Investigation into Leafin partnership with the FGV Financial Studies Center (Fundação Getulio Vargas), highlights that 85 organizations have chosen not to report information on the diversity of their employees in the 2025 reference forms of the CVM (Securities Commission), referring to 2024.
This number equates to 21% of the total universe analyzed, which included 403 medium and large publicly traded companies. The data gap is greater in management positions and on racial information, compared to that on team gender.
Casas Bahia, Rede D’Or, Minerva, Sendas, bought by the Assaí chain, Light, Emae (Empresa Metropolitana de Energia) and Comgás (Companhia de Gás do Estado de São Paulo) are among the companies that have not disclosed racist information about some of their employees.
GRU Airports, Guarulhos airport concessionaire, and Telebras are among those that omitted gender and race data.
The investigation identified cases in which, for a given position, the company did not report any employees in the standard categories for gender (female, male, non-binary, others) or for standard self-declaration (yellow, white, indigenous, brown, black and others), but at the same time reported a number of at least three people in the “no response” category.
In a statement, Casas Bahia said it conducts an annual census of its board members to collect demographic and diversity information, but did not explain why some members did not report racial information.
The Assaí channel, responsible for the former Sendas, said members of the supervisory board chose not to declare themselves regarding race and color.
Light and the Guarulhos airport concessionaire said they could not force their employees to self-report.
Similarly, Emae said information on race and color is self-reported and that it is strengthening its processes to encourage employee participation.
Minerva Foods said internal and external recruitment is open to all candidates interested in the positions and aims to broaden representation at all levels of the company. The company did not explain why some employees did not report race and color information.
Comgás said it had identified a systemic failure in recording board members’ responses and that the company would resubmit the correct responses to the platform.
Telebras said it is improving data collection mechanisms and that complete information will be available in future reports sent to the CVM.
THE Leaf He attempted to contact Rede D’Or, but received no response.
Since 2022, a CVM resolution has begun to demand more transparency from publicly traded companies regarding diversity indicators at each hierarchical level. The document provides information on self-reported identities of gender, color or race, age range, and other diversity indicators that the issuer deems relevant.
The rule provides for the option “I prefer not to respond” because this is information provided to the individual.
“Although the decision to self-declare rests with the individual, the lack of information can limit the comparability and effectiveness of diversity, equity and inclusion policies,” says the CVM, in a note.
Of the 85 companies that did not respond to this data, 82 omitted racial information from their teams, primarily regarding effective board members (in the case of 59 companies) and board of directors (38 companies).
Concerning gender, 24 companies did not declare this information for all of their employees. Within senior management, 18 companies did not communicate the gender of the effective members of the board of directors and 10, within the board of directors.
There have also been cases like that of WLM, a company that sells heavy machinery and vehicles, which did not report any information on gender and race at any of the hierarchical levels, but only on alternate board members.
When contacted for the report, the company did not explain why this information was missing.
“The higher you go in the hierarchy, the more difficult it is to collect this data. And the absence of data itself is the symptom either of an internal technical problem of collection, or, sometimes, of a lack of interest in leading this type of debate,” explains researcher Alexandre Nogueira, data coordinator at CebrapAfro.
He says the lack of information on diversity within teams makes it difficult to implement internal policies in companies aimed at inclusion. “This data is crucial for thinking about measures in favor of greater diversity in different economic sectors.”
In the case of Rede D’Or and meatpacking company Minerva, the report Leaf had already pointed out the lack of racial information from part of the team in the CVM 2024 reference sheets.
The new survey shows that these companies continue to not communicate the same data concerning managers and non-executives, in the case of Minerva, and concerning the board of directors and the effective and alternate members of the tax and administrative councils, in the case of Rede D’Or.
Maria Vitória Ramos, executive director of the NGO Ficam Sabendo and public transparency columnist at Folha, draws attention to the lack of data on diversity in public companies and public service concessionaires.
“This information should be available not only through the resolution of the CVM, but also through the public administration’s own control.”
Telebras, the Guarulhos airport concessionaire, Comgás, Light and Emae are among the companies on the list.
According to Ramos, transparency on this type of data can be used by groups to demand pay equity. “Instead of encouraging women to discuss their salaries one by one, for example, presenting this in a transparent way mobilizes a mass reorganization.”
In 2023, President Lula (PT) sanctioned the Equal Pay Law, which provides for equal pay between men and women occupying the same position, under penalty of a fine.
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