Women and Power Politics in Brazil

The essay presents an analysis of arguments and counterarguments that try to explain why there are few women in positions of power politics in Brazil. The conclusion suggests a policy to change this situation.

Author: Robson Cunha Rael, PhD Student in International Relations at University of Brasilia

           Women in Brazil occupy few positions of power politics in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches in all federation units, as well as, in the army forces, in the financial system, in big companies, in social movements and so on. In spite of being 51,48% of the Brazilian population according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística in Portuguese) (IBGE, 2022), Brazil has only 17,7% of female parliamentarians in the Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados, 2024) and 18,5% in the Senate (Senado Federal, 2024), 1 female judge in the Supreme Court among 11 (STF, 2024), 2 female governors of state among 27 (CNN Brasil, 2022), 2 female Generals in armed forces among more the 400 (BBC News Brasil, 2020), and those are just some examples. Considering those data, a left wing feminist would say there’s no social justice regarding women in Brazil.

In Brazilian institutions, the way of someone being in a political high ranking is by election (e.g. legislative) or nomination (e.g. Supreme Court), in general. But most of the political parties, the constituents and the chiefs of executive don´t vote or appoint women for high authority positions. A common argument for a President of the Republic, for example, don´t choose at least 50% of women for the his/her cabinet is that the choice should be based in technical criteria, and men would have more professional qualifications, in general (a meritocratic point raised by politicians of the right wing). But checking empirical data, this assumption is totally overcome. According to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in Portuguese), in 2021, women were 56,8% of the masters and 55,6% of the doctors in Brazil (MCTI, 2024). This is evidence that the supposed application of the meritocratic argument for choosing more men for decision institutions is a fallacy. Other interests are pursued keeping most women far from political power that are different from merit.

           Below the political positions in the hierarchical structure of the Brazilian state there are civil servants carrying out technical activities in the public service. To have a stable position as a civil servant, the citizen must be approved in an entrance exam. According to the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (Ministério da Gestão e da Inovação em Serviços Públicos in Portuguese), from 2018 to 2023, women were 53,6% of the candidates approved in entrances exams to be a federal civil servant (MGISP, 2024). It’s more than the female proportion of the population and women got this level of success (reached by their own merit), although they had to cope with structural disadvantages, in societal and economic fields. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, women are the majority in the poorer social classes (“C”, “D” and “E”) and men are the majority in the richer social classes (“A” and “B”) in Brazil (G1, 2024a). Even having much less income on average, women reach more positions that depend on studying than men, and the study for entrance exams include, in general, subjects such as Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Logical Reasoning, Portuguese, Computing, Public Budget, People Management among many other knowledge areas.

A conservative argument that tries to explain why few women occupy high political positions is that they just don't want to. There are many incentives from the media and churches for women to enact mainly private roles, such as mother and wife. But the Brazilian female population overcame those stereotypical incentives, but with a colossal effort, because men usually don't take their part in private roles. Many women in Brazil have a triple journey: the work in their jobs, the housework and taking care of the children. A study from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics pointed out that women spend 80% more time with domestic activities than men (G1, 2024b). Those data show evidence that inside a sexist culture, besides the agency interests there are many structural variables which influence gender inequality. So the conservative argument doesn’t proceed.

The huge unfairness involving the lack of women in power politics goes beyond the disproportion between population and presence in power positions (51,48% having less than 10% of representation in the Supreme Court, for example). Data above show how women are more hard-working and study more than men, on average, and work dedication combined with knowledge are desirable professional skills in any area, including politics. The problem is complex and requires so much reflection, strategies and actions, but a starting relevant measure could be to make a Constitutional norm the parity between women and men in the executive cabinet, in the legislative houses and in the judiciary courts for all federate units. Considering the leftist argument of social justice or the rightist argument of meritocracy, or both (because they aren´t exclusionary in this context), the conclusion is the same: women can, should and deserve to occupy at least 50% of the power politics positions in Brazil. Any society and economy only has to gain with more women in politics, what is a smart policy and an advance for humanity.

References:

BBC News Brasil (2020). Mulheres no comando nas Forças Armadas: as histórias das duas únicas hoje no topo da carreira - e por que há só duas. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-51289039 (Accessed 12 September 2024).

Câmara dos Deputados (2024). Bancada Feminina. https://www2.camara.leg.br/a-camara/estruturaadm/secretarias/secretaria-da-mulher/coordenadoria-dos-direitos-da-mulher/bancada-feminina-57a-legislatura-2023-2027 (Accessed 14 September 2024).

CNN Brasil (2022). Brasil terá dois estados governados por mulheres em 2023. https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/brasil-tera-dois-estados-governados-por-mulheres-em-2023/ (Accessed 12 September 2024).

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G1 (2024b). A carga da tripla jornada das mães que cuidam da casa e trabalham fora: cansaço, ansiedade e sono acumulado. https://g1.globo.com/pi/piaui/noticia/2024/05/12/a-carga-da-tripla-jornada-das-maes-que-cuidam-da-casa-e-trabalham-fora-cansaco-ansiedade-e-sono-acumulado.ghtml (Accessed 13 September 2024).

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MCTI - Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (2024). Mulheres são maioria dos mestres e doutores no Brasil, aponta estudo do CGEE. https://www.gov.br/mcti/pt-br/acompanhe-o-mcti/noticias/2024/06/mulheres-sao-maioria-dos-mestres-e-doutores-no-brasil-aponta-estudo-do-cgee (Accessed 12 September. 2024).

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