Politically Incorrect.

Local governments and labor unions press Brazilian companies to institute affirmative action policies.

IT WAS A SIMPLE SPOT ON A LOCAL radio station, similar to leaflets handed out at the door of several nightclubs in S[tilde{a}]o Paulo: "Ladies get in free until midnight. Ugly women pay half."

Despite the explicit crudeness of the message, no one seemed to care much in politically incorrect Brazil. Women and minorities-mainly those of African descent who make up 40% of Brazil's population, according to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE)-have long been discriminated against in their daily lives, not to mention in the business world.

But this may be changing as Brazil becomes more integrated into the global economy. Women, older workers and those of African descent are slowly gaining access to better-paying jobs. Female executives are becoming more prominent-consider Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, chief of steel giant Companhia Sider[acute{u}]gica Nacional, for instance. An African-Brazilian middle-class is also slowly emerging.

"People are starting to show concern," says Aroldo Macedo, director of S[tilde{a}]o Paulo-based Raca, a monthly magazine for the African-Brazilian community. "Initial experiments in Brazil have originated from the headquarters of U.S. companies that are active here. Those that are about to enter are ready to do the same." He mentions such companies as WalMart; Motorola and Hewlett-Packard, but others include Bestfoods and Levi Strauss.

The state government of Bio Grande do Sul-led by Gov. Olivio Dutra, who was elected from the left wing Workers Party in 1998-is also pushing aggressively for equal-opportunity employment. It recently required Zaffari, the second largest retailer in this southern state, to agree to employ at least 5% African-Brazilians and mixed races in its new hypermarket in Porto Alegre. But that's not all. The agreement with local authorities stipulates that these cannot be low-paid jobs. So far, Zaffari is going along. "The company has a good understanding of the state's desire to foster assimilation of the entire ethnic and social spectrum of our community within the marketplace," a company spokesperson says.

Ethnic minorities, as well as women, who make up about half of the Brazilian population, have historically earned less money for doing the same job as white males. Those of African descent have even more trouble finding a job. And when they do, they earn up to 50% less than an equally qualified white employee, according to recent report issued by Departamento Intersindical de Estatistica e Estudos Socioecon[hat{o}]micos (Dieese), a trade-unionrun research firm in S[tilde{a}]o Paulo.

"There is a lot of racism in Brazil," says Luis Antonio Medeiros, president of the moderate trade union forca Sindical. "We have to secure jobs for minorities." The more radical Central Unica dos Trabaihadores (CUT), which is led by a popular African-Brazilian named Vicente da Silva (nicknamed "Vicentinho," because of his small stature), is also officially favoring affirmative action programs and intends to push for specific non-discriminatory clauses in labor contracts.

Raca's Macedo says such initiatives are a good start, but affirmative action plans are bound to be limited by the country's own distinct culture. "Proper legislation would be much more difficult to implement here than in the United States:' he says. "There, the distinction between blacks and whites is much more clear cut. Here, it is much more complicated. I'd rather see progress achieved in a natural way that would bring practical results;' meaning on a volunteer basis without legislation or quotas.

France's Carrefour, the largest multinational retailing group operating in Brazil, was forced by the Rio Grande do Sul government to change its employment policy before it could build its new hypermarket in the state. Specifically, 10% of its work force must be more than 30 years old. The company must also offer mandatory benefits such as professional training, a daycare facility and the promotion of a local brand of fruit and vegetables, among other things. But the main idea is to combat widespread age discrimination.

Cheap young executives. Catho, a S[tilde{a}]o Paulo institute that specializes in human resources, recently conducted a survey on the subject of age in the workplace in Brazil. It found that staff members older than 50 are a tiny minority among company executives--only 15% among presidents, 11% among directors, 4.2% among managers and 1.6% among supervisors. And executives who haven't reached these positions by the age of 50 risk being eliminated.

"There is a good reason for it," says Thomas Case, Catho's president. "People earn more money as they stay longer within the company, even if they don't get any promotion." He says employers would rather get rid of their older staff and hire young recruits. "Your future in the company is to get fired," he says.

Case, a Chicago-born consultant who has spent more than 20 years in Brazil, finds the notion of affirmative action and equal opportunity alien to the local culture. "Brazil is a non-conflict society, unlike Americans, who have a 'get-in-your-face' approach," he says. "Here, there is always 'finesse.'"

The federal government also seems reluctant to go down the path of affirmative action. Nassim Mehedff, a top official at the Labor Ministry, warns against what he calls "an extreme measure." Despite society's cries, the art of "finesse" when it comes to employment practices may still have a long future in Brazil.