Women's rights in Brazil

Women’s societal roles in Brazil have been heavily impacted by the patriarchal traditions of Iberian culture, which holds women subordinate to men in familial and community relationships. The Iberian Peninsula, which is made up of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, has traditionally been the cultural and military frontier between Christianity and Islam, thus developing a strong tradition fror military conquest and male dominance. Patriarchal traditions were readily transferred to Latin America through the encomienda system that fostered economic dependence among women and Native Americans. As the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world, religion has also had a significant impact on the perception of women in Brazil, though over the past century the Brazilian government has increasingly broken with the Catholic church in regard to issues related to reproductive rights.

Brazil is thought to possess the most organized and effective women's movement in Latin America, with visible gains having been made over the past century to promote and protect the legal and political rights of women. Despite the gains made in women's rights over the past century, women in Brazil still face significant gender inequality, which is most pronounced in the rural areas of Northeastern Brazil. In 2010, the United Nations ranked Brazil 73rd out of 169 nations based on the Gender Inequality Index, which measure women’s disadvantages in the areas of reproductive rights, empowerment and economic activity. Women’s movements in Brazil have traditionally been led and supported by upper middle class women, and tend to be reformist rather than revolutionary in nature, though clear exceptions exist, most notably with regard to agrarian land reform movements. Though suffrage was granted to women in Brazil in the 1930s, it was not until the 1970s and onwards that a broader, more potent women’s movement took hold in Brazil.

Suffrage movement

Brazil was the fourth country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1932, following the United States, Canada and Ecuador. Though a feminist movement had existed in Brazil since the mid-nineteenth century and women did petition for suffrage to be included in the 1891 Republican Constitution, the drive towards enfranchisement only began in earnest under the leadership of feminist, biologist and lawyer, Bertha Lutz. Following the publication of an article in the Revista da Semana, which called upon women to prove their worthiness to men through their achievements and organize in order to demand the right to vote, various women’s organizations appeared. Lutz founded her own organization in conjunction with American suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt in 1922, the Brazilian Federation for the Advancement of Women, which would become the leading suffrage organization of Brazil and was affiliated with the International Women's Suffrage Alliance. Brazilian suffragettes were literate, professional women who made up only a small percentage of the female population in Brazil, the latter which remained largely illiterate. Hence, the campaign for suffrage was by no means a mass movement, and was decidedly moderate in nature. The conservative character of the suffrage movement provoked little resistance from government, and suffrage was declared by Getulio Vargas in 1932 and later confirmed in the 1934 Constitution. Just two years after women’s suffrage was declared in the 5th Constitution of Brazil, two women were elected to Congress, ten females were elected mayors and assemblywomen, and thirty women were made councilwomen in Brazil. Though government jobs had been available to women in the past, women had not held electoral positions until after suffrage was won and the amount of women in governance continued to grow throughout the twentieth century.

Constitutional rights

5th Constitution of 1934

Appointed by the Provisional Government in 1933 to draft the first page of the new Constitution, Bertha Lutz included various provisions to promote equal rights between men and women. Not only were women granted the equal right to hold government office and earn equal pay for equal work, but also were given preference over men in all government jobs dealing with the home, motherhood, children, and working conditions for women. The preferential treatment afforded to women in regard to certain government positions was controversial at the time.

Citizen’s Constitution of 1988

The Citizen’s Constitution declared women equal to men in all legal respects, explicitly stating in Article 5 of Title II that “men and women have equal rights and duties under the terms of this Constitution.”The National Council on Women’s Rights, formed in 1975, advocated successfully on behalf of including gender conscious legislation in the new constitution. At the suggestion of the Council, a clause was added to the document announcing that land distributed by agrarian reform could be assigned and titled “in the name of the man, woman, or both, independent of civil status.” This was the first time in Brazilian history that women could legally be named beneficiaries of agrarian reform measures. The 1988 constitution also declared for the first time that urban and rural women and men had the same rights to social security benefits. Despite the declaration of such rights, as of 2000, institutions had not been established to enable or enforce gender equality in land reform. Furthermore, the Constitution promised "....protection of the labour market for women through specific incentives, as provided by law," and established a minimum required maternity leave of one hundred and twenty days and the introduction of paternity leave.

Economic rights

Property rights

Under the Civil Code of Brazil, married women could not lawfully acquire or possess their own property until 1962. Presently, inheritance law differs based on matrimonial regimes, of which there are four. Under the full common-property regime, which was inherited from the Portuguese legal tradition, widows do not inherit from husbands unless there are no living children or parents. Under the separation of the profits regime, which is the default regime, widows have the right to one-quarter to one-half their husbands’ estates (depending on the presence of children), yet are not granted ownership rights over any property inherited and automatically loses all privileges if they remarry. This regime has been criticized as positioning widows as mere custodians of property for children, rather than legitimate property owners. Indeed, studies show that a women’s ability to exercise her right to inherited property is largely influenced by whether she is viewed as a potential agriculturalist. Women are often denied access to inherited property because they do not inherit from their fathers and are not recognized as worthy heads of productive units. Though consensual unions were recognized by the 1988 Constitution, women in consensual unions were not endowed with the same inheritance rights as married women until 1994.

