This article analyses the views of female Brazilian executives who have reached the top of the organizational hierarchy on the challenges they face in their careers. The theoretical framework discusses career success determinants: structure, human capital, family, socioeconomic factors, investment in career and reward expectations. The article is based on a quantitative-qualitative methodological approach. The quantitative research collected data from 965 people, of whom 222 were female managers, from 344 of Brazil’s largest corporations. The qualitative research is based on 263 interviews, of which 48 are with women, in 10 large corporations from several economic sectors. Results show that there are enormous obstacles to female careers: deep-rooted prejudice; biological pressure to have children; overload, with concerns relating to their children versus over-long working hours; difficult relations with their partners. Despite everything, even though they are unsatisfied with the lack of balance between working and non-working times, female executives do not intend giving up their careers.
Female executives; career and family; career and motherhood; career and the partner; prejudice
