Experiências vivenciadas pelas mulheres negras discentes dos cursos de medicina de uma instituição federal de ensino superior da Zona da Mata Mineira

Abstract

Black people, after enslavement, were not planned to be integrated into society. Black movements have been developing strategies to fight for the social inclusion of their members. With the pressure of this movement, advances, such as Law No. 12.711 of August 29, 2012 (quota law), have been achieved. In this way, Black people have been able to enter university, and among them, women are the majority. In the so-called imperial courses, the percentage of Black students is lower. Previously, the women who could study medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, the first higher education institution in Brazil, were white. Although there has been progress, the situation is quite similar today. For Black women who are graduating in medicine today, belonging to this environment has possibly not been an easy task. This research is part of this discussion and aims to develop the experiences lived by Black women students in medical courses at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. The research has a qualitative approach. Regarding its nature, it is applied. Regarding the objectives, the study is exploratory. As for the procedures, it is a case study. Eight (8) black women students of medicine at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora were interviewed. The results demonstrated that being a black woman in medical school is tiring, difficult, lonely, a dichotomy, etc.; that friends are essential to survive in the environment; that most agents do not feel integrated (belonging) to the course/university and that the interviewees do not feel represented in the medical course. It is concluded that the lack of representation in medical school is a manifestation of structural racism, since this environment was formed to serve socially privileged groups.