Like many other countries, Brazil has a brutal history of racism. From the arrival of the first European settlers, indigenous peoples were massacred for hundreds of years. Brazil imported more slaves than any other country and was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888. And today, in a country where more than half of the population is black, black people hold fewer than 1 in 100 managerial positions. in companies, according to a study.
The fight for equality has picked up steam in recent years, fueled in part by a wave of affirmative action programs. In 2020, Magazine Luiza, a Brazilian retail giant with more than 1,400 stores, announced that the executive trainee program is only open to black candidates.
The announcement sparked a national debate. Many conservatives in Brazil criticized the company, calling the policy racist, while many on the left welcomed it. “We were ‘cancelled’ on social media, even by congressmen,” said Frederico Trajano, CEO of Magazine Luiza. But since then, a similar policy has “taken off” in Brazil, he said. “The number of new initiatives is impressive.”
In the United States, in recent years, companies like Google, Twitter and JP Morgan have introduced apprenticeship programs restricted to certain minorities intended as a way to create a more diverse pipeline of talent. But while wide-ranging efforts have been made to diversify the white-collar workforce at many U.S. companies, U.S. law generally prohibits job postings that show a race bias.
In Brazil, several recent court rulings have confirmed positive action policies, clarifying the law that companies can give preference to black and indigenous workers, said Elisiane Santos, a prosecutor with the federal prosecutor’s office. “It’s definitely legal,” she said.
As a result, companies have become more empowered. So when Laut, a research institute in São Paulo, placed its ad for a financial coordinator who “preferred” black and indigenous candidates, the move was hardly groundbreaking. It was even more surprising when, three days later, on Feb. 28, LinkedIn removed the ad and told Laut, the Center for the Analysis of Freedom and Authoritarianism, in an email that the listing violated its policy.
