Gender rule generates resignation in association of judges – 10/11/2023 – Power

A group of 22 federal judges resigned last week from their posts on a committee of Ajufe (Association of Federal Judges of Brazil) focused on women.

The decision was taken after the association opened a consultation among magistrates on the recently approved CNJ (National Council of Justice) rule, which established gender alternation when filling vacancies for the second instance of the Judiciary.

In the collective resignation letter, the signatories asked to leave the group “for not complying with the line of recent recommendations from the current Ajufe board”. “We will continue to defend gender equality in the Judiciary, from now on, in new environments”, they said.

In the consultation, held days before the approval of the CNJ, the majority of magistrates were against the text on the gender rule, guided by minister Rosa Weber, then president of the council and of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), on the eve of her retirement. They also asked for adaptations and for the trial to be postponed to allow time for greater debate among the class.

In another letter sent to Ajufe’s management, 200 female and associated federal judges said that the research served “to perpetuate a state of institutional and structural discrimination to the detriment of women.”

The group considered that the research revealed “an attitude of real and symbolic gender violence”, since 70% of the class is made up of men.

“The board launched a question simply aimed at the rights of women, a statistical minority in the career, being denied by the majority. It thus resorted to the majority rule, distorting the real underlying issue involving substantive democracy, social justice and construction of a State that aims to be democratic, egalitarian and inclusive”, said the judges in that letter.

The Ajufe board responded by saying that the document contained very serious offenses and accusations against the entity’s command. According to the board, the association only deliberated after hearing all members about the text that would be considered by the CNJ.

She also asked for a retraction from the authors, generating fear among Ajufe members, who began to fear retaliation.

Five directors of the association who signed the letter repudiating the consultation resigned from their positions after they refused to recant, especially regarding the accusation of gender-based violence.

Six judges from the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region, which serves the states in the Southern region) also published a letter in solidarity with the judges who spoke out against the direction of Ajufe.

This is not the first time that magistrates have asked for the disaffiliation of class entities because of gender inequality. In April 2018, three judges from the Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories asked to disaffiliate from the AMB (Association of Brazilian Magistrates) unhappy with the absence of women among the speakers at a congress.

Days later, more than 30 judges from several states accompanied their colleagues and left the institution.

“I am in solidarity with my colleagues who have been unduly disqualified, for taking on a fight that is so obvious, that should belong to everyone”, said judge and writer Andréa Pachá, from TJ do Rio, who was vice-president of the AMB and asked to leave the entity.

The CNJ act established, in promotions, the interspersing of an exclusive list of women and a traditional mixed list — in accordance with the opening of vacancies for career magistrates based on criteria of merit.

The text comes into force in January and the first vacancy opened must be filled by a magistrate of a different gender from the last one promoted. The rule will be maintained until each court reaches a gender ratio of between 40% and 60%.

Despite the results of Ajufe’s consultation, the rule was approved by the CNJ by a majority vote.

The case’s rapporteur, Salise Sanchotene, removed from her original text the criterion that also provided for a list of only women for promotion based on seniority.

This was done to achieve consensus among CNJ members, as the change was the main focus of resistance among magistrates.

A Sheet Salise said that he found the attitude of Ajufe’s management towards five colleagues “who were practically asked to resign or would be subject to expulsion proceedings” to be unreasonable.

“I perceive in this attitude a misogynistic behavior, never adopted by the association previously in situations in which there were conflicting interests of members”, he said.

In a note, Ajufe declared that it has a board of directors with gender parity, thanks to the personal commitment of the current president, Nelson Alves, and that the object of debate was solely the text submitted to colleagues, “without any value judgment on female inclusion, an agenda always defended and subject to unrestricted support from the entity”.

“Thus, parts of the aforementioned letter were absolutely disproportionate and strongly aggressive, which attributed to the consultation and, therefore, to the Ajufe board and its members, an attitude of real and symbolic gender violence”, he said.

There was opposition from courts against the adoption of the CNJ rule.

The main reaction against the original proposal came from Consepre (Council of Presidents of the Courts of Justice of Brazil) —mostly made up of men— and class associations, whose boards, likewise, are made up mostly of men.

Target of demonstrations of machismo at the Court of Justice of São Paulo, judge Maria Lúcia Pizzotti Mendes stated that “male judges ended up being deeply harmed by the unusual decision that will allow female judges to jump the constitutional queue for promotions to the position of judge, so that the mistakes of the past can be corrected, where the machismo declared in the career was blatant”.

Former national justice inspector Eliana Calmon, retired minister of the STJ, stated that “the female merit list will be an unreasonable privilege for magistrates who will be passed over”. “I am a feminist and I participate in an association of career women. I have always fought for the emancipation of women,” she declared. “Women need to understand that fighting cannot help them in a career that has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with merit,” she said.