Mulheres negras e a pós-graduação: presença de cientistas negras no Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (2008-2020)

Abstract

The higher education institutions, as well as the research field as a whole, were composed mostly for most of its history by men, being not only a male space but also a white space. From the seventies onwards, women began to integrate universities and occupy research more significantly, which has been improving year after year. However, they still suffer from the machismo and sexism present in the scientific career. Female researchers are outnumbered at the highest levels as productivity fellows, and also tend to take longer to reach prestigious positions compared to white males with the same qualifications. While in some areas women managed to achieve and even in others surpass men, in the Exact and Earth Sciences and Engineering the female presence is still very small. It is important to note that, when we talk about “women”, it is necessary to show that this is a broad category and those women who are managing to advance in their academic career and are starting to occupy these spaces of power within the academy are white women. By taking into account the markers of race, class and gender, we have a new design on the presence of women in higher education institutions and, in particular, in postgraduate courses, and on the difficulties faced in entering and continuing to carry out research in Brazil, and in the world. Thus, this work aims to analyze the presence of black women in postgraduate courses at the Center for Natural and Exact Sciences of the Federal University of Santa Maria/RS in the last twelve years. Based on the analysis carried out with data on the admission of black women in postgraduate courses at the Center for Natural and Exact Sciences of the Federal University of Santa Maria, we will bring possible factors that contribute to this situation, as well as the necessary actions in order to to seek to reduce this disparity.