Women in Brazil

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[edit] Gender roles

Women enjoy the same legal rights and duties as men, what is clearly expressed in the 5th article of Brazil's 1988 Constitution. A cabinet-level office, the Secretariat for Women's Affairs, oversees a special secretariat that has responsibility to ensure the legal rights of women. Although the law prohibits discrimination based on gender in employment and wages, there were significant wage disparities between men and women.

On November 21, the World Economic Forum released a study indicating that the country had virtually eradicated gender differences in education and health treatment but that women still lagged behind in salaries and political influence. According to the Labor and Employment Ministry, women were paid 30 percent less than men. In 2005, UN Special Rapporteur Despouy noted a strikingly low level of women's representation in the judicial system, where women occupied "only 5 percent of the top posts in the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office."^[1]

As far as education is concerned, the literacy rates for women is higher than those for men. In the 15-24 aged group, women's literacy rate is 97.5%, while for men it is of 95.1% ^[2]. Women already represent more an undisputed majority in many of the college courses. In the areas of Health and Human Sciences, they account for 66% and 71% of all students, respectively. Besides, as a whole, 53% of all Brazilians who are in universities are women ^[3]. The progresses in education for women have started some decades ago, but, in fact, since the 1930s women have had a higher number of years in school, in average, than men when it refers to the lower levels of scholarity, and, since the 1970s, they surpassed men in the higher levels, as well. ^[4].

Women have been allowed to vote in Brazil since 1932, but those who were able to vote were relatively few. However, that situation changed entirely throughout the years, to the point that, in 2006, they already accounted 51,5% of all Brazilian electors ^[5]. Although there's a major participation of women in the elections, the percentage of women who become Federal deputies is still very low, accounting for only 8.8% ^[6].

[edit] Women's rights and social issues

Though prohibited by law, domestic violence in Brazil remains widespread and underreported. There is a tendency to blame the victims of these offenses, and most criminal complaints regarding domestic violence are suspended inconclusively. The government has acted to combat violence against women, particularly by creating police stations dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes against women. While many of these stations have fallen far short of standards and lack strategies to protect victims after the reports were filed, they nevertheless have raised public awareness of crimes against women.^[1] The recent Lei Maria da Penha (Maria da Penha Law, which was named as a tribute to Maria da Penha, a woman who became paraplegic after she was beaten by her violent husband and fought for the approval of this law) was sanctioned in 2006 and marks an effort to make the imprisonment of violent husbands more rigid and guaranteed in order to prevent domestic violence and avoid impunity.

Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by eight to 10 years' imprisonment; however, men who killed, sexually assaulted, or committed other crimes against women were unlikely to be brought to trial.^[1]

While adult prostitution is legal, various associated activities, such as operating a brothel, are illegal. While no specific laws address sex tourism, it is punishable under other criminal offenses, such as pedophilia and corruption of minors. The government released a "code of conduct to combat sex tourism and sexual exploitation" and conducted campaigns in the most affected areas. The states of Pernambuco, Espírito Santo, Amazonas and Paraná and the Federal District enacted laws requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for having intercourse with a minor. Rio de Janeiro and Bahia states had previously enacted similar legislation. Women's groups reported that prostitutes encountered discrimination when seeking free medical care. Trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution is a serious problem, and it is known that international criminal groups and mafias are involved in this activity.^[1]

Sexual harassment is a criminal offense, punishable by up to two years in jail. The law encompasses sexual advances in the workplace or in educational institutions and between service providers or clients. In the workplace it applies only in hierarchical situations, where the harasser is of higher rank or position than the victim. Although the legislation exists and was enforced, accusations remained rare, and the extent of the problem was not documented.^[1]

The law provides 120 days of paid maternity leave to women and seven days to men. The law also prohibits employers from requiring applicants or employees to take pregnancy tests or present sterilization certificates, but some employers sought sterilization certificates from female job applicants or tried to avoid hiring women of childbearing age. Violations of the law are punishable by jail terms for employers of up to two years, while the company may be fined 10 times the salary of its highest-paid employee.^[1]

There are serious but polemic issues about differences in the situation of women with different ethnics/colours in Brazil. As a whole, black and Amerindian women enjoy considerably less quality of life than white women, but this reflects the general characteristics of the social and economic gap that has separated social classes in Brazil for centuries, thus not indicating any specific problem about gender and women's rights. Black women's life expectancy, in 2004, was 69,52 years, while white women could expect to live 73,80 in average. However, there is, at least apparently, no legal or institutional circumstance that generates those ethnic differences, but lower standards of life have always been related to a much larger percentage of mulatto, black and Amerindian people in Brazil, as in many other countries. That said, in the last years, there is a tendency of soft decrease in Brazil's racial unequality ^[7].

[edit] References

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