With the return to civilian rule in 1985, President José Sarney made the more equitable distribution of land one of his attested objectives, issuing a directive to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform and Land Development in 1986 urging that beneficiaries of land be chose “independently of sex.” In conjunction with the democratic opening of the 1980s, a rural women’s movement emerged with calls for inclusion of women in rural unions and guarantee of social security benefits, such as paid maternity leave and retirement pensions, for rural women. The National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG), which is the largest organization of agricultural workers in Brazil, tackled women’s rights for the first time during its fourth congress in 1985, when it decided to extend membership to more women and actively work to end gender discrimination. Demands for more equitable agrarian property rights, championed by organizations such as the Central Worker’s Union, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Women’s Council led to agrarian reform measures in the 1988 Constitution. Grievances still abound regarding equal land distribution in Brazil, evident in the Marcha da Margaridas of 2000, in which over fifteen thousand women marched on the capital to demand joint allocation of land to couples, rather than just men.

Employment and contracts

Though large segments of the female population remained illiterate through the turn of the century, a growing number of middle-class women began to pursue higher education and work outside of the home. Many early female workers found employment in schools, government and commercial offices. The formation of the Union of Professional Women in the 1920s, which embraced university and professional women, played a large role in the suffrage movement. By 1936, over a million Brazilian women worked outside the home, which led to changing perceptions of women’s family roles and a remodeling of the nation’s commercial usages. Despite the growing number of women in the workforce, women's employment remained highly segregated based on perceptions of appropriate work for women. Up until the 1950s, domestic service was the largest category of female employment, with most other women engaged in government bureaucracy, social services, as well as other informal labor. Women’s labor rights were not fully addressed until 1978, with the passage of a law declaring that women be paid equally for equal work, which was confirmed in the 1988 Constitution.

Working class women began to organize on behalf of women’s issues in the 1970s. Working class women’s organizations, such as the Housewives’ Association of Sao Paulo and the Mothers’ Club of Sao Paulo, became increasingly important arenas for women to express grievances with regard to informal care work and the cost of urban living. Women’s involvement and leadership among unions have been less successful, as is the case in other Latin American countries. The first Congress of Female Metalworkers of Sao Paulo, held in 1978, was harassed and threatened by employers to the extent that only 300 of the 800 women who had signed up actually attended to conference. Current female participation in the labor market is 65 percent for women compared to 85 percent for men. Domestic workers have become increasingly organized through global professional networks and trade unions, though domestic labor remains a significant, and vastly under-regulated, form of work for women.

Prostitution and sex worker’s rights

Though the exchange of money for sex is legal in Brazil, it is illegal to operate a brothel or employ prostitutes and such offenses are punishable by up to five years in jail. Prostitution is not considered a profession and hence sex workers do not have labor rights. Fernando Gabeira, founder of the Green Party, recently introduced a piece of legislation to Congress to establish prostitution as a recognized profession, however the bill was defeated in 2007. The Center for the Study of Prostitution (NEP), which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Brazil's National Network of Sex Professionals, continues to advocate on behalf of the recognition of prostitution as a profession under standard labor and social security laws. These organizations have played a significant role in public health initiatives aimed at preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. Carmen Lucia Paz, a former prostitute and researcher at NEP, has become one of the most vocal champions of sex worker rights in Brazil.

Reproductive rights

Contraception

Until the legalization of contraceptives in the early twentieth century, Brazilian law placed contraception, abortion and immorality in the same classification. Three factors that have impacted contraceptive laws on Brazil are the influence of the Catholic Church, the legacy of Iberian culture, and the historically conservative approach to the status of women in Latin America. Bem-Estar Familiar no Brasil (BEMFAM), which is funded by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, is the leading NGO in the country dedicated to family planning. A laissez-faire attitude adopted on the part of the Brazilian government in the 1960s has led to the predominance of private organizations in the provision of family planning services. The government has taken measure to extend planning to poorer Brazilians by subsidizing birth control pills and sterilization at government clinics. The current birth rate in Brazil is at a replacement rate of about 2.18 births per woman estimated for the year 2011. Brazil has witnessed one of the most dramatic reductions in family size in modern history in part due to increased access to family planning services. Indeed, the fertility rate in Brazil has steadily decreased over the past four decades due in some measure to the growing use of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion. .

