Notwithstanding their higher degree of formal education, Brazilian women receive salaries that average 30% less than their male counterparts.
This information is part of the study, National System of Gender Information, based on the 2000 Census. The study was released yesterday, May 22, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
For the IBGE technical staff, this inequity is explainable in part by the greater occupation of women in the service sector and in low-paying, less qualified jobs.
The Center-West, Southeast, and South are the regions with the greatest concentration of women who earn less than 70% of what men earn.
The greatest degree of salary equality, according to the IBGE, was observed in the North and Northeast, where salaries are generally lower for members of both sexes.
The same regional differences prevail when race is considered. Salary disparities between whites, on the one hand, and blacks and mulattoes, on the other, are greatest in the Center-West, Southeast, and South and smallest in the North and Northeast.
According to the 2000 Census, blacks and mulattoes earn less than whites in all regions, with the difference attaining nearly 60% in some cases. For black women, the National System of Gender Information found that "the outlook is even bleaker, since they are the victims of double discrimination."
Agência Brasil
