Through all of Brazilian history we can find brave women fighting against social injustices and looking for more respect and autonomy. Two examples were Nísia Floresta Brasileira Augusta (from the North: Rio Grande do Norte) and Ana Barandas (from the South: Rio Grande do Sul). Nísia was a writer and also a teacher. She was an advocate of women's rights arguing in favor of their education, their professionalization and their political participation. She also worked for the abolition of slavery. In 1838 she established in Rio de Janeiro a school dedicated to women's education1. Ana Barandas defended sexual equality and women's participation in politics. In 1937 she also exposed male oppression as a cause of women's "defects."
In addition to this, at the end of the XIX century, a serious women's press developed in Brazil, dedicated to the emancipation of women. This was the most developed women's journalism in all of Latin America. [TEL93, p.33] With a large variety of contents, we can find at this time the journals: Jornal das Senhoras (Ladies' Journal) - 1852; O Belo Sexo (The Fair Sex) - 1862; O Sexo Feminino (The feminine Sex) --1873; Domingo (Sunday) - 1870; Direito das Damas (Ladies' Rights) - 1882; Myosotis; Echo das Damas (Ladies' Echo) - 1874. Also the magazines A Familia (The Family) -1888 and A Mensageira (The Messenger) -1888.
The journal Belo sexo was published by Sandy Aguiar and had an extensive editorial board which every week brought together various women to discuss the subjects that they wanted to publish [TEL 93, p.34]. However among all the journals, O Sexo feminino was the one with the more advanced features. With Francisca Senhora Mota Diniz as one of the directors, this journal used a different strategy than the others of this time.
Differently than her predecessors who had men as their readers, Francisca directed the journal to women. She had the objective of making them conscious of their identity and rights. She also defended the idea that economical dependence determined women's submission and a better education would help women to elevate their status. [TEL93, p.34]
All of these women were representing a kind of thought considered today to be feminist thought. However, the first organized women's movement with feminist characteristics and goals was the Women's Rights Movement.
Even though political feminism was not limited to the suffrage movement, it was the principal tendency and instigated the most violent reactions by its opponents. The feminine vote had been discussed at the Brazilian Assembly of 1891 and was considered the way to Brazilian family dissolution. For the majority of the representatives of the Assembly, women's suffrage appeared an "anti-social audacity." The role of woman at home and in the family was something unquestionable [LEI84, p.63]. To extend this right to women would admit that they had the capacity to decide the political direction of the nation and to assume public activities - activities considered to belong only to men.
Despite all the anti-suffragist campaigning, in 1910, the Women's Republican Party (established by a teacher, Deolinda Daltro) was created in Rio de Janeiro. This Party had as its objective the rediscussion of women's suffrage at the Brazilian Congress. In 1917, seven years after its foundation, the Women's Republican Party organized a demonstration at the capital of the country with many suffragettes. In 1919 another step was taken with the creation of the Women's Intellectual Emancipation League [PRO84, p.43-44]
While they did not conquer the right to vote, they gained the right to work in public service. However, they were not accepted in all areas, but only in those considered to be an extension of the domestic world, such as the nursery, as schoolteachers, midwifes, etc..
The women's movement in Brazil was becoming stronger and stronger, helped by some intellectuals who had studied abroad and had brought back with them ideas of emancipation.[BEM98, p.2] One of these intellectual women was the biologist, Bertha Lutz. In 1922 the Women's Intellectual Emancipation League changed its name to the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress (Federação Brasileira para o Progresso Feminino - FBPF) and Bertha was its president, working for women's suffrage rights.
Besides Bertha, another woman became important to the Brazilian movement at this time: the journalist and lecturer, Maria Lacerda de Moura. From 1919 until 1935, she dedicated herself to women's problems and the political authoritarianism in Brazil making speeches in different states, including Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro. She also made speeches in Argentina (Buenos Aires and Rosário) and wrote for several magazines and journals.
