Women command only 28% of state secretariats – 02/09/2023 – Power

The equivalent division between men and women in setting up state secretariats is still a distant reality for most state governments.

Survey carried out by Sheet points out that the new governments of the 26 states and the Federal District will have, on average, 28% of top-ranking positions occupied by women.

The data includes secretariats, extraordinary secretariats, Civil House, Military House, Comptroller and Attorney General of the State. Autarchies, public companies, executive secretariats or bodies that are subordinate to a state portfolio were not accounted for.

Among the 27 units of the Federation, Alagoas, Ceará, Pernambuco and Amapá are the only ones that will have an equivalent number of men and women in top positions.

Only 11 will have female participation above 30% in the first echelon, as is the case in all the states of the Northeast (with the exception of Paraíba), in addition to Amapá, Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District.

Among them are the only two states that elected women in 2022: Pernambuco, governed by Raquel Lyra (PSDB), and Rio Grande do Norte, commanded by Fátima Bezerra (PT).

The new management of Pernambuco has a team of 27 state secretaries, 14 men and 13 women. With Raquel Lyra and the vice-governor, Priscila Krause (Citizenship), it will be a mostly female team in charge of the state.

The governor told the Sheet which, by assembling a team with parity, intends to bring a feminine vision to the government, participation that it considers fundamental to designing public policies that serve the population as a whole.

In Alagoas, Governor Paulo Dantas (MDB) has a female majority on his team, with 14 departments headed by women and 13 headed by men.

Women are in charge of portfolios such as the Civil Cabinet, Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and Agriculture. The Extraordinary Secretary for Early Childhood is occupied by Paula Dantas, daughter of the governor.

Dantas says he wants the female presence to be a hallmark of his management: “I have a wish that my state, always known for being a land of male goats, becomes nationally remembered for being a land of brilliant women.”

Ceará is another state with gender equality: Governor Elmano de Freitas (PT) has 16 male and 16 female secretaries. The government account includes the presidency of the State Board of Education, which has secretariat status in the state.

In Amapá, Governor Clécio Luís (Solidariedade) formed his team with 31 secretaries, 15 of which were women. The female presence in the first echelon includes the Education and Health portfolios, both with robust budgets.

On the other hand, 16 states will have less than 30% of women in charge of state secretariats. They are all ruled by men.

Pará is the state that, proportionately, will have the lowest female presence. Governor Helder Barbalho (MDB) began his second term with 25 secretaries, including 3 women.

When contacted, the Government of Pará highlighted that there are still women in charge of the Board of Trade, an environmental agency, a foundation, a hospital, among other positions.

Paraná has a similar scenario with 3 women among the 26 secretaries appointed by Governor Ratinho Júnior (PSD). The number was even smaller at the beginning of the year, when even the Secretariat for Women and Racial Equality was temporarily occupied by a man.

After pressure from civil society organizations, such as the supra-party movement Vote Nelas, the governor appointed federal deputy Leandre Dal Ponte to the post.

In a note, the Government of Paraná reported that it was the current management that created the Secretariat for Women and Racial Equality and said that it will strengthen initiatives to value women. He also highlighted that the government has appointed women in leadership positions in superintendencies and boards.

Despite the growth in female participation compared to previous administrations, there are still few women occupying portfolios that are traditionally commanded by men.

In Public Security or related bodies, for example, there is only one female secretary: delegate Carla Patrícia Cunha, secretary of Social Defense of Pernambuco.

The scenario is similar in departments that take care of the management of prisons. There is only one woman in charge of a Penitentiary Administration office: criminal police officer Maria Rosa Lo Duca Nebel, from Rio de Janeiro.

Only three women are in charge of the state Finance or Economy departments: Cristiane Schmidt (Goiás), Priscila Santana (Rio Grande do Sul) and Sarah Andreozzi (Sergipe).

On the other hand, women are the majority in departments linked to social issues. There are 19 women and 8 men in charge of this area in the states. In two cases –Rondônia and Sergipe– the portfolio is occupied by the first lady of the state.

In the assessment of Gisele Agnelli, co-founder of Vote Nelas, the appointment of women to the top echelon of governments reproduces the logic of a sexual division of labor: “In general, women are placed in little boxes and end up being appointed to areas such as social “, evaluates.

Movements such as “Elas no Budget” have tried to subvert this logic, intensifying the pressure for more women in areas that are traditionally commanded by men.

The coalition presidential system, which is replicated in the states, is another point that hinders greater female participation. That’s because party leaders are mostly made up of men who end up nominating other men for top-ranking positions.

In Bahia, for example, Governor Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT) made public requests to allies to nominate women for the first echelon. In the final design of the secretariat, the base parties indicated 9 state secretaries, 3 of which were women.

In this scenario, assesses Gisele Agnelli, a possible greater female participation depends on indications of the personal quota of the governor and the party to which he belongs.

Raquel Lyra, governor of Pernambuco, highlights the importance of occupying spaces of power and encouraging other women to do the same.

“When I was younger, I only had male references in politics. At the end of the campaign, while walking down the street, I saw some girls playing debate. They will grow up with this reference and, if they want, they will be able to occupy that space when grow up. He’s ours.”