An unprecedented research, conducted by the organization and the Black Women’s Movement decide, mapped points that make black parliamentary advisors difficult to access decision -making positions in the National Congress, such as the feeling of invisibility.
Based on the numbers raised by Legislat Brazil via transparency portals of Congress houses, there are about 15,000 parliamentary advisors. For the research were interviewed, confidentially and anonymously, 60 black parliamentary advisors, 34 women and 26 men. Three act in the Senate, and 57 in the House of Representatives. Of the total, only 5 are cabinet chiefs.
The sample of 60 advisors was based on people who agreed to participate in the survey. To reach them, in different offices, it was necessary to trigger a network of contacts, which points to one of the study issues: in the legislature.
“I am the only black person in the cabinet. And when I arrived at Congress, I faced invisibility. […] It was me, the deputy and another advisor. They are greeted. I don’t, “said an aide.
The content of the interviews has a pattern, even in various profiles of advisors, challenges faced by them, such as institutional racism, perception of poor influence on mandates, emotional vulnerability, gender violence in the legislative environment and restricted agenda, human rights and public safety.
“These standards of invisibility happen independently whether it is a left, right or center mandate,” says the researcher of Legislat Brazil and UnB, Synthia Maia, one of the authors of the research.
Professional instability, since most are commissioned, was another much mentioned factor. The fact that you think it can be fired at any time, regardless of how competent it is, causes these people to get sick and feel racism in different ways.
The choice of respondents for the study, which will be launched this Thursday (4), at 14h, in the House, considered the territory, parties, occupied functions and localities of action (congress or territorial bases of the mandates). Of the total, 49 (81.7%) work within Congress and 11 (18.3%) in parliamentary bases in different territories, which makes them even further from the center of decisions.
From a party point of view, the people interviewed are distributed among 14 parties: PT (29 advisors), PSOL (7), PSB (5), Union (3), MDB (2), PP (2), PL (2), among others.
Also according to the survey, among the interviewees, 41.4% are inserted in class D (income of two to four minimum wages), and 44.8% in class C (four to ten minimum wages). None of them are in class A (plus 20 minimum wages) and few in class B (10 to 20 minimum wages). In contrast, the sample men are present in all lace bands.
. “In addition to racism, institutional misogyny lends upon it,” says Synthia Maia, from Legislat Brazil.
For Fabiana Pinto of black women decide, black women who are advisors face the double weight that refers to both gender and race. “In the interviews are narrated episodes of harassment, sexual harassment, from the exercise of the power of masculinity,
For changes to occur, research recommends, for example, that legislative houses create and strengthen autonomous ombudsmen to defend racial equality.
For the parties, one of the proposals is that they guarantee, as a general secretary and treasury, with real decision-making power, as well as establishing diversity councils in party and benches.
In the mandates, the recommendation is to create qualified listening spaces to listen to teams on race and microviolence issues, ensuring concrete and devolutive referrals.