Bertha Lutz and Maria Lacerda de Moura shared the same ideas about suffrage but, they used different methods. Bertha continued with this movement, but Maria Lacerda considered it to be the wrong way to obtain power. For her the vote would benefit only a few women, giving nothing to the feminine masses, victims of an unfair social organization. [LEI84, p.xvi]
Despite that, on 15 August 1925, the Rio Jornal announced the creation of another women's Party, the Women's Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Feminino). Led by Julita Monteiro Soares, this party had as its objective, the preoccupation with the working class women. In the same year a senator, Noriz Sodré, sent to Congress a project to give women the right to vote. [BEM98, p.2]
In 1927, the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress, after applying pressure on members of Congress and mobilizing public opinion, got the inclusion of an article in the Constitution of Rio Grande do Norte which gave women the right to vote. After that, an intensive mobilization began all around the country. Women demanded their right to register to vote,instigating uncompromising juridical discussions. [ALV91, p.48] One year later, Alzira Soriano was elected as mayor of Lages City.2
Gradually the suffrage was extended to the other states and, on 24 February 1932, it was "given" to all Brazilian Women (along with the secret ballot). At this time women's suffrage was already extended to ten Brazilian states.
In 1934, Carlota Pereira de Queiroz (from Sao Paulo), were elected as a State Representative, and Bertha Lutz was the first Alternate in Rio de Janeiro. Also Lili Lages (in Alagoas), Maria Luiza Bittencourt (in Bahia), Alayde Borba (in Sao Paulo), Quintina Diniz de Oliveira (in Sergipe), Maria Miranda Jordão (in Amazonas) were elected. [BEM98, p.2]
Evaluating the suffrage movement, two Brazilian historians, Branca Moreira Alves and June Hahner, emphasize different points of this movement. To Branca women's conquests were the result of agreements between the Brazilian elite and were limited to some formal demands of bourgeois liberalism. The right to vote has been refused when it was superfluous as a conservative political force and allowed when it was in the interest of the dominant class. [ALV80, p.181]
On the other hand, June values the suffragettes' strategies and tenacity. To her, the Brazilian movement did not get their rights easily, receiving them from hands of the conservative leaders who wanted to use them as a force to maintain the status quo. [HAH81, p.120]
In spite of the great step that was conquered (essential to obtain guaranties based on law), the new rights did not imply a reformulation of the family structure. The hierarchy was the same at home, and the argument for political rights that had been used was to give "a better performance of the roles of wife and mother" [COS91, p.52] Furthermore the struggle for the vote did not find space among the women from the working classes.
After this period, the Brazilian women's movement fell into a reflux. The women's demands were formally attained: they could vote and run for office, they could enter in educational institutions and also into the labor force. [ALV85, p.49] Moreover, it was a time of repression in many countries around the world, including Brazil.
The feminism that developed in these groups, despite their leftist connotation, was a bit different from other forms of socialist Feminism. Women's problems were not emphasized. They considered economical and political problems more important.
With the coup d'état of President Getúlio Vargas in 1937, all the women's struggles were practically incorporated with the people who resisted the dictatorship and defended democracy. [TEL93, p.64] This process continued throughout all the Second World War.
In 1945, after the War, Brazilian politics entered into a process of re-democratization. Together with this process, the struggle for amnesty was developed and in Rio de Janeiro the Women's Committee for Democracy (1945) was created with the objective of engaging women effectively in the Brazilian democratic process and trying to conquer equal rights at all levels (professional, administrative, cultural, political, etc.) [TAB83, p.121]
Another question which has motivated women's organizations was the cost of living .3 Millions of women began to organize in associations and women's unions, trying to find solutions to this question. With the creation of the Housewives' Association against High Prices, an intensive activity together with the public establishment responsible for the food supply" was started which sought to defend the mothers' concerns. [TAB83, p 121]
Since 1947, many associations and women's groups started to celebrate the Women's Day (8 March) and Mothers' Day (the second Sunday in May). The first Women's Congress in the Distrito Federal (Federal District) was scheduled on Woman's Day.
This Congress sought to join people and organizations whose activity were connected, directly or indirectly, with women's issues, allowing an extensive study and debate of all the issues which interested women. These issues were centered on three themes: the defense of women's rights; child protection, and the defense of world peace. [TAB83, p. 122]
The year 1947 also marks the creation of an important journal "Momento Feminino", edited by Arcelina Mochel in Rio de Janeiro. This journal defended the rights of women, children, and peace during ten years. It had representation in six Brazilian states and was read by different social classes (including poor neighborhoods and slums) [TAB83, p.125].
In 1947 the Brazilian Women's Federation was established with Alice Tibiriça as its president.4 Four years later, in São Paulo, this Federation held its first Congress centered on the same themes as the Women's Congress in the Distrito Federal, along with the high prices theme. At this Congress there were 231 women from 13 Brazilian states.
In 1952, the first Women's National Assembly was held in Rio de Janeiro. Some months later a second assembly was held in Porto Alegre with representatives from 18 states.
