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Gender and Politics in Brazil Between Continuity and Change

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The Political System of Brazil

Abstract

Antje Daniel and Patricia Graf investigate the field of gender policy in Brazil. Indeed, under the Lula and Rousseff administrations, the situation of women has improved in some respects; in other areas, however, gender inequality remains present. Current gender relations are not only a result of present transformation processes but instead are determined by historical experiences. Although certain roles and gender patterns persist, the women’s movement initiated important processes of change when becoming stronger in the 1970s and 1980s. The Brazilian experience may serve as an example of successful use of political leeway by women’s movements, which exert political pressure on different political levels when the opportunities to influence seems actually limited in institutional terms.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We approach gender disparities in Brazil from the perspective of gender studies. Given that relations of power and dominance between the sexes are little to be found in studies of gender disparities in Brazil. We will focus on the position of women (cf. Krause, 2003; Rosenberger & Sauer, 2004).

  2. 2.

    A women’s movement is composed of different actors such as women’s organizations, groups or individuals, is based on a shared identity and aims to create, prevent or reverse social change with regard to gender roles and disparities (Chen, 2005:28).

  3. 3.

    Women gained further impulses from the 1975 UN World Conference on Women in Mexico or through the return of exiled female Brazilians who brought with them experiences from North American and European women’s movements.

  4. 4.

    The engagement of the women’s movements meant that several women’s issues were included in the Constitution, such as discrimination on the labor market (Article 7), maternity leave as a social right (Article 6), or family planning as a free right of the couple (Article 226).

  5. 5.

    For the gender-specific effects of neo-liberal reforms cf. Klingebiel and Randeria (1998).

  6. 6.

    He was replaced by Eloi Ferreira de Araujo in 2010.

  7. 7.

    MacCaulay reports that this phenomenon is slowly becoming less prominent and that the profile of female representatives and senators is slowly changing (2010:281).

  8. 8.

    These suggested reforms should be carefully examined in terms of their reciprocal effects on the Brazilian electoral system and electoral behavior. Cf. Gray (2003) for a comprehensive study of the effects of different quota regulations in combination with different electoral systems in Latin America.

  9. 9.

    The recommended quotas were reduced by Congress: 10 % of the party funds for female politicians, 20 % of the air time, as well as a sanction for failing to respect the quota were originally proposed.

  10. 10.

    Despite this innovative attempt to deal with violence against women on an institutional basis, the financial and regional equipment of police stations remains inadequate. The justice system also lacks the necessary capacity to pursue domestic violence (Lebon, 2003:108; Teles, 2006:489).

  11. 11.

    The author measures three levels of poverty: Level A: less than 30 % of the average income; Level B: less than 40 % of the average income; Level C: less than 50 % of the average income.

  12. 12.

    In many countries, however, women have a lower life expectancy than men due to poor hygienic conditions, regular abuse, systematic malnutrition, maternal mortality, etc. In these countries they are also usually more likely to suffer poverty than men. If the correlation between life expectancy and poverty does not appear in this way in Brazil, this could mean that health care is generally better in Brazil. This correlation could, however, not be tested here.

  13. 13.

    According to a study by the Ministry of Health almost 26 % of babies have a mother between 15 and 19 years of age.

  14. 14.

    According to the Ministry of Health, in 2012 around 656,701 million people have HIV and AIDS. Regarding gender disparities, in 2011 1.7 men are infected for every woman (see http://www.aids.gov.br/pagina/aids-no-brasil. Accessed 30/10/2013).

  15. 15.

    This study was carried out in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand and Tanzania.

  16. 16.

    Amongst others, in 1995 the so-called Bélem do Pará Convention, the Inter American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women was ratified (MacDowell Santos, 2007:36).

  17. 17.

    The 1988 Constitution provides for the equality of man and woman in the family, as well as the right to equally inherit land (Lebon, 2003:93). Since 2003 the Civil Code guarantees men and women equality within marriage, thus also with regard to the rights and duties of marriage. In addition references to honest women and virgins were removed from a series of laws, as well as removing a law that allowed a man to annul a marriage if the women was not a virgin and which allowed parents to reject their daughter as dishonored (Htun & Power, 2006:84; Shadow Report, 2007:8).

  18. 18.

    Brazilian mothers have a right to 1 hour of breastfeeding twice daily. The maternity period begins 6 weeks before the birth and ends 12 weeks later.

  19. 19.

    The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor provides a ratio of 1.50 describing the reason for women founding a company between necessity and opportunity. The lower the ratio, the more likely it is that the reason for founding a company was a necessity and not opportunity. The ratio for male entrepreneurs is 2.0. In comparison, in Denmark the ratio for women is 17.69, although the difference between the genders is even higher as the ratio for men is 28 % in Denmark (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2007:20).

  20. 20.

    http://www.mulherdenegocios.sebrae.com.br/site/premio. Accessed 30/11/2014.

  21. 21.

    In 2007, 49.4 % of the population identified themselves as black, 48.8 % identified themselves as white (Silva et al. 2009:89).

  22. 22.

    Not all actors from Afro-Brazilian movements were in favor of the introduction of quotas. Those in opposition argued that it ought not to be a primary goal to enable access to institutions through quotas, but rather to overcome social and geographical inequality due to targeted measures (McCallum, 2007:77).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Antje Daniel

  2. University of Cottbus Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany

    Patricia Graf

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  1. Antje Daniel
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  1. GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft fu¨r Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Maputo, Mozambique

    Dana de la Fontaine

  2. acatech - German Academy of Science and Engineering, Brussels, Belgium

    Thomas Stehnken

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Daniel, A., Graf, P. (2016). Gender and Politics in Brazil Between Continuity and Change. In: de la Fontaine, D., Stehnken, T. (eds) The Political System of Brazil. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40023-0_20

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