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ABSTRACT
Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the subjective aspects of women who work in the financial market, focusing on the meanings they attribute to their labour activities.
Originality/value: Despite the significant academic production about gender, few studies investigate the meaning women attribute to their work activities or analyze the main building elements in the subjective connection between women and a masculine work environment. This study, therefore, extends the literature on gender issues and labor relations, in addition to analyzing the achievements and challenges inherent in the professional choices of women in the contemporary world.
Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted by means of in-depth interviews with 16 women, at different ages and several family structures, who work on asset managers, investment brokers and investment banks. Content analysis was applied to the textual data to interpret and make inferences, using a priori coding. Findings: Data analysis identified that, for these professionals, meaning attribution occurs through the mechanisms of self-esteem, self-efficacy, purpose and belongingness, which are viable due to the success they conquered in a very competitive work environment. Other factors, such as the high incomes earned by the interviewees, also have an important role in the meaning they attribute to their work.
KEYWORDS
Meaning of work. Subjectivity. Women in men's occupations. Gender. Financial Market.
1. INTRODUCTION
Despite the consolidation of the presence of women in the labour market witnessed over the course of the 20th Century, recent studies have highlighted the many difficulties that women still encounter in their professional dayto-day lives (Andrade & Carvalho-Neto, 2015). The challenges faced by women range from an uncomfortable sense of being viewed as less rational, excessively sensitive and less capable of performing certain activities, to the difficulty of reconciling work with motherhood. The fact that there are still many barriers in the way of women's progression in the labour market (Eagly & Carli, 2007) only reinforces the importance of present-day gender studies. Understanding the trajectory of the professional careers of women, the challenges they face in the workplace and the subjective aspects of their insertion are all subjects of relevance to academics in the field of workplace relations.
In Brazil, there is a good deal of academic literature on the subject, most of it focusing on the difficulties...