Get to know Cosan’s gender equality goals for the S of Social

The United Nations has been focused on the progress in gender equality and defined  the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) 5 as – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. More recently, legal reforms promoting gender equality started to be approved by governments; more girls are getting their education and fewer being forced into early marriage, more women are serving in congress and leadership positions. But despite these accomplishments, there is still a lot of work to be done.

In Brazil, although women achieve a higher level of education when compared to men and 50% of are responsible for supporting their families, the wage gap is huge. Looking at the the equal pay ranking, the country is among one of the last positions among all American continents.

When it comes to leadership positions, the difference is as high as 23%. One could argue that in this case it only affects a small portion of the population, since only 3% of the highest positions are held by women (sic) which makes the combination even worst. Note that according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), should there be gender equality in labor relations, global GDP would grow by 35%.

The Global Compact Brazil Network has therefore created a movement called Equidade é Prioridade: Gênero (in english, Equality is Priority: Gender) aiming at establishing clear goals for companies as part of the initiative, to promote the inclusion of women in senior leadership in the country. Organizations can make a commitment to have either 30% women in top leadership positions by 2025 or 50% by 2030.

Member of the Global Compact, committed to the sustainable development of its businesses and the country, Cosan is part of that debate. We are publicly committed to increasing equality. Currently, our team consists of 54% of men and 46% of women, which are, arguably good figures compared to the Brazilian standard. But we want to go beyond. We have already increased the female presence in operational, administrative, and management positions, we are part of the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index (GEI), and by 2025, our senior leadership will be made of at least 30% women.

More than targeting numbers, we focused in developing this culture within our portfolio. As a holding company, we promote and encourage diversity, but we also understand the specifics of each business. To promote diversity and gender equality, each company committed to specific goals, as described below:

We chose the 30% target as we believe this pave the way for progress towards the inclusion of other minority groups in our team and we intend to improve every day, looking into a diverse future – after all, Cosan is for &veryone.

Click here to read the 2020 Sustainability Report and learn more about Cosan’s sustainable agenda.