Erica Kliment and Layne Vandenberg – Brazil Institute, 10/01/2014
The upcoming Brazilian presidential elections are likely to be decided between two women. The current president, Dilma Rousseff, became the first woman president of Brazil in 2010, and her adversary, former senator and environmental minister, Marina Silva, changed the outlook of the presidential elections when she accepted the presidential candidacy for the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) following the tragic death of former candidate, Eduardo Campos, in an unanticipated plane crash. Since the announcement of Marina’s candidacy, Dilma and Marina, as they are called in Brazil, have continued to fluctuate in the polls as the first round of elections, held on October 5th, approaches. Do the candidacies of President Dilma Rousseff and Marina Silva indicate that Brazil has finally emerged into an era of increased political participation of women?
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According to statistics of women’s political participation in Brazil, Marina and Dilma appear to remain outliers. Although over 50% of the Brazilian electorate is female, the Inter-Parliamentary Union found that only 8.6% of the representatives from the Chamber of Deputies are female as of 2014, placing Brazil below the international average of 22.2%.
This is not to say, however, that Brazilian institutions have not attempted to increase female political participation. For over 20 years, Brazil has supported quotas to ensure women have a better chance of election. It is mandatory that 30% of all candidacy positions within each political party must be held by women. Although this quota has increased from its original 20%, it still falls short of other Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Bolivia, where 40% and 47% of national legislatures are female, respectively. These quotas may exist, but they are also associated with the concept of “candidatas laranjas” (orange candidates), who are used to fill the quota while also creating space for male candidates. An “orange candidate,” then, may not be truthfully elected for her political achievements and capabilities, but rather as a type of political surrogate.
The lacking female representation begs the question why the presence of women is necessary in Brazilian politics. First, governments with more female participation are shown to enjoy lower corruption rates. Considering the historically high levels of corruption in Brazil, more women in government could rebuild the distrust felt among Brazilians – especially the youth – of the government and its representatives.
Second, more women in politics could lead to increased attention on women’s rights in Brazil. The country has made significant progress in attempts to reduce violence against women, most notably through its enactment of the Maria da Penha law in 2006, a legal precedent in domestic violence cases that increased the punishment for violence against women. A 2014 survey conducted by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) on the “Social Tolerance to Violence against Women” in Brazil also found encouraging evidence that 73% of their sample disagreed that “the issue of violence against women gets more attention than it deserves.” While Brazilians may believe issues of violence against women need to continue to be address or need to be addressed more often, IPEA also found over 58% of their sample still believes that “if women knew how to behave, there would be less rapes.” In fact, rapes in Brazil have increased by 168 percent in the last five years. And out of the richest countries in the world, Brazil still ranks as the 9th worst country for women (11th out of the total 20). Brazil’s next female president – and the inclusion of more women into the Brazilian political system – can continue to improve this ranking and better the lives of female Brazilians.
Lastly, the election of women into government seats paves the way for other marginalized identities. The election of Dilma Rousseff very well may have led to the open-mindedness of the Brazilian public to Marina Silva, one of the two frontrunners in the presidential race and potentially the first black Brazilian president. The 2011 Brazilian census confirmed, for the first time, that over 50% of Brazilians now consider themselves to be black or mixed race. The election of women into governmental positions would increase representation proportional to Brazil’s population, and the candidacy – and possible election – of Marina contributes to the greater representation of black Brazilians.
With the next president comes the responsibility to ensure her fellow females have better access to positions of power. Many parties have not yet allowed women to rise into higher positions, even with mandatory quotas in place, and while Dilma appointed many females to high positions within her cabinet, this must be expanded and practiced by males with influence as well. Brazil has the unique opportunity to take advantage of the current situation with the upcoming nation-wide elections to ensure the promotion of female participation in the political system, and Dilma and Marina hold the potential to continue to increase female participation in the political system through their candidacies and the future president’s policies.
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Erica Kliment and Layne Vandenberg are staff interns at the Brazil Institute.
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