Since 1953 the Brazilian women's struggles use the International Women's Rights Declaration adopted by the United Nations in Copenhagen. This declaration was centered on women's civil and political Rights but put in first place the observance of labor and their extension to the farm workers..
In Addition to this, the Brazilian Movement organized in 1954, a Latin America Conference with agents from Chile Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia. There were also representatives from all the Brazilian states and one from the Women's International Democratic Federation (Maria Madalena Rossi, from Italy).
In 1964 a military dictatorship was established in Brazil and most of these women's associations disappeared, especially those which had an active political engagement. After this there arose in the country other women's organizations with other themes.
Elizabeth Souza Lobo observes that at the beginning of these mobilizations against the government women continued not questioning their traditional roles. However, with the transformations that the country would pass through even the concept of politics changed. [LOB91, p.8] The social contradictions became more and more visible and other ways to use political power arose. This also changed women's view about themselves.
There was, at this time, feminist literature translated into Portuguese and read in Brazil (The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir; Sexual Politics by Kate Millet; Woman's estate by Juliet Mitchell; etc.). Some women started to discuss sexual inequality and to identify sexist structures behind the political and juridical systems, the religions, and the cultural and intellectual world. Male and female were seen as a cultural creation with one social process of apprenticeship. A Brazilian feminist theory was growing up questioning women's roles in society.
Also women's magazines started to change their contents (which until then
had been dedicate to cookery, decoration, fashion, etc.) [TOS92, p.32]. So,
in 1962
the Revista Claudia invited the journalist Carmem da Silva to write the column,
A arte de ser mulher (The art of being a woman). In this column she wrote
about sexuality, women's roles and rights. She also, answered countless letters6
from women who talked about their sexual and affective discontentment. Through
simple language she encouraged these women to confront their situation, looking
for better relationships and better salaries. Some of her readers later became
involved in feminist causes. [TOS92, p.33; SIL94; PRO84].
In the academic area the first research with women as the theme arose.
Heleieth Iara Bongiovani Saffioti started, in 1962, a research about women
in the textile industries in São Paulo and also about primary school
teachers. This work helped her to get her professorship at the University
of São Paulo (USP).
In 1964, Manoel Tosta Berlick defended his master's thesis, "Algumas percepções
sobre a mudança do papel ocupacional da mulher na cidade de São
Paulo" (Some perceptions about women's occupational role changes in São
Paulo). One year later, Mary Cardore defended her doctor's thesis: "A influência
da gravidez no Contrato de Trabalho" (The influences of pregnancy on the work
contract) and, in 1969, the sociologist Eva Altermann Blay defended her thesis:
"Mulher, escola e profissão" (Women: school and profession). Without
great effects on Brazilian society, the defense of these theses were singular
events within the university context.7
Besides this, books were being written. In 1966, the feminist Rose Marie Muraro published "A Mulher na construção do mundo futuro" (Women in the construction of a future world) talking about changes in technology and women's restrictions and possibilities within these changes. In 1969, Helleieth Saffioti published "A mulher numa sociedade de Classes: mito e realidade" (Woman in a class society: myth and reality) making a dialectic-Marxist analyses to show women's social inferiority as a structural need of the Capitalist system. Helleieth's book became a reference for the Brazilian feminists and for social scientists of the sixties and seventies. The Anglo-Saxons feminists also discussed it. [COL97, p.40]
At the same time there arose in the world an important element to change behavior: the pill. With the pill women's pleasure and sexuality could exist without the fear of procreation. Another kind of relationship could be explored, and human sexuality started to be discussed all around the world. "Our body belongs to us" was the new feminist slogan. However, in Brazil it was a bit different.
At this time Brazilian feminism was connected with the Catholic Church and the left wing movements that were struggling against political authoritarianism and neither of them wanted to discuss sexuality. To the church it was considered promiscuous and to the left a characteristic of the bourgeois decay, persisting as a taboo for society [COL97, p.33]
Despite this, all the world was changing.
On one hand, women were becoming for the first time, one-third of the labor force. On the other hand, marriage and family life were deteriorating and, finally the pacifist movement for civil rights and the hippies disturbed the political ideologies and the cultural myths, questioning sexual behavior and women's role in society. [ARI79, p.84]With the advent of modernity, Brazilian feminism would be accepted in the middle class which was open to changes and individual ideologies. But, differently from other places, in Brazil feminism was also connected to the popular movements who were preoccupied with water, light, sewer, etc., while in Europe these movements were questioning the values of the industrial society.
