barrier facing women in the legal industry – and particularly in the in-house profession – is not getting women in, but the promotion of women to the top levels . This is because many companies are only starting to discuss diversity as an important issue. Unfortunately, from a practical point of view, this means that women tend only to occupy some levels in the hierarchy of organisations, and often only up to managerial level. While this is true to some extent in the corporate arena, it is especially prevalent in law firms. Senior leadership positions in companies and most partner positions in law firms are still occupied by men. Often this is because a lot of women give up their careers when they have children. This is not due to their skills, capabilities, or desire to return to work. This is, more often than not, due to the lack of flexibility from companies and law firms in helping women to continue to grow their career while also being a mother.

I certainly faced challenges when I had my daughter. Although I was lucky in that I found several supportive executives (both male and female), I was surprised at the low level of support I received from some female executives (some of whom were already mothers). It can be very tough without the right support. Taking lessons from my own experiences as a working mother I am, as much as possible, very supportive of my colleagues, my team, and other women who are pregnant or returning to work from maternity leave. I strongly believe that, as women, we must support each other because we all face similar challenges in life (in work and at home), and have the same aspirations and ambitions as men do.

With that in mind, and alongside my role leading the legal team, I also sponsor Diageo’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. This was created in order to address matters concerning women’s participation in the workplace, people with disabilities, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and support them with initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion. I am also a board member of WILL (Women in Leadership Latin America), an international organisation with chapters in São Paulo and New York and an advisory board in London. The aim of the organisation is to share best practice, aimed at closing the gender pay gap, promoting women in leadership roles, and helping organisations to establish career development programmes for women.

As a company, Diageo is very open and transparent in having conversations regarding female advancement in the legal profession. Gender equality remains a major issue in most organisations and there is still a gender gap in the vast majority of companies in Brazil. Despite the relatively slow progress in Brazil, Diageo has an impressive track record in advancing women (without having laws in place) and being a benchmark for companies in Latin America. For example, females in senior leadership positions has increased from 22% to 50% in the last two years.

If I could give one piece of advice to myself at the start of my own career, it would be to have a mentor and to make connections with a diverse range of women. It would also be to share my own experiences more, learn with other women, and count on their support. Mentorship is very important for young aspiring female leaders. Having a mentor may help the young woman to share their own experiences while learning from others’ experiences and counting on their own mentor’s support during their career.

I am fortunate in that I have had the pleasure of working with many admirable women in my teams throughout my career. Some women who joined my team in junior roles have progressed to being mothers in senior roles. I also have mentorship sessions with women who are new, or may not be on my team, to help them with their respective careers. I always try my best to teach, discuss, and give feedback to my mentees. I try to motivate them to keep focussing on both their career paths and own life aspirations, despite any challenges that they may encounter.

I would like to say that my move from private practice to an in-house role was a carefully thought out decision; but, as with most things in life, it was simply an opportunity that presented itself at the right time and where all the conditions were there for me to step in and thrive. The decision was not so much to go in-house – it was more about the challenge to build a modern, innovative legal team profile in a Peruvian bank that was already at the forefront of redefining banking services in Peru.

When it was privatised in 1994, Interbank’s revised value proposition focused on convenience, speed, and service. It was the first bank to establish financial stores operating seven days a week (9am–9pm) at supermarkets. It built a large distribution network, owned the largest out-of-branch ATM network, and redesigned its financial stores with a human-centric approach. By 2010, data mining and scoring had evolved, and the bank moved from product offerings to customised financial services solutions based on deep knowledge of clients’ needs. The challenge for the legal team was to modernise the way legal services were delivered. Speed was key.

When I joined Interbank in 2007, we renewed about 40% of the legal team and set ourselves a vision: ‘to unlock value for corporate strategy’. In terms of speed, that meant working closely with cross-functional teams from the outset in order to design timely solutions with strategic value. Thus, all our lawyers were required to develop business, strategic, and financial acumen to ensure the legal function’s strategic alignment with the rest of the organisation; and to understand Interbank’s strategic intent and be able to articulate our internal clients’ business plans and KPIs. We launched (and continue to run) meet-ups and workshops to instil these new skills and develop a strategic mindset across the entire team. For me it is imperative that, as an in-house team, you have a deep understanding of your company’s strategic intent, and make strategic decisions when dealing with legal risks. You are not just acting in an advisory capacity; you need to own your recommendations and decisions and understand the value proposition as if you were responsible for the P&L.

When I started my first job in New York, I was hired as a foreign associate and had a front row seat learning about power dynamics in private practice. I worked in the financial services practice – an area that was 100% dominated by men, and where women struggled with late nights and family commitments. By the time I got to London a year later, I had made the decision to focus on work, and maybe – just maybe – have a family later. While London was a bit more cosmopolitan, and a bit more inclusive, the hours were still very long and it was still highly competitive. I made a conscious choice to get ahead by playing on my strengths: my knowledge of civil and common law, my pitching skills, and Latin America’s privatisation wave. I was 28 years old and originating deals in Latam, which was unusual for a young associate.

