What are the biggest challenges of managing a company as a woman?
Photo: Pedro Afonso
In the business world, which is mostly made up of men, being a woman entrepreneur still seems to be a major challenge. According to the November 2022 Statistical Bulletin — the latest data available — from the Portuguese Government’s Commission for Gender Equality, ‘women hold fewer senior positions than men’. It continues, ‘from 2020 to 2021 there was a significant increase of 1pp in both men and women in leadership positions. But in 2021 there was still a gap of 2.1pp in favour of men, 0.4pp less than in 2016’, the document concluded.
In the footwear industry, the picture is very similar. Although it can’t be proven from official sources, the majority of companies are run by men. Slowly, however, women are taking over the top jobs in the industry.
But even before the top careers, the footwear industry took a historic step in 2017, when full gender equality on pay was introduced through the collective bargaining agreement. Salaries are now the same for people working in the same professional category, regardless of gender.
In this issue dedicated to female empowerment, we spoke to some female entrepreneurs from the footwear cluster. What has changed in the industry? How do you see the future? What are the biggest challenges of managing a company as a woman?
Ana Maria Vasconcelos is one such example: she has worked in the family business since 1975 where, together with her sister and a partner, she manages Vasconcelos e C. She is also Vice-Chair of the Portuguese Footwear, Components and Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association (APICCAPS) and holds several executive positions in other institutions. ‘Despite the lack of gender equality, which we know is widespread throughout the world, I don’t think it’s currently a limiting factor in the growing number of women in the sector. The footwear sector is mostly male, but curiously this is no longer the case in the leather goods sector. Personally, I don’t feel there are any obstacles in my work because I’m a woman’, says Ana Maria.
Speaking to the podcast ‘Promova Talks’ — which provides a space for debate to widen women’s access to leadership positions in Portuguese companies — Ana Vasconcelos also emphasised that ‘the fact women have been working in management for relatively less time than men means that many positions have not yet been won’. So, to counteract this trend, the CEO of leather goods firm Belcinto says it is necessary to respect women and recognise their resilience at work. ‘In the business market, 43 per cent of work is done by women. I’m not going to talk about women in management positions, of course, because the numbers are much smaller there’, she confesses, making it clear that the challenges are deeply-rooted.
The head of Belcinto also argues that ‘being a woman in a man’s world means you have to do more and do it better. Everything we do has to sound good. We have to be succinct but very impactful, and so the women who come into this sector have to come in and make a difference’.
Dulce Cardoso is another example of the second generation at the helm of the family business, where she has worked for 20 years. ‘The challenge is very real and ongoing. The stigma starts at an early age, within the family, where everyone longs for a son to carry on the father’s business. As I’m the second generation of the company, I always sensed that my father, as the founder, had this ambition. As fate would have it, he was only blessed with two daughters. Today, he clearly admits that he was wrong and is the first to raise the banner for equality’, she reveals.
Joana Trigueiros is the face at the helm of Maray. She has a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics of NOVA University Lisbon and 18 years of experience in multinational companies in the financial and marketing sectors. Five years ago, when she realised that the Maray brand looked like coming to an end, she decided to seize the opportunity and set out on a new venture. ‘The biggest challenges I’ve faced have been defining investment priorities and finding the right people to work with. When there are many areas to organise, these decisions don’t always come naturally’, says Joana.
Joana was already a customer and fan of Maray when the brand’s founder sent a message on Instagram that she was ‘going to put Maray to sleep’. Joana asked if he was interested in selling it and… ‘a month later we were signing a contract. It’s been five years, and I’ve had to learn a lot to make the brand grow, with all the challenges that the economic climate has brought us, but… I’m a ‘go for it’ person, and I’ve been finding the right opportunities to ensure growth for the brand’.
Maray is an irreverent brand for dynamic women who don’t compromise on elegance or comfort. The brand always brings value propositions that make sense to them and, without compromising its positioning, has sprung surprises with every collection. ‘Although I have a lot of leadership experience in multinationals, things becomes more complex when the business is your own and there isn’t (yet) an organised and well-oiled structure behind it’.
The footwear industry
Ana Maria Vasconcelos argues that ‘the know-how on offer, the diversity of products, business ethics and the seriousness of the various Portuguese partners were all factors in deciding to base production in Portugal’. Dulce Cardoso goes even further and points to the history of the industry, whose progress has been ‘enormous and varied. When I started in footwear, there was an exodus of multinationals and the sector was debilitated. However, the fashion for things “made in Portugal” was starting to become a well-defined industry, and footwear was able to keep up. Portuguese brands began to emerge, sometimes linked to designers, and ‘‘made in Portugal’’ began to rise in value’.
For the director of Jobel, ‘our mastery of the art of shoemaking has produced outstanding quality, and the world couldn’t resist. In the last decade, obviously, the widescale introduction of computers and mobile phones has transformed the world of fashion, and the industry has once again adapted very well. Companies becoming more flexible to respond efficiently to smaller orders, along with the emergence of e-commerce as a communication channel, has produced a credible response to the growth of fast fashion. In fact, the industry has never shied away from technological investment. Globalisation has changed fashion, digitalisation has changed fashion, but the cluster, boosted by clever international marketing campaigns, has never been left behind’.
