Women’s quotas advance, but the law has limitations and comes up against a party structure

The quota to increase women’s participation in politics led to advances over the nearly 30 years after it was implemented by law. However, according to experts and parliamentarians, it gets stuck in the structure of political parties, being insufficient.

More mechanisms to accelerate the inclusion of women in politics have been instituted in recent years. However, one of the obstacles to the effectiveness of these initiatives is the amnesty for parties that broke the rules in previous elections, such as the one approved by Congress in March 2022.

In politics since 1983, federal deputy Luiza Erundina (PSOL-SP) faced the “wall of obstacles” that prevents women from participating in this field. She says the quotas have been a fantastic achievement, but more is needed.

“Before, even being a candidate was very difficult. After the electoral fund started to be available and women were contemplated with this policy of funding quotas, the parties started to be interested”, she says.

She defends as an ideal the reservation of seats in the Legislative, not just vacancies for candidacies. “Unfortunately, there is no compensatory policy to guarantee women the means they don’t have to overcome structural discrimination. It’s like the woman isn’t supposed to wield power.”

Since 1997, legislation provides that at least 30% of the candidacies of each party or coalition are filled by women. The measure only became mandatory, however, more than ten years later, in 2009 —since, until then, the rule had been breached by the subtitles.

Federal deputy Jandira Feghali (PC do B-RJ) was one of the parliamentarians who worked to approve the 1997 measure. According to her, the quota contributed to women starting to “exist on party slates” in electoral processes.

“We used to say that we had to have at least 30%. They [deputados homens] they said that this was segregation, that it would cause more problems. There was resistance, we had problems. But we did. it was a battle [de convencimento] on every stand,” he says.

Jandira also highlights the work of social movements in the measures that were conquered in Congress. “This is all a conjunction of legislation with the social movement that has been growing and putting itself forward”, she says.

In 1997, of the 513 vacancies in the Chamber, only 42 were occupied by women. The total reached 93 in the last elections, but female MPs still represent only 18% of Parliament.

This year, the Senate will have the largest female bench in history, with the same percentage of 18%. The total, however, opens up the challenge: even in a record number, there are only 15 women — 5 of whom are male substitutes.

A decision by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in 2018 also contributed to the advancement of female participation, which obliged parties to allocate at least 30% of the resources of electoral and party funds to female candidates.

The NGO Elas no Politics, which is dedicated to increasing female participation in politics, works with a goal considered ambitious: to ensure that women make up half of Congress by 2030.

The director-president of the institution, Karin Vervuurt, says that the quotas for candidacies and resources are important, but they are still far below what is needed. Like Erundina, the NGO defends the creation of seat quotas in Parliament.

“If you look at Latin American countries, most countries that have managed to achieve some level of gender parity have chair quotas. We believe that this is the best solution. Argentina, when it established the quota law, went from 9% to 40%”, he says.

Vervuurt points out that, to circumvent Brazilian legislation, parties often concentrate public resources on the candidacy of a vice president or even on a single woman. Another problem, according to her, is the forgiveness of acronyms that break the rules.

“A very short time ago, we had the amnesty of all the parties that, in the last elections, did not comply with either of the two rules. Unfortunately, the progress we have made is still very small”, he adds.

Another measure that contributes in this sense is the one that establishes that votes given to women and black people will be counted twice when defining the values ​​of party and electoral funds. Approved in 2021, it will be valid until 2030.

Law professor Ligia Fabris, from FGV in Rio de Janeiro, says that the quotas implemented since 1997 had and still have an effect on the current political scenario, but are falling short of expectations. One of the difficulties, she says, is the structure of political parties, which, historically, are led by men.

She states that there is “a deliberate resistance to abdicating spaces in the least in favor of the democratization of politics”.

“Despite this, it does not mean that we can throw away the framework that we have achieved in recent years, with a lot of struggle. This should help us to look at these obstacles and think about how we can overcome them”, he continues.

In her assessment, an alternative would be to implement the closed list system, in which voters vote for a list of candidates predefined by the parties (not isolated candidates), with gender alternation.

For this it would be necessary to carry out a political reform in Brazil. “Which is costly and difficult and with the Congress we have now, I don’t think it would be feasible”, he says.

The teacher also highlights the importance of action by society to demand that the Judiciary, the Legislature and even political parties comply with legislation and punish those who disrespect it.

Beatriz Cerqueira (PT-MG) was the fifth most voted state deputy in the country and the second woman, behind only the collective mandate Bancada Feminista (PSOL-SP), which brings together five black women. She claims that another problem is political gender violence — and says that institutions are not prepared.

“My first death threats were in August, still in the pre-campaign. I didn’t divulge a previous agenda, I didn’t participate in open activities. I heard from the delegate that I was subject to death threats, just like her, ”she reports.

The deputy says that political violence ends up limiting her activities. “We need to ensure that the political environment is an environment that does not distance, restrict or kill women for being women in politics.”

* With information from Folha de São Paulo

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