Although we are far from achieving equality, in recent years we have seen a significant increase in women's participation in the National Congress . Although there is still a long way to go, these changes are an important step towards ensuring gender equality in Brazilian politics.
Until the early 1930s, women had no political participation in Brazil. It was only in 1932, after the creation of the Electoral Court, through Decree 21,076, by then president Getúlio Vargas, that the right to vote for literate women was granted.
The right to vote for women symbolizes the inclusion of women in the country's political decisions, in addition to further reinforcing the commitment to democracy. However, for those who lead the fight usa mobile database for women's rights, the reality is that it is impossible not to emphasize how these victories were achieved only after overcoming many challenges. In other words, nothing was granted, but rather conquered.
This reality is confirmed when we look at the scenario of women's participation in Congress . Brazil is a country in which the majority of the population is made up of women, and they make up more than 53% of the Brazilian electorate. However, the female bench in the Chamber of Deputies represents only 91 (17.7%) of the 513 seats occupied.
In the last legislature, this rate was even lower. In the 2018 elections, only 77 women were elected federal deputies. According to official data from the Chamber of Deputies, in 2022, female candidates received the most votes in eight states and the Federal District.
The Federal Senate also reached its record number of women for the current legislature. In total, 15 senators make up the female bench , but the growth is the result of the arrival of four substitutes, responsible for replacing the parliamentarians appointed to the Ministries of the current government. However, if they did not take on the role of substitutes, the number of senators would be lower than in the previous legislature, with only 11 women.
A ranking by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an organization that analyzes the composition of parliaments, found that Brazil ranks 146th in terms of women's participation among 193 countries analyzed. In Latin America, Cuba and Mexico were the countries that performed best.