Mulheres negras operadoras do direito no sistema de justiça: exceções que confirmam a regra

Abstract

This master’s degree dissertation developed in the Graduate Program in Psychology of the Federal University of Greater Dourados (PPGPsi- UFGD) sought to understand how black women who occupy high-prestige roles in Mato Grosso do Sul’s Justice System experience the intersection of both gender and racial discrimination in their life trajectories and professional. We have collected data by means of individual interviews with four women who self-declare as black, among which are prosecutors, defense attorneys, and lawyers. In the bibliographic selection we have opted, preferentially, for the perspective of black female authors. In the first chapter, we bring the researcher’s experience, reaffirming the importance of personal lived experiences as a form of knowledge, as defended by black feminist epistemology, which undergirds every step of the research. We have analyzed fragments of Brazilian history in order to understand the course taken by the myth of racial democracy, we’ve dealt with the themes of individual, institutional, and structural racism, and we’ve related the episodes with the framework of interseccional analysis. In the second chapter, we have demonstrated that due to the small, sometimes nonexistent, numerical presence of black women in prestigious roles, there are obstacles to this ascent. We’ve presented, through the trajectories of the participants, the barriers faced in their professional ascent and inclusion. We’ve conducted the analysis via the interpretation of meanings, relating their accounts with the social context. In the last chapter, we have highlighted four categories: education, violence, strength, and anger. We’ve realized during the study that the presence of these women in their professions is an act of resistance. Resistance to the barriers to reaching their positions, to keeping them, and to advancing in the career path. Even in favorable economic conditions, they are not spared from racism and sexism. Their biographies also tell us that the rise of a few black women does not equate mobility to the group, nor does it bring permanent social gain, as the places which were occupied by them, in their absence, must be attained anew by other women. In the individual ascent the challenges are still the same. Nonetheless, this inclusion does shake things up. These women are exceptions, displaying unique achievement in their trajectories and also confirming the rule that black women are constantly excluded from positions of prestige in the Justice System.