Focus on the women in the profession – a diversity imperative

When I started my career as a lawyer, I envisioned myself as head of legal or partner in a law firm, however I knew it would be a very difficult path, because there were only few women in those power roles in Chile at the time. That was because the local culture in the profession did not provide the flexibility and tools that are required so women can excel at their jobs and be able to build a family, combined with the strong unconscious bias that leading roles were exclusively reserved for men in Chilean legal industry.

Thankfully, I had the fortune to have great male mentors that appreciated what female lawyers had to contribute to a legal team, and most importantly, they understood the need to change course of the way the profession was understood to close the gaps and were willing to explore and discuss possibilities for greater flexibility.

We usually read that diverse teams perform better and in my experience that is a reality. It is not only a good idea to have a diverse team because of social justice, but also because the outcome is superior compared to homogenous team. I have the conviction that everything works better when we have diversity, understanding, and genuine appreciation of different points of view.

In-house legal teams should not only aim for diverse teams, but also to be agents of change within companies, pushing for inclusion and diversity at the different departments, and leading initiatives to promote equal opportunities for women in the workplace.

Nowadays we see some improvement in diversity and inclusion in legal teams in Chile, but there are still great challenges to tackle in this area. I strongly believe it is imperative for leading roles in legal teams to empower, mentor and lift young female lawyers, to increase female leadership in the legal profession.

It is truly an honor to work in a company such as Nestlé Chile that embraces diversity and promotes women in leading roles. Today, 40% of the leading roles in Nestlé Chile are filled by women. I hope many other companies in Chile walk the talk with this kind of numbers.