Moving Forward, Will the Afro-Descendent Community in Uruguay Receive More Equality and Recognition? 

The Uruguayan government has consistently passed laws and regulations offering equal rights to all Uruguayans. However, as we have noted throughout our research, the implementation of such regulations has not always been created equally, as Afro-Uruguayans are often at a distinct disadvantage due to social class or education levels. According to Andrews, Uruguay is “by no means a classless society. But by the end of the twentieth century, the disparities among its social classes were smaller than in any other Latin American country except socialist Cuba. In terms of social spending and measures of well-being (literacy, life expectancy, access to adequate sanitation), it ranked at or near the top of the region, and in measures of poverty and income inequality, at the very bottom” (155).

While these inequalities are smaller than in other Latin American countries, their presence is still obvious as there is a large gap in education and employment statistics between whites and Afro-Uruguayans. In 1996 it was reported that twice as many white Uruguayans graduated from university as Afro-Uruguayans (158). According to the 2006 census, the rates of Afro-Uruguayans compared to white Uruguayans enrolled in schools was almost equal for ages 4 to 13, however 12.1% more whites were enrolled in school at the ages of 14-17 and 18.4% more whites were enrolled at the ages of 18-24, presumably in university (Bucheli, Cabela Table 3.5). The differences in these numbers for higher education can not be ignored, as a university degree will often lead to higher paying jobs, and thus the possibility of increasing one’s social class. In 1996 it was reported that “in Uruguay, average black earnings were 61 percent of white earnings” and the rate of poverty amongst Afro-Uruguayans was double that of whites (Andrews 159). In 2006, 50% of all Afro-Uruguayans were living below the national poverty line (160).

Due to the long gap between the censuses of the nineteenth century and that of 1996, it is “impossible to say how, or whether, patterns of discrimination have changed over time in Uruguay. Analysis of salary data from the household survey of 2006 indicates that about half of the salary difference between black and white males can be attributed to their respective levels of education, experience, and other characteristics, and the other half to racial discrimination; for black and white women, discrimination accounts for about 20 percent of the difference between their earnings” (160). These lower wages leave less income for Afro-Uruguayan parents to use on sending their children to private schools, and thus “Uruguayans of color must rely disproportionately (in comparison to whites) on the public schools” (162). As Afro-Uruguayans are “paid less than whites for each year of education they receive,” their incentives to work towards and sacrifice for higher education are far fewer than for whites, and thus the cycle of lower education amongst the Afro-Uruguayan community in comparison to white Uruguayans is systematically set to continue (161).

According to the “Actualidad Afrodescendiente en Iberoamérica”, on September 6, 2004, Law number 17.817 created a commission called the Honorary Commission Against Racism, Xenophobia, and All Others Forms of Discrimination. The Commission includes representatives from ministries, civil society, and the National Administration of Public Education. The Commission, located in the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), has the power to create affirmative action policies and promote policies for Afro-descendants (“Actualidad Afrodescendiente en Iberoamérica” 40, translation our own).  

There have also been steps taken to improve higher education opportunities for Afro-Uruguayans. This can be seen through the funds of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which promotes scholarships for Afro-Uruguayan students, as well as postgraduate scholarships such as the Beca Carlos Quijano, which has an established preference for Afro-Uruguayan applicants (“Actualidad Afrodescendiente en Iberoamérica” 44, translation our own).

Perhaps most notable of all is the affirmative action Law 19.122, which passed in 2013. Article 1 of the law states that Afro-descendants in Uruguay were hereby recognized as historically having been victims of racism, discrimination, and stigmatization since the time of the slave trade, which are considered crimes against humanity according to international law. It states that Law 19.122 will help repair the effects of historical discrimination. One way the law plans to diminish such effects is through allocating 8% of jobs, including but not limited to all branches of government, including courts, departmental governments, and decentralized services, to Afro-descendants (Ley Nº 19.122).

It remains to be seen how much impact this law will have on the Afro-Uruguayan population. It has been slow to implement, as in order to raise the Afro-Uruguayan employee percentage to 8%, that means either a certain percentage of current employees need to be let go, or funding needs to be increased. Also, as we discussed in our interview with Dr. George Reid Andrews, (which can be found here), because the law passed unanimously and without opposition, there was no media coverage, leading few people to even know the law exists.