Women leading CADE

Discussions of gender in the antitrust agenda is a prominent subject in significant venues in Brazil and abroad. Since 2018, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) develops and supports projects to understand how gender analysis can add to more effective competition policies.  That resulted, in 2021, on the OECD Gender Inclusive Competition Policy project. Correspondingly, CADE has the majority of its decision-making positions currently held by women.

At the Office of the President of the agency, women occupy positions of head of office, namely the head of the office of the presidency (Ana Luiza Mahon), the head of communications unit (Juliana Somogyi), the head of the international unit (Carolina de Andrade) and head of the audit unit (Marcia da Rosa Pereira). The Office of the Planning and Management Director is also lead by a woman (Mariana Boabaid) with two other women on the team in the positions of managers of the personnel unit (Cristina Portela) and the logistics unit (Luana Santana).

At the Office of the General Superintendent, responsible for the majority of the demands on the final activities of the agency, the coordination of activities of merger and cartel analyses are also carried out by women. Two out of the three coordinations for cartel investigations are headed by women, more precisely by Raquel Mazzuco (at the CGAA6) and Fernanda Machado (at the CGAA8). Similarly, the female gender prevails amongst three out of the five head positions at the coordinations for merger reviews and unilateral conducts. The heads of coordinations are Carolina Helena (at the CGAA1), Lilian Marques (at the CGAA2) and Patrícia Cabral (at the CGAA3). Furthermore, the Deputy Superintendent is a woman, Patrícia Sakowski, who is responsible for all the coordinations for merger analysis, therefore deciding on transactions that sum over BRL 100 billion per month.

The aforementioned are only part of the women occupying leadership positions at CADE. They are also holding positions in other units, such as at the Office of the Attorney General at CADE, the Department of Economic Studies and the Tribunal.

Considering this context, we can only state that women rule CADE. Nowadays, they are the ones deciding on the most relevant merger and acquisitions and investigations of anticompetitive conduct of Brazil. That show us women are gaining more space over time and, within its power, CADE works to expand women participation in leading positions.

Topics constantly identified as impeding women rise to leading positions, such as pregnancy and maternity leave, are not at all considered as an obstacle by CADE. In fact, at least three civil servants have been promoted during or after their maternity leaves. Besides, although some researches show a pattern of women dismissal up to 24 months after their maternity leave, that is not the case at CADE. The civil servants in leading positions do not face difficulties to retake their positions after the leave period. 

Such accomplishments may seem small, but they represent an undeniable progress. Gender discussions are far from a definite ending – within the context of the antitrust authority and the labour market as whole – but it is heartening to note that CADE does not disregard it and perharps works at the forefront of gender equality within this context.