When I moved in-house to Interbank, it was a very different experience, not only because it was a move to an in-house role, but because it was in Peru. However, there was one factor that remained the same, and that was the nicely packed set of stereotypes and unconscious bias in the workplace that help to perpetuate and hold together the dynamics of power. What I observed was a strong underlying assumption of ‘women take care’ vs ‘men take charge’ as a shared belief by men and women alike. This was not only in Interbank, but across the corporate sector in general. And it applies equally to private practice. This, I believe, is the biggest barrier to true gender equality.

In private practice, I think the focus on hourly billing is particularly troublesome; the lack of flexible working arrangements and the penalties women endure for taking maternity leave set them back on their path to attaining partnership. Working in-house is not necessarily better. Stereotypes and unconscious bias are still present; however, what we do see is more and more corporates taking decisive action towards diversity and inclusion, which of course benefits the entire organisation. At Interbank, for example, we share with our panel law firms our diversity and inclusion initiatives, and will be asking them for their data, policies, and accountability for diversity and inclusion in the teams we work with. We also push our firms to give us more women as contacts, especially because firm relationship management has typically been a space reserved for male senior partners.

Alongside my role as GC, I also hold the position of board secretary. I realised I wanted to learn more about diversity in the boardroom. And so I asked for Interbank’s data. In 2012, overall female representation at Interbank was 58%, with 44% C-suite female executives. On the surface this looked to be a good balance. But when we delved more deeply into the data, we learned that female representation reduced to 38% (supervisor), 34% (deputy manager), and 11% (manager). This showed us that we had a significant pipeline issue. It was at this point that I ‘dug my heels in’ and decided to figure out the why, the how, and the what of diversity and inclusion for Grupo Intercorp. We started by asking the following question to large groups of women in several of our Group companies: what are the main reasons that prevent women’s development and keeps them from attaining higher positions? Is it a matter of skill sets, lifestyle, or confidence?

We then asked the following, more in-depth questions:

Skill sets

• Do women have different skill sets than men?
• If so, are these differences a key element that will advance a man’s career to the detriment of a woman’s?

Lifestyle

• For you, what is a normal day?
• Does being married or single make a difference? Why?
• Is being a mum an obstacle to career advancement? Why?

Confidence

• Are men more confident?
• Is lack of confidence a barrier for women’s career advancement?

As our research progressed, we realised that it was strategically important for us to accelerate diversity and inclusion, and to build on the collective learnings across Grupo Intercorp. In December 2018, the role of chief diversity and inclusion officer was created, as was a Diversity Board, and we have made significant progress since then.

All Group company boards now have approved D&I policies and guidelines and accompanying action plans. We determined to set internal targets by the end of 2019. The policies recognise diversity as a value and inclusion as a leadership trait. The guidelines for 2019 were, first, to prioritise three tracks: (i) attraction, selection, retention, and advancement of women in the organisation, (ii) work-life balance, and (iii) zero tolerance of sexual harassment; and, second, to educate on and build awareness of stereotypes and unconscious bias. All our Group companies prioritise the same three tracks, though some may decide to take on additional ones depending on their own demographics. We also continue to participate in Ranking Par, Latin America’s first-ever gender equality ranking.

We hire for competence and hold interviews with structured and diverse panels. I am also a full supporter of female-led law firms. In the past two years, I have retained (+3) and recommended female lawyers who have set up their own individual legal boutiques. These are women who left the larger firms because they wanted to own their time and deliver results.

Internally, I make sure women get stretch assignments and I expose them to senior leaders across the organisation. I lead by example by engaging in the conversation, making a point of bringing people’s views forward, and being explicit about being equal in our differences.

My commitment to promoting gender equality in the legal industry extends beyond my roles at Grupo Intercorp and Interbank. In 2016, together with ten other lawyers, I formed Women in the Legal Profession (WIP) Peru, an initiative borne from the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice for the empowerment of women in the legal profession. At WIP-Peru, we focus on five tracks:

• Design and divulge guidelines for the selection, promotion, and retention of female lawyers;
• Develop leadership skills for female lawyers (workshops);
• Actively commit to have female lawyer representation at public events;
• Run mentoring programmes;
• Measure best practices and progress.

