It is well known that women do not occupy senior positions in the corporate world to the same extent as men. In particular, fewer women than men become partners in law firms.
The same happens in IP firms—and if we look specifically at Latin America, the situation becomes even worse.
This issue has been, and still is, widely discussed but we know that it is difficult to change this state of affairs.
The ongoing debate about the ability of a specific legislative change to produce a certain social transformation is an interesting one. Two questions persist: does a new law drive social change? Or is it the other way around? Let’s take a look at what has happened lately at the legislative level in Argentina.
Laws in Argentina
To begin with, the Argentine Quota Law was enacted in 1991, which increased the representation of women in politics because it required that at least 30% of the candidates should be women.
In 2017, the Law on Gender Parity in Political Representation was enacted meaning that from 2019, all the lists of candidates for the Argentine National Congress must alternate male and female candidates to ensure equal participation in Congress (representatives and senators) and the parliament of the Mercosur trade bloc.
This raised the participation of women in these houses to 50% and ensured the ongoing equal participation of men and women.
In August 2020, the Register of Companies of the city of Buenos Aires issued a new rule that one third of the positions in the administrative and supervisory bodies (ie, directors and trustees) in corporations must be held by women.
In February 2021, the National Science, Technology and Innovation System Financing Law was passed, establishing the principle of equality when it comes to women and members of the LGBT+ community.
Conversely, the Argentinian Labor Law (1976) provides that the paternity leave term covers only two days following the birth of a child. Despite several proposals for amendment, no actual changes have been made to this provision so far.
”Things are changing: 20 to 30 years ago, the presence of female partners in IP firms in Argentina almost invariably meant they were related to the owners.”
Raquel Flanzbaum, Ojam Bullrich Flanzbaum
The IP world in Argentina
In Argentina, the issues facing women in the IP world do not differ greatly from those persisting in other law firms worldwide. Over the past decade, women have progressed although not all have done so at the desired (and often deserved) speed.
The picture in Argentina’s law firms continues to be depressingly familiar. A woman falls behind in her professional career because she has children or is perceived to be not as hard-working as her male counterparts if she works flexibly. Or worse, she is seen as “problematic” if she defends her salary firmly or asks for a pay rise.
For example, a young female lawyer comes back to the office to work full-time after having had one or two children and finds that a colleague who was her peer (who perhaps joined the firm at the same time) is being considered for a partnership. Meanwhile, she finds herself “frozen” in the same situation she was before—this is an all-too-common scenario in law firms.
Contrast this situation with a young male lawyer who perseveres in requesting a pay rise and, consequently, is not considered “difficult”, but rather young, energetic and ambitious. He is seen as “going places”. Again, this is a frequent occurrence.
But things are changing: 20 to 30 years ago, the presence of female partners in IP firms in Argentina almost invariably meant they were related to the owners.
Nowadays, women are considered for partnerships alongside men and are granted flexibility for a change in personal circumstances such as marriage and/or maternity leave—beyond the limited leave periods provided by the country’s labour law.
In this way, they have gradually come to occupy strategic positions such as managing partnerships or heads of the litigation or prosecution departments.
A by-product of the coronavirus pandemic has been that it has imposed working from home on men and women equally. This has created less disparity between men and women—the latter who may have previously been disadvantaged due to their desire to work from home—in the workplace.
Although we will probably return partly to the physical office once we have overcome the COVID-19 scourge, there is a general consensus that working from home will become increasingly adopted by everyone, regardless of gender, from now on.
Fact File
- 30%: the percentage of women that must be represented in politics according to the Argentine Quota Rule.
- 50%: The percentage dictated by the 2017 Law on Gender Parity in Political Representation that sees the Argentine National Congress alternate male and female candidates.
A personal perspective
In our firm we have dealt with the challenge of achieving gender equality in our own way, and we have always thought that there is no difference between men and women in the workplace.
We have asked: if legislative changes have begun to appear on other industries, then why not emulate them in our field? And if some changes have not happened yet, why can’t we be disruptive and make them happen ourselves?
We have never thought in terms of race, gender, religion or any other characteristic. Instead, we have given pre-eminence to the personal and professional skills of a candidate.
Consequently, our team contains 27 women out of a total of 32 members. Out of nine senior associates, seven are women; there are four women partners and three men; and two of the three name partners are women.
We consider what a person can bring to our teams, and their skillset. The blind hiring process is an interesting way to build teams, as it destroys prejudices and offers the possibility to acquire talents without conditions of any kind, including gender-based ones.
Consistent with this approach, we have kickstarted innovative policies on maternity and paternity leave, which put both parents on an equal footing following the arrival of a child. These policies go far beyond what is required by the legal provisions in force in our country, which have become completely antiquated.
Finally, we have made a formal commitment to obtain the certification as a ‘B Corporation’, so that we can be even more inclusive and equal. Certified B Corporations are new types of businesses that balance purpose and profit because they are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
In summary, fewer women than men become partners in law firms and in Latin America this disproportion tends to be greater than elsewhere. But legislative changes push social transformation—and while women have progressed in IP law firms, there is much we can do from our own positions to drive change.
Raquel Flanzbaum is a partner at Ojam Bullrich Flanzbaum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She can be contacted at: rflanzbaum@ojambf.com
Image: Shutterstock / Syda Productions
