At least 12.5% of black women are in a situation of moderate and severe food insecurity. This is just one of the data brought by the latest report from the Brazilian Observatory of Inequalities, released this Tuesday (27), at an event in the Chamber of Deputies, in Brasília. Moderate food insecurity is when citizens have difficulty obtaining food. Severe food insecurity refers to hunger.
“What is striking is the clarity with which we perceive the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups [mulheres e pessoas negras]”, says Oded Grajew, member of the National Pact for Combating Inequalities. Still on the scale of food insecurity, 12.3% of victims are black men. Among non-blacks, this percentage is 5.8% for women, and 5.5% for men.
Other data from the report show, for example, that the average monthly income of black women is only 42%, when compared to non-black men. In fact, they are more unemployed (11.5%) than non-black men (5.2%).
Oded Grajew, who is also the founder and emeritus advisor of the Ethos Institute, believes that the combination of race and gender is the one that deserves the most attention. The report also highlights that there has been an increase in the proportion of indigenous children suffering from malnutrition: 16.1% among boys and 11.1% among girls.
“Fighting inequality means changing priorities and investing where it is most needed. It is important to give priority attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. In the case of Brazil, this is the black population and women,” he said. Grajew believes that although the situation has improved for the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the population, the situation has also improved for the richest.
“In some cases, inequality has remained the same and even increased. We created the National Pact to Combat Inequality because inequality is what creates a society of castes, conflicts and violence. The feeling of injustice is a poison for society,” he said.
Positive changes
The report not only raises concerns, but also indicates changes in the scenario. Among the positive data, it highlights a 40% drop in the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, with the largest reduction being among black women.
The document also states that there was a 20% drop in unemployment and a real increase in average income from all sources of around 8.3%. The proportion of black women aged 18 to 24 who are enrolled in higher education was 19.2%, which represented a growth of 12.3% compared to the previous year.
For him, the way forward would be to improve public policies and the fiscal and tax system so that resources are not directed to the richest. “All countries that advocate for a more egalitarian society have a fiscal and tax system that should be an instrument for reducing inequality.”
Perception of inequality
Another survey released this Tuesday, also in Brasília, was about the population’s perception of inequality in the country. The survey was delivered by the Sustainable Cities Institute and IPEC. One example is that the number of people who had to do extra work, such as part-time work, to supplement their income has decreased.
This number was 45% in 2022. Last year and in 2024, it is 31% (which would be equivalent to about 50 million people). The survey was conducted in more than 129 cities with 2,000 interviews.
“Between last year and now, this number of 31% has remained the same. So we are afraid that this will be a new normal where people have to have two jobs to support themselves,” says the coordinator of Institutional Relations at the Sustainable Cities Institute, Igor Pantoja.
On the other hand, the survey also showed that, in general, more than 70% of people have improved their living conditions compared to their parents. “But we also ask people, in the last five years, if they believe their housing situation, income and education have improved. The response rate is lower, but it is still positive,” he says.
The coordinator notes, however, that this perception of improvement is greater for the most privileged classes compared to people in classes D and E. “This inequality is still a problem. It is not enough for us to improve society as a whole, but it is important that those who are in a worse situation can improve even more.”
