1 in 4 Brazilian Citizens Choose Men Over Women for Roles in Politics

10/14/2016 - 13h09

In spite of the fact that women make up 51% of Brazil's total population, from January 2017 23% of Brazilian cities will not have a single female councillor.

In total, that makes 1.290 councils without female representatives. That said, the situation is slightly better than in the 2012 elections, when men dominated the political system, with 24% of councils entirely male run.

From January, women councellors will be in the majority in just 23 councils (0.4% of the total). So says research conducted by Folha using data from the SEC (the Superior Electoral Court).

Nearly 90% of councils will have leadership with less than 30% female participation from 2017.

The rate is the lowest permissible by law in terms of candidacies put forwards for office. However, there is no quota for successfully elected candidates.

In order to try and increase female representation in leadership positions, electoral law has decreed, since 2009, that each political party should reserve a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 70% of applicant spots for both sexes. Folha's research, however, shows that 11% of elections went to the vote without respecting these quotas.

Experts in female political representation say that the lack of enforced penalties for those found breaking this law is one of the main problems when tackling this dearth of female participation.

The lack of resources (money, political support, appearance in press and TV) is another reason to explain the low levels of women in councils, according to specialists.

This year, political parties devoted approximately 30% more of their resources to men than women.

The rates of women prefects fell this year compared to the elections of 2012 from 11.9% to 11.6%. In the legislative system, its a similar story. Of the 58,000 councillors elected, 13.5% are women. In 2012, the rate was 13.3%.

	Bruno Santos/ Folhapress
	The Municipal Chamber of Sao Paulo has 11 female councilors

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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