After exchanging our research presentations with an auditorium of activist groups and participants, our group grabbed some snacks with university students involved with an exchange program for Washington, DC internships. I spent most of my time speaking with a young Afro-Brazilian woman, a student of the program whose focus is on Hospitality and Tourism.
She spoke about the difficulty of getting into universities in Brazil. She noted that many Afro-Brazilians attend public high schools which are ill equipped to prepare them for university entrance exams and attendance at the prestigious public universities. Moreover, scholarship awards are scarce so they are incredibly competitive. Nevertheless, she is several semesters into her studies and looks forward to working with young black women in hospitality and tourism upon graduation. Her interest in this field stems largely from her recognition that black women are often not chosen for reception and other service positions because they are said to not have the right look. Indeed, it is common for employers to express a preference for fairer women with straight hair. She added that improved education for black women would mean better handling of English, which is quite marketable in the tourism industry. As it stands, she commented, many black women may be recruited to wear the traditional white dress of Salvador, but there is often a white spokeswoman accompanying them to translate for English-speaking tourists. It’s a scene she recently observed in the Salvador airport, and she noted that it made her feel quite upset that the black women were used as caricatures and had no agency in their performance because they could not speak English. My companion also lamented the behavior of a black women recently appointed to plan a governor’s celebration. The appointee wore clothing that revealed her mid- section. My companion found this quite disconcerting. She felt this was an incredible opportunity for a black woman to show Brazil that they could be taken seriously in this arena, but the planner had instead lived up to certain stereotypes.
We then got into a discussion about the tension between making inroads in hospitality and conforming to the established standards of beauty or language or dress. She acknowledged that this was indeed a problem and one she’d need to think about as someone who wished to work with young women seeking to gain entry into this industry. What should this strategy look like? In recognizing the history of discrimination in hospitality and administration, I think it’s extremely important to name the way discrimination has occurred. If it has to do with hair texture and that is named, the intervention can be one which does not reify that prejudice. Perhaps English should not dominate the airport welcomes. In breaking employment ceilings, I think it’s important to be conscious of methods which mark and reject a race and gender stereotype or discriminatory preference as illegitimate.
