Women And Politics: The Brazilian Paradox

In June 2007 - five years after it was first promised during the 2002 electoral campaign - political reform finally made it onto the Brazilian National Congress agenda. After years of waiting, women were anticipating deep changes in the patriarchal rules and elitist power structures that had characterized the Brazilian state for decades. But the majority of women's demands did not even come close to the negotiation tables. Costa describes this as “...more than a defeat for women: it was a defeat for all Brazilian citizens”.