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BRAZIL:
Leading Ladies Give Gender Slant to Campaign
By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 9 (IPS) - With the
possible participation of three high-profile
women candidates in Brazil's 2010
presidential elections, the irruption of
gender issues in the campaign in Latin
America's largest democracy seems
inevitable.
This unprecedented scenario will be a great
opportunity for gender advocates to further
key issues, including greater participation
of women in politics and a platform that
guarantees women's rights.
While they have not yet been officially
proclaimed as candidates, their parties are
already fielding them as potential
contenders, and they're starting to show up
with considerable support in voting
intention polls.
The first likely candidate is Dilma Rousseff,
of the governing Workers' Party (PT), who
has been chosen by President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva to succeed him, as he cannot
run for a third consecutive term.
A second strong candidate is Marina Silva, a
prominent ecological activist and former PT
environment minister who resigned her post
in May 2009 over discrepancies with Lula's
infrastructure plans for the Amazon jungle.
Silva later formally quit the PT, after 30
years of active involvement, and joined the
Green Party (PV).
A third possible, but less likely candidate
is Heloísa Helena Lima de Moraes, of the
Socialism and Freedom Party (P-SOL), a PT
breakaway. But her run for the presidency is
doubtful as she may decide to stand for
senator again.
In Brazil, these women are known simply as
Dilma, Marina and Heloísa Helena.
That makes three "competitive" women who are
vying for a spot in the race towards the
October 2010 general elections, sociologist
Fátima Jordão, director of the data studies
division at the Sao Paulo-based television
network TV Cultura, told IPS.
Jordão recalled that Brazil has had female
candidates in the past, but not competitive
politicians like these three women, who
belong to strong parties, deliver a
consistent message, and have financial
support and a chance of winning.
The polls show the three potential
presidential hopefuls as having between five
and 20 percent of voting intention -
significant support, but still far behind
José Serra, the candidate of the opposition
Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), who
is currently leading the polls with 40
percent.
"There have never been so many voters
willing to vote for women," said Jordão.
A survey led in February by the polling
company Ibope found that nine out of 10
Brazilians would vote for a woman candidate,
and that 83 percent believe that women's
involvement improves politics.
"There are no obstacles or negative
attitudes standing in the way of a woman
being elected president," Ricardo Guedes,
head of the Sensus polling firm, told IPS.
This trend was first measured in 2007 by
Sensus through a survey on various social
biases, which found that 57.4 percent of
respondents would vote for a woman
presidential candidate while another 29.3
percent would vote for one "depending on who
the woman was."
According to Jordão, this is a novel
scenario that will inevitably bring gender
issues into the forefront as the campaign
moves forward and gender-related references,
styles and images are increasingly used.
Dilma, Lula's chief of staff, has already
given some signals in that direction, Jordão
said, referring to how she recently shook
off criticism from detractors who frowned on
her constant presence in public works
inaugurations.
The cabinet chief compared herself to a cook
who proudly shows off her dishes. "Why not
show your works - a hydroelectric plant, for
example - when they're completed?" she
asked, arguing that they only criticised her
appearances at such events because she is a
woman.
For Jordão, this is a symbolic reference to
gender, because it evokes the traditional
image of the invisible woman labouring away
in the kitchen, out of sight, and challenges
it by posing the question "why can men do it
and women can't?"
Political scientist Patricia Rangel views
the existence of various female candidates
as "extremely positive" both for its
symbolic value and because of the
possibilities that a woman president would
offer in terms of advancing women's rights.
In symbolic terms, a female presidential
candidate "represents a shift in political
paradigm and contributes to the process of
acknowledging women as political actors."
According to Rangel, with the Feminist
Centre for Studies and Advisory Services (CFEMEA),
"patriarchal society reproduces the idea
that politics is men's business," and female
candidates are a positive development when
they "challenge the stereotypes and roles
assigned to women."
Brazil was one of the first countries in
Latin America to grant women the right to
vote, but it has one of the lowest levels of
female representation in public office,
according to data from the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the
international organisation of parliaments.
