The right to vote was one of the most important women’s achievements in Brazilian democracy because it gave equal opportunities for citizens – both men and women – to choose their rulers or run for a job in the public sphere.
At the end of the 19th century, remarkable movements led by women emerged in Brazil. Those movements demanded equalization of rights to participate in politics, the job market, and education.
With the arrival of the feminist campaigns, influenced by European immigrants and their anarchist and socialist ideals, Brazilian women started to participate more actively in these mobilizations and contestations. Living in an extremely sexist society, activists were proposing the end of inequalities inside and outside their homes.
However, from the 20th century onwards, this struggle intensified with the creation of associations such as the League for the Intellectual Emancipation of Women, or “Liga pela Emancipação Intelectual da Mulher (LEIM)”, headed by the scientist and feminist activist Bertha Lutz, who had a main role in this context.
Lutz was so important that her history became a documentary, produced by HBO, in 2019. The movie “Bertha Lutz – Women and the U.N Charter” shows the feminist’s fight for gender inclusion in the U.N constitution.
In 1932, women’s suffrage was established, when the Electoral Code came into force, during the government of president Getúlio Vargas. The Code allowed literate women over 21 to vote. From 1934 until today, suffrage is an enshrined right in the Constitution for every citizen.
what about women’s representation in politics today?
After 90 years since women achieved this right, there is still a long way to go for female emancipation to be completely established in Brazil.
Currently, women represent almost 50% of party members and 52% of voters, according to the Superior Electoral Court. Meanwhile, they occupy only 15% of the seats in the House of Representatives and 12% in the Senate. These numbers show a delay in comparison to the rest of Latin American countries, according to the Map of Women at the United Nations 2020, a report published by the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Brazil has established quotas for women in candidacies since 1995. Slowly, the percentage reserved for female candidates reached 30%. However, with less than 50% of candidacies and a lack of electoral funds destined for women, there is no stability of participation.
With the majority of men in Congress, it is clear that the political space needs to be diversified, mainly in leadership positions. In a misogynist society such as the Brazilian one, not occupying these spaces weakens democracy and inhibits important debates on violence, femicide, and women’s rights, which decreases, even more, the voice of women in decision-making, in addition to instigating exposure to vulnerabilities.
The forecast for a more equal political system is not the best. The World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 145.5 years to achieve gender equality in politics. For this reason, female representativity is urgent. Without women in politics, we will not surmount the economic crisis, corruption, nor advance to a more humanistic and developed country.
Ninety years after achieving the right to vote, there is much more to be done to have the same privileges as men, greater participation in the job market, and the exercise of citizenship. Brazilian politicians have to feel our pain to represent us and reverse this unequal chart.
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The article above was written by Sophia Demarchi and edited by Isabela Novelli. Liked this type of content? Check out Her Campus Cásper Líbero for more!