The representation of women between oranges and guavas in the Bolsonaro Government

Those who harbored the vain hope that the former Minister of Tourism, Marcelo Álvaro Antônio (PSL/MG), had been dismissed due to scandals involving the appointment of "straw women" to fill and allocate funds related to his party's female quotas in Minas Gerais, were informed that, under the Bolsonaro government, this is apparently not grounds for punishment.

Earlier in the week, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo had reported a fraud involving the transfer of R$ 279 from the national directorate of the PSL party to the four female candidates who would participate in the elections for the party in Minas Gerais, then presided over by the minister, which were reallocated to expenses of companies linked to his office.

The real reason, however, was simply the (realized) idea of ​​Marcelo Álvaro Antônio – exactly as happened with the Ministers of the Civil House and Agriculture Onyx Lorenzoni (DEM/RS) and Osmar Terra (MDB-RS) and with the Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina (DEM/MS) – to take office in the Chamber of Deputies and then resume his post, despite the great repercussion that his "one-day dismissal" caused.

The new appointment act, jointly signed by Justice Minister Sergio Moro and the convalescent President of the Republic (published in the Official Gazette of the Union on January 07th), once again highlights the government's absolute disregard for the underlying issues of the episode, since only Vice President Hamilton Mourão commented on the need to investigate the facts.

The case also revealed the major gaps that the political reform carried out in 2017 failed to address, especially considering the weaknesses already found in the quota system that has been implemented, because, of course, it is easier to delegitimize it than to improve its mechanisms.

The changes maintained the focus on a percentage of women in political parties and in the composition of candidacies, instead of establishing progressive quotas (up to 16%) in the seats of legislative bodies themselves, both federal, state and municipal, as was the proposal spearheaded by then-Senator Vanessa Grazziotin (PCdoB/AM), known as the "PEC da Mulher" (Women's Amendment), which left only the Senate out. The proposal was not voted on in 2017 due to the closing of the session in October, and has not undergone any further proceedings since then.

Legislation in effect since 2012 mandates that at least 30% of candidacies for a given party be women, generating the problem of "dummy candidates" in the country—female candidates called upon to fill quotas. Adding to the difficulties many women face in participating in political life, especially considering contexts where domestic and care work is less (or not at all) shared, these "cold" candidacies are a convenient way to simplify the challenge of integrating women into the country's deliberative bodies.

According to current rules, if parties meet quotas up to the registration of candidacies, there is no obligation to nominate new names if there are withdrawals or if a female candidacy is rejected by the Electoral Courts, greatly facilitating irregular practices due to the absence of punishment. Some problems, such as the lack of campaign financing – technically mitigated by the mandatory reservation of party funds, apparently defrauded by our Minister of Tourism – and the need for legislation to oblige parties to observe the female percentage up to the elections, were already pointed out as legislative changes that should occur for affirmative action policies to be more effective, but were not addressed by the reform.

Brazil ranks 132nd out of 188 in terms of the number of women represented in parliament, even though the female electorate accounts for 53%, making the discussion about affirmative action policies for women to guarantee formal representation in public service or the private sector increasingly necessary and delicate.

An important issue is promoting the qualified participation of women, that is, quotas for participation that are not only numerical, but also guarantee diversity in decision-making processes. In Norway, for example, in addition to parity in Congress, there is specific legislation to ensure that any committee, council, delegation, or government body has at least half female members when it has up to nine people, and forty percent in other cases. The policies in the country also extend to corporate boards and have been implemented for almost twenty years, proving that resistance has given way to practical effectiveness.

In Brazil, a bill to create 40% quotas for women on the boards of public companies and mixed-economy companies and subsidiaries, authored by Senator Maria do Carmo Alves (DEM/SE), Bill No. 112/2010, is still under consideration in the Chamber of Deputies, where it awaits a report from the Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJC), but we are not aware of any similar legislative initiative regarding the private sector.

It is worth noting that the increase in female participation on company boards is not a corporate act of benevolence. According to recent studies published by the International Finance Corporation (2018), there is a correlation between a greater number of women in leadership positions in companies and their financial performance. The analysis also indicates that there is a growing trend for foreign direct investment to increasingly demand that gender diversity be observed in the private sector. Thus, even for government officials who were recently elected under the argument that they should manage public administration with the same efficiency as a private company, the reminder of corporate governance remains.

However, the latest report from the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Management shows that the overall average of women on boards of directors remains at 9,4%, and 54% of the boards analyzed do not have even one female member, leaving Brazil behind other developing countries known for sexist cultures, such as China, the Philippines, South Africa, and Nigeria.

One problem we've already addressed when discussing women in Bolsonaro's high-ranking government is the lack of guaranteed substantive representation; in other words, we question whether the (few) positions of power that women are occupying actually protect their interests, which represents a much greater challenge.

It is in this context that it is necessary to recall the rumors about the nomination, by one of our two ministers, Damares Alves, of Sara Fernanda Giromin ("Sara Winter") as the new National Secretary for Women. The former candidate for federal deputy for DEM/RJ summarized on Twitter, in July of last year, that her pre-candidacy was "at the request of others, not only to combat the left of which I was a part, but also to defend life, family and the homeland in the National Congress." "Sara Winter" was a founder of "Femen Brazil," which she left in 2013, and converted to Christianity, stating that the feminist movement covered up pedophiles and persecuted women, and that it had forced her to fake her bisexuality to feel included.

Regardless of Sara Giromin's experiences and traumas, which deserve respect and possible psychological treatment, her potential nomination is certainly alarming, at the very least, because it generalizes and stigmatizes the feminist struggle in Brazil. Given its pluralism, it doesn't even seem reasonable to speak of just one feminist movement or of "Feminism," with a capital "F," as she suggests. Furthermore, Sara Giromin cultivates the intolerance she so vehemently criticizes, labeling it a "sect" and spreading "fake news" about activism, while defining "lesbianism" within the "underworlds" of drugs and money laundering through which she has moved.

The perhaps future National Secretary for Women defines herself as someone who "fights against abortion, gender ideology, drugs, Marxist indoctrination, gambling, and prostitution." In a video she published in 2015 to apologize for a protest performance she gave while an activist with the Bastardxs Collective, she stated that she would do her best to represent Brazilian women in a way that would not embarrass them, as she had done before.

Thus, she makes a clear choice for a well-defined concept of women whom she considers legitimate to be protected and represented, categorizing them based on their profession, political, sexual, and perhaps religious orientation.

The website of the National Secretariat for Policies for Women, which contained information on public policies and specific legislative frameworks on the subject, was recently deactivated by the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights. Under the Temer administration, in October 2015, the Secretariat lost its ministerial status, which it had held since 2003, when it was incorporated into the then-established Ministry of Women, Racial Equality and Human Rights, later dissolved in May 2016, becoming subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Citizenship.

The institutional indifference to the recent electoral scandal, coupled with the current arrangement of the federal Executive branch, especially this ministry, and our potential National Secretary for Women, seems to make clear the priority that demands for representative diversity will (not) have in Bolsonarism, whether in form or content. Amid so many blasphemous agendas and women, after oranges and guavas, our next fruit should be the apple.