From glass to concrete: configuring the dynamics of gender and racial inequality in the Federal District public service

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the trajectories of Black women in the public service of the Federal District, considering both the structural dimension of gender and racial inequalities and the individual paths that shape their experiences of social mobility. It is based on the premise that education plays a central role in this process, functioning as a resource and a means of social advancement within a context historically marked by the exclusion of the Black population in Brazil. The methodology was based on semi-structured interviews with four Black women public servants, whose narratives reveal that, despite their educational and professional achievements, intersectional forms of oppression impose rigid barriers to the full occupation of these spaces. It is observed that the intersection of gender and race produces inequalities that permeate their trajectories, such that, although they attain high levels of education and occupy certain professional positions, these women remain subjected to forms of oppression that delimit socially possible positions and impose limits on their full advancement.