“Yes, women can”- Brazil’s first ‘presidenta’ pledges gender equality

Jennifer Cocks

November 5, 2010

11:45 am

Brazil elected its first female president, Dilma Rousseff, on Nobember 1^st. She won with 56% of votes, beating her opponent, José Serra by 12%. This is a great victory for women in Brazil, though the country still has only a small number of women in political positions. Rousseff ran with a campaign slogan of “yes, we can” which is reminiscent of Obama’s slogan and her campaign emphasized that “‘Equal opportunities for men and women are an essential principal of democracy.’” In her victory speech, Rousseff promised to advocate for additional job opportunities in “’business, civil institutions…and the whole of [Brazil’s] society.’” She is expected to promote several women who are already successful in leadership roles to government positions. Rousseff’s choice to emphasize the “’…importance of women in democracy was a major advance that went beyond emotion and rhetoric’” and promises that gender equality will be a goal of her presidency.

I read this article and thought about the great contrast between American and Brazilian politics. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we had our first female candidate (Hillary Clinton) for a majority political party, though she lost the Democratic primary election to Obama. Why has it taken so long for us to have even one female candidate for president in a majority party? Is our society more patriarchal than Brazil and other Latin American and Caribbean nations since they’ve managed to elect eight female presidents? Is there a different method used to choose Brazilian candidates that is more egalitarian and less gender-biased? Is this evidence of the glass ceiling of politics in the US? I think our inability to have a female presidential candidate is a reflection of all of the above. While it is possible that some of Clinton’s loss can be attributed to her political philosophy, I believe that the primary reason for her loss is because our patriarchal society places constraints on the expectations of women through socialization. From gender stereotypes that claim women cannot make decisions without becoming “overly emotional” and weak to the currently passive stance we have on equal opportunity employment and pay for both sexes, women, especially those in politics, face more public scrutiny and discrimination than most men in similar positions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/01/brazil-first-presidenta-womens-rights