Behind universal public policies, a less visible and more limiting effect can operate: the deepening of racial inequalities. It is based on this premise that a group of researchers and public managers created the “Anti-Racist Public Management Guide”, now launched by the publisher Jandaíra.
The book starts from the diagnosis that discrimination is not limited to explicit actions of discrimination, but also manifests itself in technical decisions, bureaucratic criteria and policy models that ignore initial inequalities. The work combines evidence with a roadmap of actions for managers seeking to reduce racial inequalities in access and results of public policies.
“Details in the design end up benefiting more those who were already benefiting”, says economist Michael França, academic coordinator of Insper’s Racial Studies Center, and one of the authors of the book, alongside Clara Marinho, Ellen da Silva, Giovani Rocha, João Caleiro, Karoline Belo and Lia Pessoa. O , with conversation with the authors.
França cites a study on the expansion of full-time education. The requirement for minimum infrastructure to join the program prioritized schools in central regions — generally whiter.
“It seems like a detail, but schools on the outskirts tend to have worse infrastructure, so it was the whiter schools that received more investment and were able to improve even more”, he explains. “This in itself already has an impact on the inequality of educational opportunities”, he assesses.
The logic is repeated in other areas. In health, universalist policies also produce unequal results.
“Every woman has the right to prenatal care, but there is a discretionary decision at the end that makes this care different for black women”, says Clara Marinho, licensed analyst at the Ministry of Planning and Budget. “They receive less anesthesia during birth and undergo more interventions. In other words, even before birth there are racial inequalities in the provision of public services.”
For the authors, policies designed as neutral tend to reproduce inequalities in an unequal society. “When the policy design arrives in a society with discrimination based on skin color, it causes a cascading effect on people’s lives”, says Clara.
The book also recovers the historical role of the State in the production of these inequalities — from the Land Law of 1850 to the absence of policies after abolition, passing through the ideology of racial democracy.
“During the formation of Brazil, a series of policies hindered the accumulation of capital by the black population”, says França. “This generates very profound intergenerational effects.”
According to him, inequality from the starting point — assets, location and access to services — remains decisive. “Black people are already at a disadvantage and still face additional costs throughout their lives because of discrimination.”
The guide focuses on practical guidance and argues that combating racism must permeate the entire state machinery, and not be restricted to specific areas.
“It’s not just policies with ‘racial equity’ in their name that have an impact,” says João Caleiro, researcher at the Lemann Foundation Programme, at the University of Oxford. “The book provides an overview of what an anti-racist public policy is in a more structured way, of what already exists and what can be done from the point of view of civil servants.”
Among the challenges highlighted are the production and qualification of racial data, the incorporation of social participation and the recognition that technical decisions are not neutral. The book also highlights the need to integrate policies into dimensions such as budget and taxation and to invest in the ongoing training of civil servants.
The guide also emphasizes individual responsibility within institutions. “It is possible to make decisions that make a difference. These are individuals who are within an institutional framework, but who have room for action”, says Marinho. “Our book goes in the direction of how to do it.”
Based on 16 interviews with professionals who work directly on this agenda, the authors identify five recurring challenges in everyday public management. The book also offers a practical guide with eight strategies applicable to public organizations at different stages of familiarity with the anti-racist agenda.
In a context in which public policies are often evaluated only by efficiency or coverage, the authors suggest broadening the look to who is left behind — and why. The bet is that this recognition will be the first step towards a State that not only avoids reproducing inequalities, but acts to reduce them.
