Experiences of Brazilian professional women with kinky hair in the workplace

Prejudicial treatment based on physical traits associated with African heritage – such as skin color, nose shape, lip size, and hair texture – is widespread in Brazil. These episodes occur across personal and professional domains and reflect what scholars term mark-racism, a form of discrimination based on visible phenotypic traits. Despite extensive research on racism in Brazil and internationally, little attention has been paid to discrimination targeting phenotypic characteristics in workplace settings. In this study, we explore the experiences of Black women with kinky hair in professional settings, situating these within the intersecting influences of family, community, and workplace cultures adopting an interpretative approach through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) racial identity (re)construction: empowering a ‘new professional’; (2) social groups: collectively forging this ‘new professional’; and (3) negotiating workplace tensions regarding hair. Together, these reveal ongoing processes of identity (re)construction with direct implications for workplace experiences. Although interviewees reported receiving support, they also recognized tensions related to their phenotypic traits, often adopting non-reaction to hostility as a strategy of self-preservation. These findings link processes of identity formation and mark-racism to everyday organizational experiences, offering insights relevant to both Brazilian and global debates on race and work.

This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Community, Work and Family.

Monsores Santana de Aguiar, S., Coelho-Rocha, A. R., Santos, C., & Oliveira da Cunha Galindo, F. L. (2025). Experiences of Brazilian professional women with kinky hair in the workplace. Community, Work & Family, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2025.2564250.

It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.