According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), currently the non-white population (Black and Mixed Race) represents 56.3% of the Brazilian population. Given such numbers, it would be expected that this proportion would be reflected when analyzing some indexes, giving support to the idea that Brazil lives a situation of ‘Racial Democracy’ (an expression that defines a state in which there is full equality in society, regardless of race, color or ethnicity of its population).
Looking at the various levels of education of the population, according to the table, it can be noticed that 75% of the illiterate population is black. In the group of individuals with a bachelor´s degree, the number falls to 34% (IBGE, 2019).
As a consequence of such numbers, it can be noticed that the rate of unemployment of the non-white population is constantly higher than that of the white population, reaching a difference of five percentage points in the years of 2017 and 2018 (IBGE, 219). When analyzing average salaries, not only is the difference 78% in 2019, but it raised in all of the seven previous years (IBGE, 2019).
From this analysis, we can notice that Brazil faces a reality of obvious Racial Inequality.
This is the consequence of a complex historical context, in which the enslavement of black people was only possible because the notion that they belonged to a biologically inferior race, which justified a social stratification (Scientific Racism), was widely publicized. Therefore, even after the abolition of slavery in Brazil, this population was defined as a “problem of humankind”, that needed to be solved trough the mixing with the white race as a form a “cleansing” (GÉLEDES, 2021).
This picture reinforces the idea that racism is a complex and structural, problem, meaning: “making actions, habits, situations, speeches and thoughts that promote, directly or indirectly, segregation and prejudice, seem natural” (Brasil de Direitos, 2021). Therefore, the celebration of a Black Awareness day something that is pressing and necessary, as a moment of thought and of respecting all individuals who are directly affected by such historical social inequality.
The quest for the creation of a special date to celebrate the union and the fight of the black population for equality started decades ago. There is documentation of attempts to create such date in the calendar in the 1970’s, for example. However, Law no 12.519 from the 10th of November 2011 officially created the Black Awareness Day in Brazil. And this day was also chosen to represent the day when Zumbi dos Palmares (a leader of a community of runaway slaves) was killed (Brazil Escola, 2021).
Welcome, we are CÓR group
Given this situation, we know that racial inequality is a reality in our country and, as a company, we must play our part to build a better and more egalitarian society.
At Falconi, we have reaffirmed our genuine commitment to the issue of Color and Race. As such, we became signatories of the UN Global Pact, having adopted, among other SDGs, our commitment to SDG 10 – Inequality Reduction, and SDG – Gender Equality.
But how can we turn these goals into effective measures?
The first step is to identify the problem. So, at Falconi we conducted our first Internal Census in 2019, a measure that is now performed annually.
Doing so, we noticed that, while 56.3% of the Brazilian population is black (black and mixed race) (IBGE, 2019), we have only 18.7% of black people in our team (Internal Census, 2021).
Further analyzing the problem, we can see that the representation of black people is higher in lower positions (36%), compared to leaders in our company (17%) (Internal Census 2021).
In order to increase representation in our team, and to make our working environment more inclusive to black individuals we created CÓR: a group that has the objective of embracing, debating and working for a Falconi that is more racially diverse and that offers egalitarian entrance and carrier advancement opportunities, regardless of ethnicity and race.
The group actions are concentrated in the pillars of: Racial Education, Attraction and Selection, Growth and Development, Alignment and Engagement.
Among the actions that were carried out in 2021, a highlight was the Programa Jovem Falconi Diversa (Young Diverse Falconi Program): the first occurrence of our selection process aimed at hiring black interns.
And so, just like for us, have your eyes sparkled with this action? What about transforming society, together with us? Get in touch in the e-mail [email protected]
