IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 49

Afro-Descendant Women in Brazil
and Peru: A Comparative Analysis
of Income, Work, and Education
Cássia Maria Carloto
Docent, Department of Social Service, State University of Londrina
Brazil

Jorge Rafael Ramírez
UEL Master’s of Social Service and Social Policy, CAPES grantee
Lima, Peru
Introduction

S

exism and racism are at the core
of social inequalities. Its manifestation are present in public and
private spaces; these and class exploitation energize and determine social relations. For Saffioti (1997:61), processes
of subjectivization-objectivization are
constantly subject to the ability-inability
to appropriate the fruits of human praxis,
not only with regard to it being divided
in social classes, but also due to gender
and ethnic/racial origins. Yet, the author
does not see those three frameworks as
totalitarian in nature or that they run
concurrently, but rather more like fundamental antagonisms that are intertwined “to form a knot.” They make
their own contradictions stand out, and
empower them. For Carlos Hasenbalg
and Nelson de Jesús Silva (2005, cited in
Dossiê de las Mujeres Negras, 2008:58),
the cumulative process of disadvantages
associated with discriminatory mecha-

nisms characterizes inequalities in Brazil. We could say the same for Latin
America. Factors that determine the inequalities should be observed while taking into account productive factors (for
example, education and experience).
Yet, the non-productive factors should
also be emphasized (the decisive effect
of skin color, sex, religion) in discriminatory phenomenon and segmentation. A
look at intersections in systems of subordination allows us to identify that sexism and racism work together. For Crenshaw (2002:173), just as all women are
subject to the weight of gender discrimination, there are also other factors related to their social identities. They are
things such as class, race, skin color,
ethnic or national origin, religion, and
sexual orientation. These are differences
that mark the way in which various
groups of women experience discrimination. Such differentiating elements can

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