As a result of all of these engagements, Brazilian feminism was, in the beginning of the seventies, working for many causes. Like Cyntia Sarti writes, feminism in Brazil
...tried to live with this diversity without giving up its peculiarity. This process implied much caution. At first, being a feminist had a negative connotation. (...) for the right, it was a dangerous movement, immoral. For the left it was bourgeois reformism. And, to many woman and men, independent of their ideology, being a feminist had a negative connotation. [SAR88, p.41]Besides the groups organized around social questions, there were also a few women's groups trying to discuss themes concerning the condition of Brazilian women, some of them living in fear. The Brazilian government's authoritarianism became stronger and more severe, creating more and more victims.
Writing about one of these groups, Albertina Oliveira da Costa described its dilemma [COS88]. This group was composed of women with good careers and several who were university professors8. Most of them had a militant pass and were traumatized by the Brazilian political situation and were looking for collective political reflection. They were conscious of the social inequalities, but they understood the impossibility of making this kind of reflection in a public space. Some of them had seen the repression very closely, with the death of someone who they knew.9 In Anette Goldenberg's words:
In this situation of terror, what meaning can issues such as the political discussion of the daily life of women and the public discussion of acts normally considered part of the private life, a part of the domestic sphere, or the emphasis on the domination of one sex over the other, assume when the politicization of daily life was evident and hard for all citizens. When the authoritarian order itself had mixed public and private, breaking the privacy of the individual? [GOL82]Despite all the fears of these women, it appears that the government did not find "women's issues" as something dangerous. So, many meetings and conferences were organized in the seventies with the propose of discussing the roles of Brazilian women. One example was the invitation of Betty Friedam, organized by Rose Marie Muraro.
In 1971, Betty Friedam came to Brazil and talked to the feminists about her book (The Feminine Mystic). She questioned the women's acceptance of the domestic life (as mother and wife) and broached the issue of the frustration and despair of many women in relation to the role of housewife. This meeting was covered by the press and helped to give some visibility to the Brazilian Feminist Movement (despite the ferocious criticisms by the press).
In addition to this, in Rio de Janeiro in 1972, the National Brazilian Women's Council held an important session with feminists from all over the country. It was led by Romy de Medeiros da Fonseca, a lawyer who, in 1962, has helped to change the Brazilian law concerning the rights of wives. This meeting showed the lack of definition within the Brazilian movement. All kinds of themes were broached, from the most polemic or radical questions (such as family planning and women and technology) to the issues specific to the middle class (such as the Baby sitters).10 This meeting also was covered by the press, with photos on the front page.
At the National Brazilian Women's Council meeting, feminists like Carmen da Silva, Rose Marie Muraro and Heloneida Studart emphasized the necessity to discuss women's sexuality but some groups were afraid of the reaction of society, which could think that they were only interested in having the same right to a promiscuous lifestyle that men had always been allowed to have. Despite this, the journalist Heloneida Studart wrote about this theme and edited, in 1974, the book, "Mulher: Objeto de cama e mesa" (Women: object for bed and table) which became a Brazilian feminist best seller.
In the university context, some courses about the situation of women began to be offered. Thus, in 1973, Professor Zahidé Machado taught at the Federal University of Bahia a "Monographic Course about Family and male and female relationships." In the year after another course was taught to the master's students. This course became important for the emergence of many research projects concerning the situation of the women of the Northeast.
In 1974 the Carlos Chagas Foundation began a series of Women's Studies seminars, which were the source for several academic articles. Most of these articles were published by the Cadernos de Pesquisa which had been discussing this theme since 1971.
At this time the political situation started to change again in Brazil. In the Parliamentary elections of 1974, the opposition party became the majority and there was the beginning of more open politics. Also the population were discontent and living in a hard situation. All the euphoria of the "economical miracle" had disappeared and the government was discredited.
On the international level, the feminist movement was well structured (carrying out large demonstrations) and it influenced the United Nations to constitute the International Women's Year.
This event brought together 50 women prepared to discuss, during this week, the principal problems of Brazilian women. As a result, the event produced a document with an analysis of women's condition in Brazil and the questions that were considered as priorities for future work. It emphasized changes in the work legislation, in the Civil Code and the creation of day care centers for working mothers. However, the document did not made reference to the reproductive issues and did not use the expression "feminist."
