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Contribution to Social Sustainability and the Gender Equality at Public Universities: Women Empowerment in the Brazilian Context

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Sustainability in Practice

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

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Abstract

Organizations worldwide are facing challenges in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrating the 2030 Agenda, defined by the United Nations (UN). Among these goals, it is the SDG 5 on gender equity (GE), which addresses the need to increase the necessary skills for workers to achieve empowerment and leadership in management positions. Full and effective participation with equal opportunities to women to occupy leadership positions in all sectors of society must be guaranteed, reducing gender inequality, thus allowing social sustainability to be accomplished. Slowly but gradually, the understanding about the SDG 5 is gaining strength in the context of the Brazilian society. With the slogan “The woman’s place is wherever she wants!”, the Brazil’s women seek to guarantee equal rights and opportunities. With women representing 51.8% of the Brazilian population, the GE in Brazil is a significant daily achievement. An exploratory study was conducted to collect the data, through a quantitative and qualitative descriptive approach. This chapter will connect the women empowerment (WE) with the effective occupation of the top career positions at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). This subject is an important issue in the social sustainability context in a public university in the north-eastern region of Brazil. The chapter will discuss the GE as proposed by the UN in SDG 5, based on the fact that 45.8% of high hierarchical positions at UFBA are occupied by women, therefore illustrating the WE as part of the social responsibility’s trajectory towards the full achievement of societal sustainable development.

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Acknowledgements

Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis, and Nelson Barros would like to demonstrate their gratitude for the support of the Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit of FP-ENAS under the project UID/MULTI/0546/2019.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Praça Nove de Abril, 349, 4249-004, Porto, Portugal

    Rives Rocha Borges

  2. Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Rua Augusto Viana, s/n – Palácio da Reitoria, Canela, Bahia, 41825-904, Brazil

    Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis

  3. UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit (FP-ENAS), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Praça Nove de Abril, 349, 4249-004, Porto, Portugal

    Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis & Nelson Barros

Authors
  1. Rives Rocha Borges
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  2. Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis
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  3. Nelson Barros
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rives Rocha Borges .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Cidade Industrial de Curitiba, Positivo University, Curitiba, Brazil

    Fernanda Frankenberger

  3. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUC-PR), Curitiba, Brazil

    Ubirata Tortato

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Borges, R.R., Dinis, M.A.P., Barros, N. (2023). Contribution to Social Sustainability and the Gender Equality at Public Universities: Women Empowerment in the Brazilian Context. In: Leal Filho, W., Frankenberger, F., Tortato, U. (eds) Sustainability in Practice. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34436-7_2

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