[{"jcr:title":"Women in Action strengthens female leadership throughout the year","cq:tags_0":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper","cq:tags_1":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper/institucional"},{"richText":"During Women’s Month, Insper’s program reinforces that March 8 is a milestone — and invests in networks, development, and shared responsibility to sustain gender equity year-round","authorDate":"08/03/2026 08h00","madeBy":"Por","tag":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper/institucional","title":"Women in Action strengthens female leadership throughout the year","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"vermelho / preto / amarelo"},{"themeName":"vermelho / botao preto / tag amarelo","backgroundColor":"rgb(229,5,5)"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"March often concentrates attention on gender equity — and, precisely because of that, it also raises an uncomfortable question: why does visibility still depend on the calendar? At Insper, this question has guided the work of Women in Action (WIA), a strategic program created to inspire, support, and empower female talent in technology, business, and law. “We shouldn’t come together only because of March 8. This needs to be continuous, organic, with a natural rhythm,” says Carolina Fouad, Executive Manager of Partnerships and program lead at Insper. The challenge, in her words, is to build an ecosystem in which women are visible year-round — in every panel, agenda, and field. This vision is reinforced by Tania Haddad, President of Insper’s Board and sponsor of WIA. “Gender equity is not a one-off issue. It is a strategic agenda, because diversity improves decision-making, strengthens innovation, and expands opportunities,” she says. This premise drives the program to move beyond awareness and create concrete conditions for female talent to develop, gain visibility, and expand access to professional networks and role models. To achieve this, WIA has adopted a transversal approach as its core method. Carolina acknowledges that initiatives focused on female leadership risk becoming isolated efforts — a single major event, meaningful conversations, but little continuity. The response was to change how the program operates: instead of positioning itself as a standalone initiative, it began coordinating actions with internal areas such as the Career Center, Human Resources, and Insper’s Diversity team. This integration gained structure with the creation of a transversal committee that brings together leaders from different areas — including faculty and executives — on a monthly basis to discuss priorities and next steps. “The goal is to keep women active in every panel, every event, every day of the year,” Carolina summarizes. In practice, this transversal approach has repositioned Women in Action within the school, explains Lívia Raimundo, who oversees the program’s operations. “We’ve been able to coordinate opportunities and events in a more robust way and increasingly position ourselves as an institutional program,” she says. According to her, this movement expands access to Insper’s broader ecosystem and strengthens connections across areas, while also generating concrete outcomes: “We see opportunities materializing and connections turning into partnerships.” For Lívia, the program’s key differentiator is turning intention into real access. “What matters most is opportunity,” she says. According to her, WIA aims to create experiences and connections with tangible outcomes — such as projects with startups led by women. “There is a significant advantage in having a place within the school where initiatives for women are centralized,” she adds, noting that this helps guide students and connect them with opportunities. From its origins to the next cycle WIA began to take shape in 2021 and was launched in 2022 under the name Women in Tech. In April 2025, it underwent a repositioning that expanded its scope beyond technology to include business and law. The change broadened its reach: the network grew, engagement with students and faculty deepened, and the balance between the internal community and external market dialogue strengthened. Starting in 2024, a stronger internal activation effort at Insper — with more direct communication and listening spaces — led students, staff, and faculty to actively seek out the program to share expectations and identify areas where the institution could improve. From this combination of network-building, development, and applied experiences, concrete initiatives emerged: mentorship programs, discussion circles, and the Lidera Program, which connects students with real challenges in startups led by women. Another highlight is the Women in Action Award, created to recognize leadership and projects in social and technological innovation — in its first edition, it reached national scope, with applications from 12 Brazilian states. “The program creates conditions for more women to build their repertoire, occupy spaces, and access professional role models,” summarizes Tania Haddad. In 2026, the calendar is structured around two key milestones. On April 8, the ceremony for the 2nd Women in Action Award is scheduled — with 159 applications received this year, nearly double the number from the previous year. In October or November, the Action Summit will bring together the academic community and market leaders for panels and discussions on relevant topics in the professional world. Between these major events, the program maintains a continuous agenda of transversal committee meetings, mentorship, discussion circles, and new partnerships under development — evaluated according to minimum commitments to equity, ensuring alignment between WIA’s purpose and its partners. Looking at the broader landscape, Carolina sees progress in women’s participation. There is a growing number of companies with continuous programs, targets to increase female representation in leadership positions, formal diversity committees, and revised recruitment practices. “There are organizations already implementing affirmative initiatives and adjusting their talent attraction processes to reflect diversity in everyday practice,” she says. Even when change is not immediate, she notes an important effect: “At the very least, it creates discomfort and reflection, which paves the way for future change.” At this point, Carolina proposes a critical shift: building a more equitable ecosystem cannot happen in isolation. “Our goal is to engage more men and avoid events where only women are present, because that is not the intention,” she says. This perspective aligns with movements such as HeForShe: women and men leading together. For Tania Haddad, this shared responsibility is what sustains diversity initiatives and drives lasting cultural change. “Sustainable progress happens when responsibility is shared: this is not a ‘women’s issue’, but a collective effort,” she says. The ultimate goal of Women in Action is precisely this: a context in which these conversations no longer require deliberate effort — where women participate in panels, committees, and decision-making spaces without it being seen as exceptional."}]