During this week the existence of two strong feminist tendencies became clear. One of them dedicated to juridical and employment questions and another one dedicated to sexual questions (abortion, contraception, sexual discrimination, etc.). In this event there also arose a mobilization to create an unified organization "with clear objectives and collective ways of action, able to guide the women to real results". [TOS92, p.35]. So, in September 1975, the Brazilian Women's Center was created.
As the Center was dedicated to all the Brazilian women, the feminist group involved in it tried to prevent centralism or manipulation. To manage this they chose a group of women11. The Center had as it goal the reflection, the research and the analysis of Brazilian women's condition. It was also dedicated to extend its work to all the country, holding congresses, meetings, seminars and producing many publications, promoting an intensive interchange between women of many regions of Brazil.
At this time the women's press resurged again. On 9 October 1975, the first number of the journal Brazil - Mulher (Brazil - Woman) was edited by a group of seven women. In 1976, the journal, Nós- mulheres, arose with Mariza Correa as its editor and with more than 30 other women as collaborators. Numbers of this journal were sent to many Brazilian states (Bahia, Paraíba, Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo) organizing women's groups around it with the goal "to read it, distribute it and send some news to the next edition" [TEL93, p.89]
One of the principal questions of the New Feminist Press was the amnesty for all political prisoners. The journal, Nós-Mulheres, also wrote about racial prejudices and different ways to manage housework creating social services, such as laundries, public kitchens, day care centers, etc.). Unfortunately these issues were not important to the left wing movements, worried at this time about the hunger and the absence of liberty.
Among all the themes recognized by the Brazilian women as important, the most important theme was the issue of amnesty. So, in the second semester of 1975, the Women's Movement for Amnesty was created with the goal of mobilizing public opinion against the government which had arrested, tortured and murdered many people.12 This movement was a result of The Brazilian Women's Manifesto for Amnesty which was sent to the entire country, from north to south, with a petition signed by students, lawyers, mothers, and many other Brazilians.
In the academic area, 1975 was the beginning of a "crossfire." It was necessary to prove to the feminist agencies and to the academic world that the research about women was scientific and not only militant's propaganda. In the same way, it was necessary to prove to the feminists that the researchers were interested in the research results and not in their personal careers. The women researchers were seen as feminists to the academic community and as academics to the feminists. [COS85, p.6]
Given all these issues, the Cadernos de Pesquisa edited, in 1975, a special number dedicated to women's issues (No.15). Seeking a multidisciplinary approach, the articles of this special number analyzed behaviorism, values, concepts and cultural influences. It also criticized social science studies for their omission of the situation of women and for its explanations concerning "women subordination." [COS92, p.92]
In the same way, in September 1975, the Carlos Chagas Foundation elaborated a research program about women's work and education. This program included; a research course; a documentation center; the elaboration of a bibliography; a research study about women and science and a research competition open to people from the entire country. [COS85, p.12]
In addition to this, the Brazilian Society for Scientific Progress (SBPC) also included women's issues in its Congress. Two roundtable discussions were organized with different themes and approaches. "The morning meeting was with feminists who were also specialists. The afternoon meeting was with specialists who were also feminists." [COS88, p.67] This Congress brought out a conflict that would become more and more visible: feminists and political militants have different concepts and different spaces (the scientific and the political).
After this SBPC Congress, meetings with themes concerned with women issues became more and more common, expanding these studies to an institutional level. They also represented an alternative place for the elaboration of the thinking of the opposition during the seventies.
Besides that, in 1975, Cidinha Campos, Heloneida Studart and Rose Marie Muraro elaborated the play, Homem não entra ("No men allowed"). This play deals with women's day to day problems and invites the public to discuss their sexuality and relationships.13 The play was presented for several years all around the country, and was considered polemical, especially for forbidding the men to enter.
At the end of the International Women's Year, the feminist issues were discussed in many places, provoking debates and political disagreements. The following years were dedicated to intensive activities seeking to give more visibility to their struggles against prejudice, violence and the exploration of women.
Brazilian feminism grew up in the midst of many social contradictions, participating in several struggles. At first it was dedicated to the conquest of the vote (1888-1932). After that it was involved with the social struggles (against high prices, for amnesty, etc.) and became dissolved into several movements. Despite that, issues like female sexuality and the women's traditional role in society and in the family were always being discussed.
Brazilian feminism also brought about a strong research tradition in the social sciences and its investigations have modified the traditional vision of the human person and his/her relationships. Feminist research also has revolutionized the approach to reality giving us a different perception and making our culture more complex and more distinct, and our language more exact. [ARD96, p.74]