As part of WIP-Peru, and as GC of Interbank, I promote direct conversations with law firms around diversity and inclusion matters. I encourage them to adopt guidelines for the selection, promotion, and retention of female lawyers and design D&I action plans. Of course, the question of quotas versus targets often comes up. For me, it’s about looking at the demographics, setting realistic targets for diversity, and managing expectations. Personally, I believe 40% is a nice target to start with. In some cases, though – and depending on the toxicity of the culture or the need for change – a hard quota should be placed to accelerate the inclusion of women. I want to stress, though, that in all cases you must make sure you have the best talent ‘auditioning’ for the part, whether or not there are quotas or targets in place.

Finally, the advice I would give to any woman wanting to get ahead in the legal industry is this: Play to your strengths. Understand complexity. Always negotiate your salary.

I decided to become a lawyer when I was in high school. I am the very first lawyer in my family, so I cannot say it came from a sense of family tradition. However, my parents instilled in me from a young age the importance of justice and values, to do the right thing, and to always be ethical, no matter the consequences. From my very first class at law school, I was incredibly passionate about it; I knew I was in the right place.

Like many lawyers, I started my career in private practice, and had not really planned to move from private practice to an in-house role. But when the opportunity with Sodexo came about, it was too good to turn down. I remember that when I first started, I felt very strange! I was used to managing many different corporate legal accounts, and not ‘only one’. But I soon realised that, in fact, an in-house legal department also has many different clients – all the company’s other departments!

I believe that as an in-house lawyer it is very important to be involved with the strategy, the company’s business: you cannot be unaware of the core business units and interlinked functions. The legal department’s decisions affect the entire company: our shareholders, providers, employees, and community. Our mission is to provide high quality services – with high ethical standards – in order to contribute to the accomplishment of the corporate mission and the company’s objectives as well.

If we compare women’s progress in the legal industry, we can see that the situation is the same in different countries. In the majority of cases, the positions of equity partner and managing partner are held by men. Is this a coincidence? Absolutely not.

Put simply, the ‘rules’ have been made by men: that is the reason why most of the top positions are occupied by them. I strongly believe that had those rules been established by women (or, at the very least, in consultation with women), the reality would be different.

For me, it is very important that men and women work together in order to achieve gender equality in organisations. But how can this be done? First, review your hiring and promotion process; second, train your lawyers regarding unconscious bias and stereotypes in the legal profession; third, empower your women lawyers; and, finally, always review whether the conditions for men and women are both equitable and equal. This last one is very important because, while the aim of equality is to promote fairness, it really only works when everyone is starting from the same place (equity).

In the case of in-house lawyers, you do see more women in leading positions (e.g. legal director, general counsel) than you do in private practice, however there is still much to be done before there is true gender equality and representation. The individual challenges might be different, but, in essence, we are all supporting the same cause. We are all working to obtain equitable conditions for women in the workplace. We have to ensure that not all the leadership positions are for men. And we must always remember that, just because we do not see women in those positions that there are not talented women lawyers. It means the system is broken, and needs to be fixed. We have to empower women and make visible our capabilities. We must take action.

In my career, I have faced the challenges that most women have – not only because I am a woman, but also because I am a mother of two wonderful children. I got through those challenges with work, work, and more work.

I am also lucky because my husband and my family have always supported my decisions and my career. In addition, my company and my colleagues really do believe that businesses with gender-balanced teams do better, not only for company results, but because it is the right thing to do.

Working in a global company such as Sodexo has given me several opportunities to grow and develop my career in many areas, not just in legal. For example, a few years ago I joined Sodexo’s leadership programme for women, based on development opportunities for women in senior management positions. Then I passed to the second stage of the programme: mentoring sessions.

I am also now responsible for the D&I strategy in my country. Along with other members of our D&I local committee, I work every day to reach gender balance in our company. In August 2019, we launched Sodexo’s ‘So Together Peru’, an internal network that seeks to promote the development and empowerment of women in open spaces, in which women and men participate equally to build a true culture of gender equality.

Sodexo also encourages us to volunteer with a worldwide programme (Stop Hunger) to fight hunger and malnutrition. I am the leader of this programme in Peru, and we work for a hunger-free world in three fields of intervention: support to local communities in need, women empowerment, and emergency assistance. We are convinced that providing women with better education, training, means of production, and financial resources will maximise the possibility of eradicating hunger from the world by 2030. Our commitment with Peru’s gender balance is also as a corporate citizen and this year, I was proud to receive recognition of our work from CONFIEP (The National Confederation of Private Business Institutions). This recognition motivates me to continue working on gender equity.

Beside my role at Sodexo, I am member of WIP Peru (Women in the Profession), an initiative from the Cyrus Vance Center for International Justice. I am part of the leadership committee, and this year I am a mentor in the mentoring programme. This initiative is only for women lawyers. I feel a responsibility as a woman to help other women reach their full potential and progress in their careers , but I also encourage other women in leadership positions to be role models for others.

