Lula announces equal pay law for women – 03/08/2023 – Market

The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) announced, this Wednesday (8), a package of measures aimed at women, with a bill requiring mandatory equal pay, credit for rural women and incentives for women in science, among other measures.

Some of the actions were anticipated by the Sheet. Among the measures, there is the launch of a public notice for the Economic Productive Organization of Rural Women program, with an investment of R$ 50 million and the prospect of serving up to 20,000 women.

Banco do Brasil will launch five Agro Mulher trailers to travel the country, with special credit for women.

Caixa Econômica Federal, in turn, will run the Women in the Favela program, to train women in three social innovation laboratories in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador. BNDES will launch Projeto Garagem, with acceleration of startups led by women.

The actions are part of a package launched at a ceremony at the Planalto Palace, on Women’s Day.

One of the decrees signed by the Chief Executive provides for the National Policy for Inclusion, Permanence and Ascension of Girls and Women in Science, Technology and Innovation. According to the Planalto Palace, the CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) will open a public call for proposals aimed at women in the areas of exact sciences, engineering and computing, in the amount of R$ 100 million.

A decree was also signed that determines maternity leave for Bolsa Atleta members. The text, according to the government, guarantees the regular receipt of installments from the program aimed at high-performance athletes until the beneficiary can start or resume sports activity.

Lula also signed a decree that regulates the free distribution of pads by the SUS (Unified Health System), which was already determined by the National Congress last year. The federal government provides BRL 418 million per year for the menstrual dignity action.

Last week, the president had already anticipated the presentation of a bill that establishes equal remuneration for men and women who perform the same function. There are already laws on the subject, but in practice, they are not complied with

The idea was the flag of the then candidate and today Minister Simone Tebet (Planning). It was incorporated by the PT campaign and should get off the ground. The details are still being finalized by the Civil House. According to reports, the new law should have positive and negative reinforcements for companies, as other countries already do.

A Sheet had already anticipated part of the measures this week, such as the proposal to create the National Marielle Franco Day and the construction of 40 Casas da Mulher Brasileira and workshops for manufacturing sanitary pads in women’s prisons.

The government will also ratify Convention 190 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), a treaty that expands concepts of sexual and moral harassment at work.

In addition to women representing more than half of the population, there is a political-electoral component in encouraging these measures. During the elections, Lula benefited from the high rejection of women against former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

For this reason, he credits part of his victory to this segment of the electorate. He has highlighted them in his speeches and wants to take advantage of March to reinforce this message.

It is also this segment of society that has given more positive evaluations to its management. According to the latest survey by Quaest, released at the end of February, 44% of women evaluate the Lula government 3 as positive, while among men, it is 37%.

The survey interviewed 2,016 people between February 10th and 13th.