Rita Serrano talks about facing “misogyny” when saying goodbye to Caixa after being fired by Lula

After being fired by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) from command of Caixa Econômica Federal, Rita Serrano stated this Thursday (26) that she hopes to “leave as a legacy the message that it is necessary to confront misogyny”. When speaking for the first time about leaving the position, she highlighted that “being a woman in spaces of power is always challenging”.

The possible change in the bank’s presidency had been discussed since July and was counting on pressure from Centrão to occur. Rita Serrano was the third top-ranking woman in the federal government to be fired by Lula. The president will nominate economist Carlos Antônio Vieira Fernandes, nominated by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

“Being a woman in spaces of power is always challenging. It wasn’t easy to see my name exposed for months on end in the press. I hope to leave as a legacy the message that it is necessary to face misogyny, that it is possible for a career employee to be president of a large bank and deliver results, that it is possible to have an efficient and honest public bank, that it is necessary and urgent think of another way of doing politics and having humanized relationships at work”, said Serrano in the social media.

She cited the achievements of her management at Caixa over the last ten months. “We took a leap in quality in the discussion of diversity, becoming one of the few large companies in Brazil and the world to have a majority of women in senior management. We have resumed relations with trade unions, respecting the process of free negotiation and democracy,” she said.

“This entire result is the result of a collective work effort. There are 87 thousand direct employees and thousands more indirectly working every day to guarantee decent service to customers and the Brazilian population. Employees who are once again proud to work at Caixa,” he added.

Serrano thanked his “team, managers, advisors, co-workers from all over the country, my family, entities and, in particular, President Lula, for the trust placed in him”. Addressing Lula directly, she stated: “President, for me, it was an honor to have participated in his government.” “In the coming days, we will make the transition with the future president of the bank, to whom I wish you good luck. As for me, I am once again a banker, with great pride,” she concluded.

In July, Lula dismissed Daniela Carneiro from command of the Ministry of Tourism and replaced her with deputy Celso Sabino (União-PA). Two months later, the Minister of Sports, Ana Moser, was fired so that another Centrão representative could be allocated to the government and federal deputy André Fufuca (PP-MA) took over the portfolio.