Sodexo is strongly committed to advancing gender equality. As a world leader in quality of life services, the company fosters an open, inclusive culture where everyone can thrive. The global gender balance strategy is a key driver in ensuring that both men and women have equal access to growth and opportunities in our workplace.

Sodexo’s research shows that gender-balanced teams perform better, and so we are working globally to have women represent at least 40% of our total leadership by 2025. This goal will not be met overnight, so the company has established a specific gender strategy to help to achieve this.

Not only do we have cross-border initiatives, but we also develop many local initiatives. Last year we published an inclusive language manual that we now use in all our communications. We trained our senior management regarding unconscious bias and stereotypes and promote campaigns about gender balance. We also participate in panels, forums, and committees with other companies, and last year Sodexo Peru was considered first in the Aequales Ranking as the company with best practices promoting gender equality (category more than 1,000 employees).

Of course, multinational companies such as Sodexo that have strong D&I initiatives positively influence other companies and they set a good example. However, local leadership is very important to implement D&I initiatives and adapt them to a country’s culture. In our case, the issue of gender equity is balanced against things such as violence against women, which in our country reaches high percentages. So, while the global initiative is fundamental, local leadership is necessary to develop a D&I strategy that is aligned with the country reality.

With every day that passes, I am more convinced that we need quotas to achieve gender equality. Working to a ‘best efforts’ rule is not enough: we need quotas in order to achieve our goals. Once we have equity in leading positions, we can change our mindset, trust in a meritocratic system, and talk about equality between men and women without the need for quotas. In the legal function at Sodexo, we have a diverse team, but we are now working on developing capacities, nurturing talent, and empowering women so we can grow under the same opportunities.

It is important to always follow words with actions. While there are specific challenges faced by women in the legal industry, unfortunately gender imbalance is a global issue and one that needs to change. If I could give any advice to those women who are just starting out on their career path, it would be this: What you see as your weaknesses are your greatest strengths. It is what it makes you unique. Your youth is an opportunity to see the world with a fresh new eye. Never give up, fight for your ideas, and for what you really care about. Be ethical. This is the best gift you can give.

GC: Can you tell us a little about your pathway into law. What made you want to be a lawyer?

I knew I wanted to be a lawyer when I was about 12 years old. My parents are both lawyers and their passion for the profession and what they do was a big inspiration. My mother has been a strong role model to me – a hard-working, smart, and successful lawyer with a beautiful family. I knew I wanted to help others through the law and I spent time reading the Colombian Constitution and Civil Code to understand the rights we had. The Colombian Constitution went through an important reform in 1991 granting many social and economic rights to Colombians such as the fundamental right to education and health. During the summers, I worked with my father on matters that involved the defence of some of those rights. At home, we learned that privileges carry huge responsibilities to society.

GC: What do you believe are the biggest barriers to women progressing in the legal industry?

Despite efforts in the industry as a whole, I would say gender bias is still generating significant disparities for women. Women continue to face barriers in hiring, assignments, promotions, and compensation. Reports on this matter still show that women and people of colour may feel they are held to a higher standard than men.

In addition to bias and machismo in the profession and in particular in Latin America, the barriers women place on themselves adds to the challenge. For example – the guilt we feel if we want to be successful and also have a family life; the struggle in fighting bias and finding work/life balance; understanding that it is ok to be driven and successful; and the desire to make partner and yes, have a life outside work.

Surprisingly, I have come across women in law who believe that taking parental leave will negatively impact their career, even though this is changing across the profession. For example, Willkie recently promoted a female associate to partner while she was on maternity leave, which I think sends an important message to our associates and to the industry.

GC: When you speak with women in-house lawyers, do you sense they face the same challenges as women in private practice?

Yes – numbers still show that women lawyers are far outnumbered by men in the highest-ranking and highest-paying positions, both in-house and in law firms.

According to the latest report from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, only 35% of active US lawyers in 2016 were women, and they earned less than their male colleagues. Of the top lawyers for Fortune 500 companies, just 26% were women.

GC: How does the industry collectively need to change to break those barriers?

I think it will take time because it is a cultural change, a reset. We have to start with our children. Women also need to be more transparent about their personal experiences, and make more of an effort to mentor, sponsor, and guide other women. The industry and its women leaders also need to keep demanding change.

GC: What do you feel is the single biggest change that needs to happen?

We have to believe that gender equality and diversity is not only good for women, but good for business too.

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

I have been very fortunate to work at Willkie since I started my career, in an environment in which I had and continue to have full support and encouragement from our leaders and partners. I am grateful for the full support from the firm to lead our Latin American Practice Group, and to excel as an attorney.

For women practicing corporate law in Latin America as well as in other regions, there may be bias that women will not be ‘tough enough’ (and if they are assertive, they could be seen as too aggressive) or not fully committed, and if they have a family, that can be interpreted as an impediment.