Sterilization has become increasingly popular in Brazil since it became legal and free for women over 25 in 1996, and is regulated by the Health Ministry. It had already been a popular practice among poor communities before the legalization of sterilization, and was practiced in private clinics. In 1994, over sixty percent of women in Goiás, and over seventy percent of women in Maranhão and Mato Grosso were sterilized. After the 1996 law, sterilization became part of the population control policy of the Brazilian government. Though some view sterilization as an inexpensive form of birth control and a useful tool in population control, others see the mass use of sterilization in Brazil as contrary to promoting women’s choices in contraceptive use. Sterilization is most common among Afro-Brazilians in the Northeast of the country who are too poor to afford other types of contraception and uneducated on the long term consequences of sterilization. Scholars such as Andre Caetano and Joseph E. Potter claim that sterilization has been used as a political means of garnering votes while controlling population growth among poor, minority populations.

Abortion

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except for the case of rape or when the mother’s life is in danger. Though abortions are against the law, it is estimated that over one million abortions are performed in Brazil each year, though data on abortion incidence is not systemically collected. Over two hundred thousand women are treated for abortion complications each year in Brazilian hospitals. The punishment for a woman performing an abortion on herself or consenting to an abortion is one to three years of imprisonment. The punishment for those performing abortions is one to four years of imprisonment, and this number increases by one-third if harm is caused to the women or one-half if the abortion leads to the death of the woman.

Rape and sexual violence

Sexual harassment

Views on sexual harassment in Brazil have been influenced by both culture and sexual harassment laws, making for a disconnect between official regulations and general attitudes. Researcher Rebecca Merkin found that unlike their American counterparts, Brazilian women do not express decreased job satisfaction when faced with sexual harassment, illuminating the greater acceptability of sexual harassment in Brazil as compared to the United States. Following the passage of the 1988 Constitution, a law was passed in 1991 outlawing sexual harassment and making it a crime punishable by a fine of up to $20,000. In 2001, a contentious law was passed under the civil code raising the punishment for sexual harassment to one to two years of jail time. Despite the presence of strict regulations, Brazil has one of the worst reputations in the world in terms of the harassment of women in the workplace and in the home. Fiedler and Blanco assert that men rarely follow sexual harassment laws, and that few sexual harassment cases have been brought to trial in Brazil.

Age of consent and statutory rape

The age of consent in Brazil is 14, regardless of gender or sexual orientation and any type of sexual activity is permitted after the age of 18. Statutory rape can only be committed by those above the age of 18, and is punishable by 8 to 15 years imprisonment. However, men who have killed, sexually assaulted, or committed other crimes against women are unlikely to be brought to trial. Brazil has recently overtaken Thailand as the world's most popular destination for sex tourism, which involves travel for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with prostitutes. Sex tourism is most common in the Northeast of Brazil, especially in the city of Fortaleza, where child prostitution is rampant. While no specific laws address sex tourism, it is punishable under other criminal offenses, such as pedophilia and corruption of minors. The government released a "code of conduct to combat sex tourism and sexual exploitation" and conducted campaigns in the most affected areas, which are predominantly in the Northeastern region of the country. The states of Pernambuco, Espirito Santo, Amazonias, Parana and the Federal District enacted laws requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for having intercourse with a minor.

Domestic violence

Domestic violence was not a part of the Brazilian criminal code until 2006, when the federal criminal domestic violence code was passed by President Lula. The Law of Domestic and Family Violence was the first official codification of domestic violence crimes, and tripled the previous punishments associated with domestic violence. Brazil's adoption of the domestic violence code was mainly influenced by its participation in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the urging of the international legal community, and the tenacity of local grassroots movements. The formation of female police units and a federally funded hotline to serve victims of gender violence have significantly advanced the protections offered to women in Brazil, though domestic violence in Brazil remains prevalent and thus a major obstacle in attaining equal rights for women.

Human rights and women’s rights

Women’s rights have long been connected with broader political issues, and demands from women’s groups have often times been articulated within the context of more general social issues related to democratization and socioeconomic inequality. Most of those women involved in the feminist movement of the 1970s were also involved in other political movements, such as the human rights movement, and the formation of leftist political parties. Hence, the women’s movement in Brazil has often been understood in the larger context of a push towards greater political participation and socioeconomic equality. TheAmnesty International movement was one that gained much support from feminists, evident in the establishment of the Feminine Movement for Amnesty of the 1970s. At the same time, feminist movements have attempted to maintain balance between their specific goals and wider political demands.

Key activists and organizations

• Nísia Floresta
• Bertha Lutz
• Brazilian Federation for the Advancement of Women
• Carmen Lucía Paz
• National Council on Women
• Feminine Movement for Amnesty
• Center for the Development of Brazilian Women
• Union of Professional Women
• Brazilian Women’s Center
• Family Welfare in Brazil (BEM-FAM)
• National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG)
• Center for the Study of Prostitution (NEP)
• Brazil's National Network of Sex Professionals