Between displacement and protagonism: theoretical articulations between work, gender and race

Abstract

This papers aimed to analyze the intertwining of three categories: work, gender and race, exposing, through quantitative and qualitative data produced by researchers of racial thematic, the social arrangements that are responsible for the creation of a displacement or non-placement of women, Black and, especially, Black women as social actors in the workplace. The analysis of social indicators reaffirms that the work environment is not complacent to diversity. Differences in relation to the "pattern" individual - that is, White males - generate subaltern conditions in work insertion and in day-to-day dealings. We noted that there is a mutual reinforcement between racism and sexism, in the sense that there is a synergy between ethnic-racial domination and gender domination. This creates a scene in which nondominant groups seem to be circulating in territories belonging to other individuals, therefore, being displaced as actors. This to say that gender and race are elements that interact, producing unequal opportunities to different individuals. We intended to point out some strategies created by marginalized groups to fight discrimination, since we should not assume that these actors are necessarily passive and receptive to their given condition. Beyond the personal and collective strategies to confront discrimination, it is important to point out the indispensable role of anti-racist and anti-sexist social movements, as well as the role of public policies that promote race and gender equality in this matter.