Overcoming these challenges takes time. For me, I had to show I was hard-working, committed, and that I could handle the pressure and pace of transactional work. The M&A world is tough, but I love challenges. I’d like to see more women lawyers, bankers, CEOs, CFOs, and dealmakers in the M&A and private equity fields.

GC: How do you help to promote diversity, and do you feel a responsibility as a woman in a leadership position to help other women reach their full potential and progress in their careers?

I feel fully responsible to support and mentor other women: in my day-to-day work with our associates, through our foreign associate program, and outside Willkie through some of the non-profit organisations I support.

In my discussions with other women, I try to be open and share my honest experience, both the challenges and the successes. I regularly speak about diversity at conferences organised by law firms in Latin America, companies, and organisations such as the International Bar Association and The Legal 500.

I believe I have a responsibility to generate and be part of the initiatives and efforts on diversity. This is why I believe this Women in Law project with The Legal 500 is a great forum to share experiences, and to recognise some of the in-house lawyers who are working hard to transform the industry in the Latin American region.

Most importantly, I try to be a good role model and mentor for my daughter Valentina, to prepare her for leadership roles. I want her to be proud of having a mother who works and wants to be successful. I have learned not to feel guilty about my career and also to try to be fully present as much as possible for Valentina.

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

As a woman of colour practicing corporate law, I hope that shows other women that if I can do it, they can too. We have a very talented and diverse team of women and men who respect and value each other’s opinions, each contributing a unique perspective.

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

While I respect and see the value of those who use them, I personally do not believe in quotas. But I do think we have to support talented men and women, and also give women the same opportunities to succeed as men. Associates work really hard to make partner and once they do, the merit is not in their gender or colour.

GC: Are there particular challenges that women face in the legal industry, as opposed to other industries, or is gender imbalance a more widespread cultural issue?

In my opinion, gender imbalance is just a more widespread cultural issue.

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

Be yourself. See the things (including your gender and colour) that make you different as advantages and not as obstacles, and use them to overcome the challenges you face. Find mentors, sponsors, and supporters with diverse perspectives and experiences from yours. They will help you view things differently, challenge you to improve, and ultimately help you to succeed.

When I immigrated to Canada 18 years ago, my South American university degree was of no value to the Canadian market – the firms in Canada wanted Canadian experience. Thankfully, I managed to get into a small boutique firm and from there a bigger firm. When I entered Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, everyone had graduated from the University of Vancouver – and most of them were men. There weren’t many women lawyers in general, but even more scarce were female lawyers from the international jurisdiction. At that time, I was quite ‘exotic.’ Not only was I an immigrant, I was a woman, and not being the same as everyone was a challenge. I started at Fasken as an associate who spoke two languages and who also had two master’s degrees. Despite my high level of education, the first thing I encountered was people telling me ‘oh good, you speak two languages – so you’re the translator’. And I accepted this, thinking that it wasn’t too bad as an immigrant, as a woman, and as someone who didn’t have the same social exposure as my colleagues. I had to prove myself twice as much.

I gravitated towards corporate law because I liked trying to figure out how to make a difference with respect to how society is impacted by corporations. I’ve also had a keen interest in international human rights law since I graduated, and in my current role at Ecopetrol, I’m lucky that both of those aspects of law combine. I’m leading initiatives related not only to corporate governance but also to corporate communications and corporate responsibility. The latter looks at the standards to which the company complies and this includes going the extra mile – it’s more than revenue, it’s about being a good corporate citizen. In that area, we also look at a lot of human rights matters.

The role I have relates to both consumers and stakeholders of the company. This is where the idea of corporate responsibility comes in; we need to look at the standards that must be applied. Ecopetrol, with its 22 affiliate companies, is trying very hard to modernise, especially in relation to the politics of gender diversity and inclusion. Our goal is to find a common denominator within all our companies with respect to diversity and empowering different groups, including women. We’re partly a state-owned enterprise and this is a great thing because the government that’s in office right now is very strongly orientated to gender diversity. You can see this in the government’s cabinet, its politics, its vice president, and its first lady. So, not only do we, as a company, follow and implement what our government is doing, it also allows us a head start with diversity-based initiatives that we decide to implement at a corporate level.

We have two different levels in our company: operational and corporate. The operational level includes women who are working in the oil fields, the corporate level includes the actual recruitment process, but both levels empower women. I travelled to an oil field where I came to witness two very interesting examples of how we were hiring women. The first was an initiative where we are building a solar plant: there are many communities that are looking for jobs because right now there’s a blockage and our economy is suffering. So, Ecopetrol directly responded by hiring a group of women, some of whom had never had a job before, to work on this solar plant. We found that when we looked at the population of women working there, many of them were heads of their families – the breadwinners – despite never having had a job before. What we’re trying to do is find ways to provide jobs for those women while acknowledging that this is not common in a country where men are usually the breadwinners. We’re trying to find ways to educate these women and provide them with technical skills so that they can work on additional projects.

