GPA creates development program to place black women in leadership positions

According to the company, 52% of GPA employees are women and they already occupy 37% of the company’s leadership positions. By 2025, the company wants them to occupy 40% of these positions

By 2025, GPA wants to reach 40% of women in leadership positions (managers and above) and retain at least 50% of black employees. These are some of the goals of diversity and inclusion of the group for its future in Brazil.

In order to achieve goals such as those stipulated by GPA, it is essential that the company develops internal policies and specific processes so that these numbers are met and increase year after year. And it was with this in mind that GPA created the Women’s Leadership Development Program, which aims to increase the participation of women in leadership positions and encourage the company’s female employees to aspire to and achieve leadership positions.

The project is aimed at the company’s entire female audience and, according to GPA, has already reached approximately 700 women since its first edition, in 2019.

The participants go through workshops and conversation circles on the subject and, through the initiative, enter a process of leveling their knowledge on topics such as the development of skills necessary for the exercise of leadership and stimulation of a sense of understanding, which they offer to the employees the opportunity for self-development, with a focus on assuming leadership positions within GPA.

Within this theme, GPA made a more in-depth approach and started to have the Program for the Development of Black Women, created in 2022. The focus of the initiative is to advance racial and gender equity, offering complementary training to black women to sustain the development and professional growth within the company, encouraging their active participation. The program addresses topics that promote protagonism and appreciation of the potential of GPA’s black female employees, with a re-reading of the literature and learning experiences, in addition to the participation of specialists in the area.

“Commitment to diversity is intrinsic to the formation of GPA’s culture. Through initiatives like these, which have clear objectives and goals, we can commit to society, ensuring progress on a topic of great importance to everyone,” says Mirella Gomiero, Executive Director of HR, Sustainability and Technology at GPA.

According to GPA’s own data, 52% of the company’s employees are women and they already occupy 37% of the company’s leadership positions. The percentage of professionals who declare themselves to be black reaches 52% in the workforce and, among the leaders, 39%.

Source: Exam