Feminism in Brazil

Some historical moments of this time were important in the advance of women's struggle, such as the 1917 strikes, the rise of the Communist Party of Brazil in 1922 and, in the same year, the Modern Art Week in São Paulo.

The Brazilian feminist movement began midst 19th century, when women from several parts of the country started to aim for more political and cultural participation in society, in which, at that time, was patriarcally dominated.

If they weren't workers or service providers, women were confined to a domestic bubble – taking care of the house and children, complying with the social constructs that were expected from them.

Women in higher social classes could participate in certain activities in the cultural and artistic fields, such as painting, literature, and music, the same were considered tolerable as long as further specialization didn't occur.

As said by Regina Zilberman,"Destining women to teaching solved several problems: it justified the need to educate them; it solved the problem of the lack of workers for teaching, a profession that was little sought after because it was poorly paid; there was no need to improve earnings, because the salary of the woman should not be superior to man, but additional.

These reasons were covered by others, of an ideological nature: the teacher was idealized, calling them mothers and, thus, suggesting that, in teaching, she remained faithful to her nature maternal; the professional element of teaching was denied, because the classroom became a second home; teaching would not be a problem, because it was not work, but an extension of domestic tasks, which stopped the eventual emancipatory tendency that this activity could contain and did not contradict the sexist nature of Brazilian patriarchal society; and the woman-wife-mother association remained untouched, and also idealized, even when she was away from home, earning modest gain.”[2]It was through the dedication of certain women to the press and literature that feminist ideas started to gain notice.

According to Zahidé Muzart, “in the 19th century, women who wrote, and who wished to have a career as writers, were feminists, since only the desire of leaving the domestic bubble indicated a thoughtful thinking.

[9][10][11][12] In the 60s and 70s, feminism arose throughout Europe and with in the US and got its impulse from the political and cultural upheavals those regions were going through, which challenged the conservative values of society, and in this context The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir was published.

This movement widened the range of the demands, including the principle of equality between husband and wife in marriage and the introduction of divorce in Brazilian legislation.

[13][14][15] As a result of this movement, in September 1975, the Centro da Mulher Brasileira was created, an institutionalized body responsible for intermediating and articulating feminist goals in the form of collective action.

Brazilian music was taken by singers of great success, such as Simone, Rita Lee, Maria Bethânia, Fafá de Belém and Joana.

The feminist movement currently has as its main banners, in Brazil, the fight against domestic violence, which reaches high levels in the country; combating discrimination at work.

It also gives importance to the study of gender and the contribution, until today somewhat forgotten, of women in the various historical and cultural movements in the country.

In the feminist thought of the 21st century, Magda Guadalupe, director of the Simone de Beauvoir Society, to apply Simone de Beauvoir's thinking in Brazil, understands feminism as a plural movement, which involves several waves and must be understood as feminisms, as it goes beyond the simplicity of the struggle for equal rights between men and women, emphasizing that it proposes to present alternatives in terms of analyses, practices and discourses, with a view to deconstructing the social and binary roles between sexes and genders that feed patriarchy.

[25]Marie Rennotte (1852–1942) A native Belgian and naturalized Brazilian teacher and physician, who was active in the fight for women's rights.

[citation needed] In 1922, she founded the Aliança Paulista pelo Sufrágio Feminino (Paulistan Alliance for Women's Suffrage).