I discovered the second example when I began to talk to with some of the other managers in that region: the area where they were hiring women the most was in security personnel. My first thought was that if you were going to hire women in the middle of the night for security, they might not be as strong as their male counterparts if, for example, someone was to steal something. Actually, it’s been going very well. These women feel empowered, and are extremely vigilant. Despite historically being in a very male-domiated industry, we’ve found our women excel at these traditionally masculine roles. It’s a matter of being open-minded about business operations.

At a corporate level, there are six diversity initiatives that are being built and implemented right now, and for all of them we use both a top-down and bottom-up approach. The current board of directors is very keen and sensitive towards these initiatives and it understands that you get much more value with a diverse workforce. This can be seen in our recruitment process. Potential future employees are told why diversity and inclusion is important, why there is value in looking at everyone’s CVs, and the importance of not having unconscious bias towards women. One of our aims is to educate and eradicate this bias. For all our recruitment processes we require that for every three candidates, one of them must be a woman. Obviously, you cannot hire a woman just because of her gender – you have to make sure that she has the skills, merit, and will. However, it is about giving women that initial opportunity.

There’s a specific initiative at Ecopetrol that addresses how to prevent gender-based violence. This becomes really important when you get women in at an operational level and you have that traditional male role destroyed. One of the first practical steps we took was to build another bathroom and lockers for the women. Most of the operations only had male bathrooms and no places to change your clothes because women had never worked there. But now you’ll find not only bathrooms but lockers and changing rooms for both men and women. This is a huge thing, because no matter how many laws you put in place, if you don’t have the right operational set up for women, it’s never going to be realistically implemented.

Ecopetrol is taking action to address the gender pay gap. Rather than do things intuitively and assume that we are doing a really good job, we look at the statistics. We have looked at women at different regional, operational, and corporate levels in relation to their job description. We looked at how we valued each job description and then came to a conclusion on how much each particular job should be paid in comparison with another. We then matched the salary directly to the job description, without regard to gender.

We also have general regulation that includes ideas stemming from #MeToo. We have a Code of Ethics that everyone abides by, from the board of directors down to every single worker. Where there is inappropriate behaviour, including sexual harassment, Ecopetrol has many ways of addressing that. You can file an anonymous complaint which will be investigated until we find a resolution. We have special areas where you can speak about such matters without having to file a complaint, if you’re uncomfortable with that. We tell everyone that nothing is too small to merit a conversation. We have an ethics line, for women and men, where you can talk in confidence.

There has been a lot of action taken by the government itself. A lot of women in leadership positions have been given the same power as men and have made a very strong stance. However, I think that the most valuable way to change these traditional gender roles is to empower women: women must change their mind set with respect to who they think are, what they can actually do, and what they can truly ask for. I was at a public speaking engagement about international arbitration, and there were a lot of women in attendance. Having worked in this for the last 18 years, I have come to know that one of the myths surrounding it is that to get into international arbitration, you must be part of a very small club-like network. One of the women asked me how I managed to get into the ‘club of international arbitration’ as a woman? I turned the question on her and asked how many of the women had written an article on international arbitration or anything related to it in the last three years. Not one woman raised her hand. I then asked how many women had actually tried to apply or gotten into the international arbitration chamber of commerce; again, no hands were raised.

What I told them was that we know that being a woman is sometimes difficult and we need to work our way through with more effort than men. But, if we are not strong enough, do not take chances, and don’t do things for ourselves then we cannot expect things to change. That’s step one. Step two is sponsorship. There are excellent mentors out there, and you need other women to champion you so that you can be brave and take these chances. You need to apply to that job, write that article, speak publicly – and not be apprehensive about it. If you don’t do this, it is going to be difficult to move ahead.

I have a great female mentor in Canada who told me it was never going to be easy and that there was always going be an imbalance, but as a woman you need to make that a safe and healthy imbalance. Sometimes you might have to travel and miss time with your family, but you can make that up next week. That teaches you to get rid of guilt. That’s another problem that women face – we feel guilty about everything we do! Once a month, I have informal dinners with executives and professional women in the Colombian industry. We have so many different conversations: you’ll find out if someone is looking for another job, or if someone is asking about the strategy on topic X. It’s a very informal network where anything can happen. You don’t realise that women are going through exactly the same issues as you if you don’t talk to each other, and that’s very common. Many of us have the same issues; we just forget to talk to each other. It’s also very refreshing when you find men who understand these issues and why they matter. I had a male mentor in Canada, when things were a lot more difficult for me because I was younger. I’ve never met anyone who was so generous and who took the time to be brutally honest with me. They’re out there; you just have to ask!