In February 2009, just under 20 percent of
legislators around the world were women. In
Brazil, a country of more than 190 million
inhabitants, the proportion of women holding
seats in Congress was much lower than the
global average, with only nine percent in
the chamber of deputies, and 12.3 percent in
the senate.
These figures put the South American giant
at 107th in IPU's global ranking of 187
countries, compiled with information
provided by national parliaments as of
September 2009.
October 2009 data from CFEMEA reveals that
there are only three women governors in the
country's 27 states and 504 women mayors in
5,555 municipalities.
For Rangel, there are several factors
leading to fewer women participating in
politics, including their being forced to
put their responsibilities as mothers and
wives ahead of any political activism, the
insults and provocations women holding
political office commonly suffer, and the
unreasonably high expectations placed on
women politicians as compared to their male
counterparts.
"Women always have to prove they're more
capable than men to be accepted, and when
they access high posts, much more is
demanded from them," she said.
Brazil's iron lady or the Amazon flower
The current level of participation earned by
women in the worlds of labour and politics
in Brazil is the result of great strides
made by women over a number of years, but
stereotypes continue to shape popular
beliefs.
Nevertheless, according to the Ibope survey,
the stereotypes are not just negative, as 74
percent of respondents said that greater
participation by women in politics would
bring more honesty, greater commitment to
constituencies, and enhanced administrative
capacity.
Rangel identified two basic stereotypes into
which women politicians are pigeonholed.
One is the "sweet woman" stereotype, which
portrays female politicians as a feminine
island within masculine politics, thus
perpetuating their traditional role; and the
other is the "iron woman" stereotype, which
depicts women in politics as eschewing a
"proper feminine" style, at the risk of
being stigmatised as "masculinised."
If they adopt a "feminine" style in
politics, women risk sacrificing their
authority, and conversely if they choose a
more "masculine" attitude they expose
themselves to social disapproval, Rangel
said.
Today's potential presidential candidates
have opted for the second choice,
"conquering authority at the cost of
garnering social disapproval."
"Who hasn't heard that Dilma is no
sweetheart, or that Marina is ugly and grim,
as if those were relevant features for a
career in politics?", she asked.
Upon examining this unprecedented
convergence of possible women candidates,
experts concurred that it does not stem from
a desire to benefit from the "positive
stereotypes" of women in politics.
Jordão said that more pragmatic factors are
at play, such as Dilma's chances - as Lula's
right-hand woman - of continuing along the
same lines as an administration that has a
high level of approval.
Rangel stressed that because of their work
as cabinet members, both Marina and Dilma
escaped the government niche that women
politicians in Brazil have traditionally
been trapped in, which ties women to
domestic and care-related matters, by
assigning them to positions in fields such
as education or social welfare.
In Dilma's case, the fact that Lula himself
perceives and projects her as an "executive"
is also decisive, Guedes said. As for her
ranking in the polls, which show her as
"bordering voters' rejection," Guedes put it
down in particular to her lack of "political
empathy" and "charisma."
Being a woman is not enough
They may be symbols of a new political
paradigm, but whether sweet as flowers or
tough as nails, the presence of women
candidates is not enough, according to the
women's movement.
In Jordão's view, support for a female
candidate will depend on how committed they
are to certain key issues, such as the
decriminalisation of abortion, the promotion
of reproductive rights, and policies to
combat violence against women.
Rangel does not believe that "more women in
power will automatically translate into more
rights for all women."
She pointed out that the women's movement
believes that "it's not enough to elect more
women, that what are needed are gender-aware
women, that is, women with a clear awareness
of their gender's situation of
marginalisation and inequality."
In any case, women candidates open the
presidential campaign up to the discussion
of gender issues, such as work and
retirement, maternity and paternity leave,
labour stability, the eradication of
violence, and reproductive health.
Whether the women candidates will "use or
abuse" this gender agenda remains to be
seen. Rangel doesn't see a clear gender
message yet in the potential women
candidates, who in some cases - like
Marina's opposition to abortion for
religious reasons - even "prefer to avoid
these issues." |
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