Promoting gender equality

The vocational course is dedicated to empowering women to build careers in the decorative paints and vehicle refinishes industries – which are traditionally male-dominated – and we were delighted to see 14 participants graduate as decorative painters before the end of the year.

Launched in 2021, when women were initially offered training in vehicle refinishing, the latest edition of the program built on that success and switched the focus to decorative painting. According to a survey from the Brazilian Association of Professional Painters, women represent only 10.5% of their members, clearly indicating that it’s a market where women are still looking for greater representation.

During the ten-week course, the women received comprehensive 360º tuition totaling more than 200 hours. The training was provided by SENAI, one of the five largest professional education organizations in the world and the largest in Latin America. An additional 30 hours of training was conducted by our own Coral Academy.

One of the graduates, Júlia dos Santos Silva, explained that she saw the program not just as an opportunity to learn a new profession, but a chance to obtain the necessary skills to paint and beautify her own house, without relying on anyone else. “I want to earn my own money and I learned that it is possible to take care of the house, my children and also work,” she said.

Following the graduation, one of the program’s partners – a company that provides professional painting services for buildings – hired seven of the women. Some of the other graduates have also started work as independent professionals offering house painting services and have been included on “Colored Pages”, Coral’s online portal designed to help people find a painter. In addition, Coral has launched the campaign “Renovate with them”, which aims to encourage society to hire women as painters and rethink how to support gender equality.