Cross-sectional policies (gender, race/ethnicity, disability) and education/qualification to work

Abstract

This article explores potentialities and limits of cross-sectionalizing public policies (gender, race/ethnicity, disability) in the light of the recent Brazilian experience in defining and implementing public policies designed to train people for the labor market. Although education and labor are two important topics in the proposals of government agencies (CORDE, SPM, SEPPIR) that specifically deal with cross-sectional issues, the relation between those major topics, i.e. professional training, is not included in the main concerns contained in the plans and reports of those agencies. This absence is due, to a great extent, to hindrances to the cross-sectionalizing of those issues within the scope of specific public policies (or sectorial policies, such as education and labor policy).

Key words: disability, education/qualification to work, gender, public policies, race/ethnicity, cross-sectionalizing.