I am a lawyer and I am also an ambitious woman. But before having children, I was afraid of having them. This wasn’t because I was unclear of what I wanted, but because of the bias I knew I would face from people. For me, the first key to success is finding the right partner who will support you. If you don’t have a partner who supports you, it doesn’t matter how many mentors you have, or how many other women want to help you. It all starts at home. If it wasn’t for my husband, I would not have been able to work in such a demanding and fast- paced law firm or take on a leadership role at Ecopetrol.

When it comes to women with families or women about to have children, in Colombia we have 18 legal weeks of maternity leave. This is incredibly insufficient. And the expense of giving birth in Latin America is very high when compared to other nations. Companies need to find ways to provide better benefits to women when they’re on maternity or raising a child without making it too expensive. At Ecopetrol, we have looked very closely at our maternity policy. While it is currently extended to a little longer than 18 weeks, we are looking to see how this can be extended further, because it will benefit women greatly. In Colombian cities, breastfeeding has almost disappeared because it is very tough to breastfeed when you’re working. We have maternity spaces in our buildings and regions for our female employees to breastfeed, but there’s still such a long way to go. What is important is that we lead as a company and we are modernising: we want to do this. I am very proud to work for a company that takes women’s issues so seriously.

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.’

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.

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’.

‘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.

‘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.

Curiosity has always been a part of who I am. As a child, I was curious about everything, and because of that curiosity, I questioned pretty much everything. Being Portuguese, but living in an African colony, my sense of equality and justice was developed early on. I found myself instantly respecting the need for diversity. Having resided in various different continents, this led to me to having dreams of being a diplomat, but instead I decided to pursue a career in law. Given my love of reading and my genuine interest in people and business, corporate law came naturally to me. I really enjoy work concerning business strategy, and this became very clear to me when I was studying economics and law. This interest was furthered while I completed my masters in tax. By joining the law, business and tax together, I discovered my passion. I then started my career as a tax lawyer at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

At GSK, I had the curiosity and passion to learn. With this, in addition to wanting to understand the business, and having people who trusted and supported me, I was eventually promoted to the position of assistant general counsel and legal director of GSK in Brazil. The reason I wanted to work at GSK was because of its reputation as an ethical company. It has clear values that match with my own personal views. It is a multinational company that gives back to society, while also allowing me to interact with many different cultures. GSK, as a company, has provided me with many opportunities to grow and develop.

The legal function at GSK has many different responsibilities, and there is no such thing as a ‘typical day’. In some cases, the legal function is the decision maker and in other cases, it is an advisor. But no matter what responsibility, we are always working closely with the business itself, to clearly define the framework we can navigate within. Legal has several interfaces: some are strictly legal to legal and others are more governance-led, where we design strategy implementation in a sustainable way. It is great to see legal acting as an actual stakeholder in the decision-making process, and certainly today we are finding that an in-house lawyer must also be a respected business partner.

I began to face challenges at the start of my career as a tax lawyer; at the time, it was a very male-dominated profession. I also rather interestingly found that there were barriers for young women without children. After applying for one particular role, I was told I was the perfect candidate, but that they required an assurance that I would not fall pregnant within the next five years. My answer was: thank you for the opportunity, but you are not the right company for me. Many women are expected to adapt their behaviour to get ahead, especially in male-dominated industries such as legal. I do not subscribe to this expectation. Rather than adapting, I would prefer to say that I have found my balance, and that I have learned to navigate my way through. When I first moved in-house, I found that I needed to work more than my male peers and do more in order to create a network, avoid misperception, and get ahead. This should not be the case. And I absolutely believe that one of the main challenges for women pursuing leadership roles within in-house counsel teams (and also, I suspect, in private practice) is finding that balance between their personal and professional lives. This is something men are not expected to consider as strongly as women.

That said, at GSK in Brazil, we have made huge strides to address gender imbalance. Currently, 51% of our total staff is women, and 49% of our leadership positions are also occupied by women. This is due in part to specific programmes we have that focus on accelerating the pace at which women are promoted. The development programmes focus on helping female leaders enhance their leadership presence, inspire others, and plan their careers. Gender equality isn’t just a social concern; it’s good for business too. By understanding that gender diverse teams are more profitable and innovative, organisations can become more successful.

Mentoring is so important for aspiring young female lawyers. This is a relationship based on trust and respect, but I believe it’s not just beneficial for women. At GSK, alongside traditional mentoring, we also undertake reverse mentoring, which helps to change our viewpoint and create more self-awareness. Sharing diverse experiences helps to put things in the right perspective. I believe it’s also incredibly important to have male champions who are vocally and actively supportive of women’s issues, although I prefer to call them ‘human’ issues. For me, the more people speaking out loud in support of women, the better. In my career, I have had many male champions: they listened to me and paid attention, and respected my opinion. But it is a two-way street. The most important thing is to open the space for equal treatment.

