Mariana Mussi has no idea how many resumes she has sent. More than a thousand, she assures. She can count on her fingers how many times she was called for an interview. She was never hired. One of the biggest challenges for fat women is finding a job.
She got her first paid job in 2024, at the age of 40. She was hired for the marketing department of Santa Cecília University, in Santos, where she took a multimedia course.
"We have always been silenced. The loneliness of fat women is real. Not only in family, childhood, relationships. In the job market too," she says.
The research "Fatphobia and the job market in the Brazilian context," by Dayana Barboza Carneiro from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, shows that 48% of respondents have experienced fatphobia at work. Sixty percent felt disadvantaged in selection processes.
There's a salary issue too. According to researcher Adriana Dutra Teixeira from the University of São Paulo, obesity is associated with a salary reduction of 3.9% to 9.1% for fat women compared to slim women performing the same function.