Women have made up only 9% of ministers in Brazil since 1985 – 03/12/2024 – Power

Since Brazil’s redemocratization in 1985, 42 women have taken charge of ministries in the federal government. In the same period, men who reached the same position totaled almost ten times more: 444, equivalent to 91.4% of the total.

The MEC (Ministry of Education), for example, has never had a woman at its head in almost 40 years. Both Finance (or Economy, as it was called in two governments) and Health saw only one each: Zélia Cardoso de Mello and Nísia Trindade.

The data was compiled by Laura Angélica Silva, PhD in public administration and government from FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas), and published at the end of last year on the Instituto República.org portal, focused on people management in the public sector.

The researcher collected records on the Presidency of the Republic portal of who was appointed and dismissed. Afterwards, she confirmed the information in the Official Gazette. Those who held positions on an interim basis were left out of the survey.

In total, women held ministries 57 times, while men held 603 ministries. —8.6% and 91.4% respectively. This data considers that the same person may have held the position more than once, such as Marina Silva (Rede), including in different portfolios, such as Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Marta Suplicy (PT).

José Sarney (MDB), Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) and Michel Temer (MDB) had a minister during their governments — in FHC’s second term, there was no minister.

Fernando Collor (at the time in the PRN) nominated two, Itamar Franco, three, and Jair Bolsonaro (PL), four.

Dilma’s first term brought together 12 ministers, the largest number in the series —Ideli Salvatti commanded three different portfolios at the time.

Then comes the current administration of Lula (PT), which reached 11. With the departure of Ana Moser from the Ministry of Sports and Daniela Carneiro from Tourism, in 2023, the total dropped to nine.

In the opinion of experts, the lack of female representation in politics is the main reason for the low presence of women in public office. The formation of ministries involves party negotiations, a process in which they are a minority.

“Some departments have such a high budget that the financial dynamics are more respected than the execution of public policies”, states the author of the survey.

“Budget mobilization is more important than thinking about whether there will be diversity or implementing policies coherently, because research shows that women are more concerned about certain aspects.”

According to Laura’s work, since 1985, the Environment and Women’s Policies portfolios have had women in charge six times, the highest number among the others. Next comes Social Assistance, with four times.

The area became more disputed as it gained prominence after Lula’s first term, according to Ana Diniz, coordinator of the diversity and inclusion studies center at Insper’s Workplace.. In the last three governments, it was led by men. The portfolio underwent name changes, as during the Bolsonaro government, when the Ministry of Citizenship was created.

The survey also shows that, in first terms, women stay in office longer than men, while, in second terms, they are favored.

For Ana Diniz, this is related to the greater influence that governments suffer from voters at the beginning of the government.

“If we have more women in these positions, it is because there is social pressure for representation. The effect of this pressure on the second government is less because the alliances are articulated differently.”

Even though they are a minority, women can perform better as leaders than men, according to an Insper survey published in 2023.

The study, which compiled results from different research on female leaders in positions ranging from city hall to head of state, identified that they tend to invest up to 7% more in health and education, reduce infant mortality by up to 24% and have up to 35% less chances of being involved in corruption cases when they occupy high-ranking positions.

Another research, published in 2022 by USP, showed that cities led by mayors achieved better performance in the fight against Covid-19. There, there were fewer deaths and hospitalizations per 100,000 inhabitants, in addition to better application of preventive measures, compared to municipalities run by men.

Clara Marinho, advisor at República.org, says that women can perform better by bringing new perspectives to politics on public management challenges, including those related to their own experience. The same goes for increasing the presence of black and indigenous people among leaders.

Women are generally primarily responsible for caring for family members, for example, and therefore have greater access to health and education services. “This increases the efficiency of public policy, because I allow it to become more permeable to different views.”

The counselor states that women’s access to decision-making areas must also be democratized, whether by encouraging female candidates in elections or in competitions for the public sector.

These movements, adds Clara, allow them to create a trajectory in public management and, with this, prepare themselves to take on a high-ranking position.