The United Nations' 2030 Agenda has highlighted the need to pursue sustainable development and human dignity. In this agenda, sustainability is seen as a set of actions that focus on expanding access to basic rights in order to reduce social inequalities. In this context, developing actions for quality, inclusive, and equitable education appears as one of the main objectives. A goal of Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to eliminate gender and racial inequalities in education at all levels, ensuring equitable access and retention, especially for groups with greater economic and social vulnerability. Considering the precarious social situation of Black women in Brazil, as well as the social and economic benefits that can result from access to higher education, this study sought to investigate the academic experiences of Black female students at three public universities in the state of Ceará. The goal was to discover their main challenges within the university environment. This is an exploratory, qualitative field study. Data was collected through comprehensive interviews (Kaufmann, 2013) with 50 female students from various fields of knowledge who self-identified as Black. The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured script that aimed to understand how these students felt in the academic environment; what their relationships with peers and professors were like; how pedagogical practices were developed in their respective courses, among other aspects. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis techniques (Bardin, 2016). Partial results revealed that the low presence of Black students, as well as the absence of Black female professors and the concentration of Eurocentric bibliographical references in the curricula of the undergraduate courses at the universities investigated, negatively affects the academic experiences of the students who participated in the interview. This low representation can cause embarrassment and feelings of inferiority, in addition to negatively impacting the students' participation in the classroom. The study found a need to develop actions to increase the representation of Black students in undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as the number of Black female faculty members and researchers in the academic environment, with the goal of minimizing the hostility of the university environment, making it a more representative and equitable space. This research is expected to contribute to the planning and improvement of public policies that enhance and value cultural diversity and the development of human rights in public higher education, especially within the investigated Federal Unit. However, considering the importance of education at the highest levels, especially for social empowerment, it should be noted that investing in affirmative action policies for Black women can certainly contribute to building a more just society, especially in countries that founded their economies on a basis of slavery.

Acknowledgement:
This research is funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq; and the Cearense Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development - FUNCAP.

Keywords: Public university, gender and race, affirmative action policies.