The Space and Role of Black Women in Brazilian Diplomacy
Elaine Gomes is a diplomat (second secretary) assigned to the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations, where she deals with, among other topics, combating racism. She received a scholarship from the IRBr Affirmative Action Program and joined SEB through the decotas system. She holds a master’s degree in strategy (Master of Arts in International Affairs-Strategic Studies), with merit, from King’s College London. This article was written by Gomes especially for issue 107 of the WBO weekly newsletter, dated Mars 8, 2024. To subscribe to the newsletter, enter your email in the field below.
In March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This article is an invitation to reflect upon the past, present, and future of Afro-descendant women in Brazil, especially with regards to their representation in Brazil’s Foreign Service (SEB).
When assessing the situation of people from African descent (Black and Brown people) in Brazil, it is imperative to acknowledge that the past still shapes many aspects of Brazilian society. Formerly enslaved Africans were not fully included in society when they became free men and women. No reparations were given to them or their descendants, who, until then, were dehumanized to the point of being considered property. Access to land, paid work, and education were made difficult for them in the late nineteenth century, when positivist ideas reinforced determinist theories associating black people with immorality, lack of intelligence, and violence: negative stereotypes that linger until today. Twentieth century cultural relativism and multiculturalism inspired theses that, attempting to overcome the pessimistic fate that racial determinism had decreed to Brazilian society, went too far to suggest that Brazil was a racial democracy, an idea that, for decades, prevented, and, to some extent, still prevents, Brazilian society from facing its contradictions.
One of the fundamental goals in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution is promoting the good for all. Achieving such a goal with regards to racial equality entails detangling the knots that bind Brazilian society, while keeping the largest part of its population marginalized, and building a network of solidarity with opportunities for all. Some 55.5 percent of Brazilians self-identify as Afro-descendants, and female Afro-descendants account for a third of Brazil’s population. Data evincing the lingering effects of the past on Brazilian Afro-descendants living in the present abound. Their income is, on average, 60 percent of the income of white people. Female Afro-descendants income corresponds to 60 percent of white women’s and less then 45 percent of white men’s. The number of white women undergraduates is two times higher than the percentage of female Afro-descendants holding this degree. Income and education are unavoidable passports to access goods and services necessary to entering the high echelons of the civil service. Being conscious of these figures is key to better understanding data on Black women in the Brazilian civil service, especially in SEB.
“The largest group in Brazilian society represents 3.23 percent of all the diplomats (51 of 1578) and 13.85 percent of women diplomats (51 of 368)”
Elaine Gomes, diplomat (second secretary) assigned to the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations
Since 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Relations (Itamaraty) has been releasing reports on race and gender of the SEB personnel. The second edition of the report on race, published last February, is very revealing of the (under)representation of Black women in SEB. The largest group in Brazilian society represents 3.23 percent of all the diplomats (51 of 1578) and 13.85 percent of women diplomats (51 of 368). This disparity would have been even more severe if affirmative action policies, such as Instituto Rio Branco’s scholarship program for Afro-descendants (since 2002) as well as Laws 12.711/2012 and 12.990/2014, which established quotas in public universities and in the public service, had not been implemented. Regarding the positions of these women in the diplomatic career, the report shows that, currently, there are no Black women ambassadors on the regular track and that 78.43 percent (40 of 51) of them are concentrated in low-ranking positions up to first secretary, a side effect of the implementation of affirmative action programs only from the years 2000 onwards and their focus on the entrance of Afro-descendants into Itamaraty.
The release of the report, which is based on self-identification, is welcome. In shedding light on the situation of Black women, Itamaraty takes a necessary step towards thinking of ways of overcoming disparities. We can only overcome a challenge if we first recognize that it exists. The document is part of a broader positive approach to diversity, which has been taken by the current administration, encompassing other measures, such as the establishment of a System for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion, an Advisory Body on Diversity and Social Participation, as well as the nomination of a high-level Representative for Gender Issues. It is worth mentioning that female Afro-descendants are around 10 percent of the chancellery officers, and 24 percent of the chancellery assistants. The evident underrepresentation of female Afro-descendants in SEB, especially among diplomats, underscores the fact that the affirmative action policies in course need to be improved and complemented with additional measures in order to have tangible impact on today’s reality, and the current administration has been expressing commitment with this agenda.
In a speech delivered on the last November 20, celebrating Black Awareness Day in Brazil, Minister Mauro Vieira expressed his commitment to prioritizing the leadership and the career advancement of Afro-descendants, especially Black women. Looking into the future, let us recall that in 2024 the United Nations General Assembly decided to proclaim a second International Decade for People of African Descent. May Brazil seize this opportunity to consistently enhance the representation of women of African descent in SEB, especially in the positions and careers where they are most underrepresented, and to give them means of meaningfully participating in the implementation of Brazilian foreign policy.
The views expressed here are personal and do not represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
