Brazil's Black scholars and executives remain severely underrepresented

A study of sport‑science publications between 2018 and 2022 found that only 1.3% of authors were Black, with less than 1% occupying first‑ or last‑author positions that denote research leadership. Women Black researchers were even rarer at 0.34% of authors. The analysis of 1,737 articles and 11,158 authors, led by Professor Claudio Andre Barbosa de Lira of the Federal University of Goiás and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, attributes this disparity to systemic racism, limited access to senior research roles, language barriers and funding gaps.

Parallel data on Brazil's labour market show that only about 3% of the Black population holds senior leadership roles, and the proportion of Black women in executive positions is markedly lower. Black female executives report isolation in decision‑making bodies, heightened scrutiny, and challenges balancing motherhood with career advancement, underscoring entrenched structural exclusion across academia and corporate Brazil.