Questão de gênero na alta gestão da Universidade Federal de Sergipe : uma análise sob a perspectiva do fenômeno Teto de Vidro

Abstract

This study investigates the occurrence of the Glass Ceiling Phenomenon in access to and exercise of executive positions in the higher hierarchy of the Federal University of Sergipe. Methodologically, the research is structured on a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory approach. Based on these methodological choices, the research was executed in three phases: in the first one, a survey of numerical data was carried out on the occupation of executive positions, by gender, in the period between 2013 and 2022; subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted with occupants of these positions in the institution; in the third phase, the collected data were treated and analyzed qualitatively, from the perspective of the guiding concepts of the research - Gender, Sexual Division of Labor, and the Glass Ceiling Phenomenon - in an intersectional way. The Glass Ceiling concept is used to represent the difficulty women face in achieving high-level hierarchical positions in organizations, whether public or private, due to the existence of barriers related to the sexual division of labor and discriminatory gender-based practices. In public administration, in particular, gender discrimination is mitigated in the admission process since access to public employment is achieved through prior approval in a public competition. However, this mechanism does not prevent women from facing gender-related challenges during their professional trajectory. Considering this perspective and confirming the expected results, the study concluded that, although there are no formal barriers that prevent women's access to the executive positions studied in the research or hinder the exercise of these positions, institutionalized procedures and rules, as well as structural asymmetries that affect gender relations, enable the existence of practices that reproduce and reinforce inequality between men and women in the power spaces of the institution. Such an analysis resulted in the development of a proposal for gender equalization in the occupation of executive positions in the higher hierarchy, aiming to contribute to the construction of a Gender Equality culture in the management scope of the Federal University of Sergipe.