Women in the Bolsonaro government and the counterintuitive representation of minorities.

The turbulent Brazilian electoral process is – technically – over, and with the announcement of the new female deputies and senators, as well as the ministerial appointments for the first tier of the Federal Executive branch, it is possible to assess the advances and setbacks in female representation in public office.

Although Latin America and the Caribbean constitute the region with the highest female representation in legislative bodies, with an average of 29,8%In May 2018, and exceeding 40% in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Grenada, and Nicaragua, Brazil is one of the fourteen countries where even 20% is not reached (10,7% in 2018).

Although there are many debates in Political Science surrounding theories of representation and the best criteria for defining a good representative, the number of women in parliament is one of the internationally defined indicators for measuring gender equality and women's empowerment since the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, established in 2002.

This is due to the recognized importance of women, as well as other minorities (and here the term is used not in a numerical sense, but in terms of groups whose interests are underrepresented), occupying decision-making spaces, especially in terms of public policies.  

The greater participation of women in Congress, for example, has demonstrated that women are more effective in building consensus and implementing public policies in different realities, such as those of... United States.

In the Brazilian case, the elections held this year maintained the number of women in the Senate (7), but in the Chamber of Deputies, the number increased from 51 to 77, although only PSOL and PTC – the latter with only two seats – have gender parityConsidering only the data relating to the Chamber, the current This composition leaves Brazil with the worst female representation in Latin America. although the Political Parties Law (n. 9.096/95) theoretically guarantees thirty percent of candidacies to be female.  

It is worth noting that, in 2017, Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) no. 134/15The bill, which guaranteed a minimum of 10% women in each legislative body, including states and municipalities, was rejected by Congress. When we remember that only 0,6% of city council members are Black women, according to the organization Gender and NumberThis highlights the need to no longer veto similar initiatives.   

Brazil also reflects the trend of women being at the forefront of the progressive agenda. In the environmental agenda, for example, Two women are among the ten most active members of parliament on the issues of sustainable development, climate and energy – Luiza Erundina (PSOL/SP) and Erika Kokay (PT/DF). – and none among the least active, according to the Brazilian Legislative Observatory (OLB), linked to the Institute of Democracy.

In the Federal Executive branch, a mixed composition of ministers (both male and female) is, at the very least, an attempt to reflect the country's diversity. With a ministry that has no black people or people from the Northeast of Brazil.Jair Bolsonaro appointed only two women among his twenty-two ministers – Tereza Cristina and Damares Alves. However, the reflection should go deeper: do these appointments in any way align with an agenda more focused on protecting individual, social, and collective rights? It doesn't seem so.

The future Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina (DEM/MS), although she recently stated her intention to encourage compliance with the Environmental Code, emphasizing that "Preservation is only worthwhile if the person feels that they receive some benefit from it.", has a poor performance on the climate change agenda. According to the same analysis, it occupies the No. 401 of 470 regarding legislative proposals affecting the planet's climate..

Some of the most recent environmentally-oriented projects of the congresswoman, who was previously the director of the Association of Breeders of Mato Grosso do Sul (ACRISSUL) for four years, This includes prohibiting the use of the word "milk" to refer to products of plant origin., such as coconut, soy, and other grain derivatives, since the industry uses it "not only when it comes to the white, edible liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, but in any white or whitish vegetable juice."

Despite having voted in favor of quotas for women in the Legislative Branch, the then-congresswoman expressed agreement with the proposed amendments to the Constitution regarding public spending (Constitutional Amendment No. 95) and the labor reform. Furthermore, she spoke out on other controversial issues, such as the bill to combat... harmful traditional practices in indigenous societies, Bill (PL) No. 1057/07, charging for courses at public universities and reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 16 years for heinous crimes, intentional homicides, and serious bodily harm/resulting in death.

Damares Alves (currently without party affiliation), nominated to lead the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, is linked to NGO Movimento Atini - Voice for Life The Brazilian Federal Prosecutor's Office sued the organization for discriminatory actions against the indigenous community and for attempting to "legitimize missionary activities within indigenous communities." The lawsuit was filed after the airing of the false documentary "Hakani," produced by an extremist US missionary organization called "Youth With a Mission," about the alleged infanticide of a child from the Suruwaha tribe. involved in scandals related to the staging, evangelization, and enslavement of indigenous peopleThe NGO's page, as well as the donation link, references an image that was removed by court order. The dissemination of the material without any ethnographic basis, according to the Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA) itself.This was used not only to reinforce fundraising for questionable activities in indigenous communities in Brazil, but also to legitimize initiatives such as Bill No. 107/2007, mentioned above.   

Among Damares Alves' priorities is the approval and subsequent implementation of policies related to the Statute of the Unborn Child (PL No. 478/2007) – whose content was resumed this year by PL No. 11.148/2018 and PL No. 11.105/2018) –, already approved in the Social Security and Finance and Taxation committees and in the Women's Committee since June 2017.

Among the controversies raised by the bill are the right to child support of one minimum wage until the age of eighteen for unborn children resulting from sexual violence, If the parent cannot be identified or is unable to afford such costs, and the criminalization of unintentional or intentional abortion.

Although the future minister is a lawyer and educator, as well as an advisor to the now-elected senator and federal deputy Arolde de Campos (PSD), and has already given conciliatory statements regarding the duty of men to share tasks with women. and that it would commit to confronting violence and reduced employability of LGBTI people at a recent meetingDamares has a long history of campaigning against the current National Human Rights Program (PNDH-3 or Presidential Decree No. 7037/2009). According to the future minister, the program aims to destroy the Brazilian family because one of its objectives is the deconstruction of heteronormativity, which she translated as... an influence – nonexistent in any other country in the world – of queer theoryDamares is also against the National Council for the Promotion of LGBT Citizenship and... The criminalization of homophobia in Brazil is outlined in the new proposed Penal Code, and it is stated that the "gay movement" It has become rich from public funds, and evangelical churches are the great protectors of homosexuals.  

Furthermore, she has already suggested that A parliamentary commission of inquiry into abortion should be opened because campaign financing in Brazil is due to the trafficking of fetuses for the market value of the mixed genetic makeup of newborns in the country, and legalization is a UN goal for population control.    

It would be difficult to summarize all the uncertainties related to the implementation of Human Rights in the coming years, but it is important to consider the role that diversity plays in formal and effective institutional representation. If the former does not guarantee the latter, it is certain that the myths of meritocracy and equal opportunities do not either. Thus, recognizing and providing plural spaces in the governance structure has, at the very least, the symbolic dimension of representing what Brazil values ​​most – difference.