I work hard to promote diversity and inclusion, not just specifically for women. I truly believe that we must embrace diversity as much as possible. When we combine our knowledge, experiences, and styles together, the impact is incredible. GSK aims to create a working environment where all employees feel included, respected, and valued for the unique qualities they bring, and are empowered to contribute to their full potential. As a woman in the legal industry, I believe that it is important to be you, to be curious, and to learn as much as you can while trusting yourself.

I have over 20 years of legal experience, most of it in-house. I started my professional career working as a legal advisor in the notary service. In 2005, I became general counsel for Telebucaramanga, a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Telefónica. Following this, I spent a year practicing litigation in private practice as a senior associate at Baker McKenzie. In 2008, I moved in-house once again as the manager of Latin American corporate legal affairs for the Colombian oil and gas company Terpel (formerly known as Organización Terpel). During the past ten years, I spent two years at TV Azteca as their legal manager, and four years as a legal and compliance director at CenturyLink in charge of the Northern and Andean regions of Latin America. One of the highlights from my time at CenturyLink was working on a team for the deployment of the first submarine cable connecting Colombia with the Pacific Ocean. I then spent a year at Claro Colombia as director of institutional relations and social responsibility, where one of my biggest achievements came in the form of successfully negotiating roaming agreements for the deployment of 4G networks with Avantel, Telefónica and TIGO.

I am now the legal director for the Andean Region for Uber, and for Panama and the Caribbean for Uber Eats. The recruitment team at Uber contacted me in 2018 and I made the decision to move to Uber because I see its importance as one of the most disruptive companies in the world. Through the use of technology it has a huge impact on the communities in which it operates globally. At Uber I am responsible for litigation, commercial and corporate matters, regulatory issues, competition law, and consumer protection rights. I would never include the word ‘typical’ to describe a working day here. My role requires a constant balance between legal strategy and meeting the business’s goals, and minimising risk for Uber while providing the best legal advice. Every day here is full of challenges, so I have to think outside of the box a lot of the time. I have faced a number of compliance challenges, but my team and I work with the board of directors to manage these crises. The experience I have gained has prepared me to handle such challenges successfully, and I have learned how to make a 360-degree evaluation of complex situations in order to come up with ways to solve them.

One challenge modern companies such as Uber face head-on relates to diversity and inclusion. We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for everyone, which includes having policies in place to prevent any form of discrimination or harassment. Uber values the unique contributions of individuals with varying backgrounds and believes that diversity contributes to the success of its business. At Uber, all employees are given the opportunity to develop within diverse employee resource groups (ERGs) such as ‘Pride at Uber’, ‘Able at Uber’, ‘Parents at Uber’, ‘Interfaith at Uber’ and ‘Women of Uber’, among others. These groups promote the diverse nature of Uber’s workforce and improve work behaviours and attitudes every day. ‘Women of Uber’ is an internal group that seeks to find new opportunities, support, and sponsorship for women to ensure all women can speak openly and connect with external networks. It enables them be ‘a voice for women empowerment to change the culture from the inside out’.

Personally, I promote diversity and inclusion – particularly as it relates to women – by encouraging the women I work with to speak up, to value their own work, and to be confident in bringing their unique knowledge and opinions to the table. I am strongly committed to empowering the women on my legal team to take risks, to lead, to participate in external workshops, and to build their own self-brand. The #MeToo movement created awareness of a difficult reality many people were (and still are) facing in workplace environments. At the beginning of my career, I experienced harassment myself and can assure you that it is not only scary, but it also makes you feel very lonely. What truly amazes me about the #MeToo movement is the way in which it has encouraged women to speak up and support each other. It has certainly proved that ‘unity is a strength’ is more than just four words. The movement has definitely had a major impact on culture and determined a new era in which we women are no longer scared or threatened to speak up for ourselves in unfair situations.

Even though I believe quotas have played a part in creating gender equal workplaces, nowadays we can achieve this in other ways such as by using fair selection processes with clear terms, giving the same opportunities to men and women, and by ensuring we have selection processes that include similar numbers of male and female candidates – as well as male and female interviewers – in order to guarantee inclusive processes that result in fairly elected professionals.

There is an increased understanding of the importance of including women in higher positions and a greater appreciation of women in the professional field. We now see women as high-level partners at top law firms and developing successful careers in leading companies such as Uber. One of the perks in this digital era is having the ability to be connected, and this has an impact on diversity and inclusion. It makes it easier for companies such as Uber to have a global policy on diversity and inclusion that applies worldwide, allowing diversity initiatives to take place without limitations or the excuse of geographical differences.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.