Gender and Children’s Racial Classification in Brazil

The role of social context in processes of racial classification has received renewed attention in social science research. While findings from this literature suggest that cultural paradigms influence race identification, scholarly work examining the influence of gendered schemas on racial classification has yielded mixed results. This article builds on this debate by investigating the influence of gender in racial labeling in Brazil, a country with a high prevalence of multiracial families and recognized racial fluidity. We use nationally representative household data to examine gender differences in racial classification, focusing on full siblings, ages 0-14 years old, in multiracial families. Taken together, our results support the influence of gendered narratives on processes of race classification. Our analysis supports three main findings. First, we document that full siblings are more likely to be classified in different race groups by their parents when their gender differs. Second, that parents are more likely to classify their daughters as White than their male children, and third, our results suggest this pattern is concentrated among children of non-White mothers. We also document that gender differences in racial classification vary by socioeconomic position, region of residence, and stage in the life course.