Women command only 5 of the country’s 31 political parties – 08/03/2023 – Politics

Despite being a majority in the electorate (53%), women are at the head of only 5 of the 31 Brazilian political parties.

From different ideological currents, Gleisi Hoffmann (PT), Luciana Santos (PC do B), Renata Abreu (Podemos), Heloísa Helena (Sustainability Network) and Suêd Haidar (PMB) report the need to impose themselves in a predominantly male universe.

Although in charge of these acronyms, they admit difficulties in expanding the participation of other women in politics and even in the party structure.

“Politics mirrors our patriarchal society, it is a space dominated by white men and, consequently, predominantly sexist, in terms of language, practices, even schedules”, reports Gleisi, 57, from Paraná. in Parliament, on social media,” he adds.

For Heloísa Helena, 60, a national spokesperson for the Sustainability Network, from Alagoas, there is a “macho chauvinistic chant impregnated even in some women about male supremacy in decision-making and power”.

According to her, there is immense inequality in access to human dignity for women.

“For a woman to face the triple journey —family, work, militancy— without financial structure, without social equipment, without access to technical training and without decent work is a mission considered impossible, but thousands of women challenge their ‘destinies’ and make it possible in everyday life.”

Leader of a party recreated by her uncle (the PTN, today Podemos), Renata Abreu, 40, from São Paulo, also cites the difficulty of dealing with the distance of her three children.

“It’s not easy when you come to Brasilia, your son hugs you and says: ‘Mom, don’t go’. Every week I hear that. And you have to make him sleep many times on FaceTime. He calls me: ‘Put me down’ to sleep?’ And I turn on FaceTime here, having a meeting, I put it on just so he can look at me and sleep.”

Maranhão Suêd Haidar, 64, founder of the Brazilian Women’s Party, says that female participation in politics is not just a matter of social justice and gender equality, but also of democratic effectiveness.

“When women have a voice and power in politics, decisions are more representative and take into account the diversity and needs of the population as a whole.”

Despite its name, the PMB has, throughout its history, portrayed a reality common to other legends: it is composed mostly of men. In 2015, of the 20 members, 18 were men —today, the party is not represented in Congress.

Today at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Luciana Santos, 57, from Pernambuco, is president of the PC do B. Next week, the party’s leadership will decide whether she will remain in charge of the acronym or stay on leave while in Lula’s government.

She says that the obstacles range “from the cultural and socioeconomic contexts that permeate the construction of our society and guide our institutional design to a dynamic of protection of the centers of power.”

Second largest party in the Chamber with 68 deputies, the PT has only 18 women in its current group – including Gleisi. In Podemos, of the 16 members, there are only two parliamentarians: Renata and Nely Aquino (MG).

In PC do B, the situation is more balanced: there are 4 men and 3 women. On the Network, only deputy Túlio Gadêlha (PE) represents the party in the Chamber —Marina Silva (SP) took leave to take over the Ministry of the Environment.

Challenges

Renata Abreu (Podemos): “The great challenge for women in politics is the emotional one. We are very explosive, we say what we think. And in politics you have to have a strategy. You have to swallow a frog. The problem of women is that we don’t swallow frogs. And in the joint you need to swallow crocodiles”.

Suêd Haidar (PMB): “I’ve been following years and years of our women being used like oranges, being cheated, abused, oppressed and victims of different prejudices. I found many challenges in this masculinized and perverse political scenario. I had to deal with sexism and the prejudice that is often directed at women in politics”.

Quotas

Gleisi Hoffmann (PT): “In Congress, I presented an amendment to increase this quota to 50%. After all, we women make up more than 50% of the Brazilian population and the electorate (…) The ideal would be to have parity in the seats of the legislatures, forcing parties to invest seriously in female candidates”.

Heloísa Helena (Rede): “There is no logic to explain the repetition of the male majority [em cargos públicos]as if only they had attributes for occupying these spaces (…) It is also important to make clear how much of this social visibility of women in decision-making instances and spaces of power helps in changing paradigms, as their presence already signals to girls and boys how power is divided and command of actions is shared”.

incentive policies

Luciana Santos (PC do B): “In addition to an internal and daily dynamic that favors and encourages the participation of women in everyday life, in elections we try to exceed the quota established by electoral legislation. Women and, among other actions, we held training courses and seminars, accountability, communication to guarantee support in all areas that we identified as most difficult for their campaigns”.

Gleisi Hoffmann (PT): “The PT was a pioneer, in 1991, by establishing a 30% quota for the participation of women in management positions. Then, in 2017, we approved a resolution in the statute to have parity between women and men in positions At the PT Women’s Secretariat, we adopted several internal measures to encourage women’s participation in politics, such as the Elas por Elas Program, which takes care of the training of our militants”.

Representation in the parties

Heloísa Helena (Rede): “In the case of the Network, in all states we have two spokespersons, one woman and one man, preferably enabling intergenerational meetings. But that does not mean that there is always a progressive consensus, as we are not immune to the that is ingrained in people. We have a lot of conflicts and also the necessary and tough reaction to prevent this ridiculous behavior from getting stronger”.

Luciana Santos (PC do B): “Currently, we have four states where the party is chaired by women: Paraíba, with Gregoria Benário; Amapá, with our former deputy Marcivânia Flexa; Roraima, with Tatiane Cassiano; and Mato Grosso do South, with Iara Gutierrez. But having women in the party’s presidency is not new for the PC do B”.

election fund

Renata Abreu (Podemos): “This is also a challenge. All the distribution of funds in the parties also takes into account the electoral potential and voting history. This is everyone’s challenge. And what happens, you have a result to deliver , has a barrier clause to fulfill. So you also need to be pragmatic in the fund distribution”.

Suêd Haidar (PMB): “There is a lack of adequate funding for campaigns. Women often face difficulties in obtaining funding for their election campaigns and this limits their chances of being elected.”