The CEO of the TEMA LITOCLEAN Group talks about her experience as a manager in a male-dominated industry.
The sciences and engineering continue to be a male-dominated field. According to data from the Ministry of Education, the presence of women in university careers in these fields is less than 30%. At TEMA LITOCLEAN, on the other hand, this percentage exceeds 40%, although the majority of its staff are professionals in these fields.
The TEMA LITOCLEAN Group is the sum of TEMA, a consulting firm specializing in Industrial Safety and the Environment, and LITOCLEAN, an engineering company specializing in the investigation and decontamination of contaminated soils, with an annual turnover of 12 million euros. Its CEO is a woman, Begoña Mundó, which is not unusual for a business group in which there are more women than men in management positions.
Mundó talks about her career as a manager and the barriers women face in accessing decision-making positions.
– Before becoming a manager, you were an entrepreneur. You seem to like challenges.
Yes, I started working as a freelancer, carrying out projects related to contaminated soils. I worked for several companies, including TEMA, until at a certain point they decided to invest more in this sector and I happened to represent an American company that had specialized machinery and we decided to buy the equipment together. From then on, I became a partner in LITOCLEAN and began my work as manager of the company. I have been CEO of the entire group for four years now.
– How has it been your path as a woman manager?
It is a very complicated path because you always have to prove that you are worth more than others, even to ourselves, because we are educated that way and we have to prove to ourselves that we are better.
– Are you used to meeting other managers in your industry?
No, not at all, although, fortunately, in the last few years I have been meeting more and more of them and there is an instant empathy with them. For a long time I was the only one.
– And what was the treatment of your male counterparts?
Paternalistic in many cases. “What is this girl doing here” is the usual and obvious attitude.
– Do you have any anecdotes?
Of course. I remember one that is not so old, about 10 years ago. I went with a colleague to a meeting to explain the details of a project we were going to carry out. I took the lead because I was the one who knew the project best and I was also the superior, but the civil engineer in front of me did not address me at any time, did not look at me or talk to me, only exchanged comments with the person who accompanied me, who was a man. His attitude was very blatant, to the point that my colleague, when the meeting was over, told me that he had had a bad time and that he had not known how to react.
– What are the barriers women face in accessing leadership positions?
The main one is that you are not taken seriously, it does not seem possible that a woman can be right in a technical discussion, for example, and you have to prove to know and be worth twice as much.
– Do women have a different style of managing teams?
It is said that women are more inclusive and less competitive or aggressive than men. To some extent, I think it also has to do with the way we have been brought up, but leadership style always depends on the person. Maybe there were more visible differences before, but I think the way to be a good leader has changed and we in the group have men in decision-making positions who are as empathetic and inclusive as anyone else.
– What does it take to be a good manager?
You have to put yourself at the level of your workers and the problems that arise on a daily basis. It is important to be very involved, especially in our case, since we are a service company and we all have to work together on the projects we develop. I think the profile of the manager has evolved and we no longer believe in the pyramidal structure that used to reign in the past.
– Is having a gender perspective also important in these positions?
Yes, of course, equality in the workplace is extremely important. I believe that in our company we comply with it and promote it, and the data support us, but perhaps we should look beyond what we see. There are things that you realize as the years go by, with the progress of society itself. With housework and caregiving and going out into the labor market, for example, we have all done multitasking work that we were not aware of, because we had been educated for it. I believe that equality exists in TEMA and LITOCLEAN, but there is always a long way to go.