Cármen Lúcia criticizes low female representation in the STF; Lula chose 2 men

Minister Cármen Lúcia, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), criticized the low female representation in the Court during the special session held on Thursday (7) in reference to International Women’s Day, celebrated this Friday (8). The judge is the only woman in the current composition of the collegiate after Rosa Weber’s retirement last year.

Cármen made the criticism shortly after the president of the Court, Luís Roberto Barroso, recalled that three women had already been ministers of the STF: herself, Rosa Weber and Elle Gracie, retired in 2011. The judge recalled that there were “few”, but “very qualified.”

“We want more”, exclaimed the minister, interrupting Barroso and being applauded by the audience.

The speech was a veiled criticism of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) decision to nominate two men, last year, to fill the vacancies opened after the retirements of Rosa Weber and Ricardo Lewandowski. The PT member was under a lot of pressure to nominate women for vacancies, but ended up opting for the then Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, and his former personal lawyer, Cristiano Zanin.

The choices generated strong criticism from society, mainly due to Lula’s repeated speech for inclusion, diversity and appreciation of women in government during the electoral campaign.

“Justice is represented by a woman. The modern Republic of France is a woman. The very idea of ​​Justice, democracy with balance, is feminine. However, we continue to be undervalued professionally, socially and economically”, said Cármen Lúcia during her speech.

She further stated that “they say we have been silent historically. Lie! We were silenced, but we always continued speaking, although often not being heard.”

The minister also recalled violence against women, which recorded 1,700 femicides last year, in addition to the 988 attempted ones “of those notified”.