[4] Patriarchal traditions were readily transferred from the Iberian Peninsula to Latin America through the encomienda system that fostered economic dependence among women and indigenous peoples in Brazil.

In 1979, the year of its publishing, Brazil signed and ratified CEDAW, a convention by the United Nations that aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.

[10] The World Economic Forum released a study indicating that Brazil had virtually eradicated gender differences in education and health treatment, but that women lagged behind in salaries and political influence.

[14] Brazilian suffragettes were literate, professional women who made up only a small percentage of the female population in Brazil, the latter which remained largely illiterate.

[16] Appointed by the Provisional Government in 1933 to draft the first page of the new Constitution, Bertha Lutz included various provisions to promote equal rights between men and women.

"[17] The National Council on Women's Rights, formed in 1975, advocated successfully on behalf of including gender conscious legislation in the new constitution.

[18] At the suggestion of the Council, a clause was added to the document announcing that land distributed by agrarian reform could be assigned and titled "in the name of the man, woman, or both, independent of civil status.

[20] Research has illustrated how farms in northeast Brazil purposefully construct gendered divisions of labor and how women often experience worse pay and conditions than men.

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.

[18] Indeed, studies show that a woman's ability to exercise her right to inherited property is largely influenced by whether she is viewed as a potential agriculturalist.

[18] The 2003 Civil Code improved women's rights, providing for gender equality in the acquisition, management, and administration of property brought into the union or acquired after marriage.

[26] Though large segments of the female population remained illiterate through the turn of the century, a growing number of middle-class women began to pursue higher education and work outside of the home.

The first Congress of Female Metalworkers of São Paulo, held in 1978, was harassed and threatened by employers to the extent that only 300 of the 800 women who had signed up actually attended to conference.

[28] Though the exchange of money for sex is legal in Brazil, it is illegal to operate a brothel or employ prostitutes and such offenses are punishable by up to five years in jail.

[33] In 1879, Brazilian institutions of higher learning admitted upper-class, mostly urban, white women- while the rest of the female population remained illiterate.

Major health problems have been caused by back-street abortions and attempts to make sterilization the main form of contraception for women.

[38] The oldest and largest foreign-funded private organization with a population control program is the Family Welfare in Brazil (BEMFAM), which is funded by the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

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.

Three factors that have impacted contraceptive laws on Brazil are the influence of the Catholic Church, the legacy of Iberian culture, and the historically conservative approach to the status of women in Latin America.

[39] A laissez-faire attitude adopted on the part of the Brazilian government in the 1960s has led to the predominance of private organizations in the provision of family planning services.

Indeed, the fertility rate in Brazil has steadily decreased over the past four decades due in some measure to the growing use of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion.

"[44] A 2003 study in Campinas concluded that "in order to reduce the number of young women who choose surgical sterilization over equally effective, but reversible methods, it is necessary to act early in life.

The new President Jair Bolsonaro elected on October 28, 2018 chose the pastor Damares Alves as the Minister of Women, Family and Human's Rights of Brazil.

[51] Despite the presence of strict regulations, Brazil has one of the worst reputations in the world in terms of the harassment of women in the workplace and in the home.

[52] However, according to US State Department, men who have killed, sexually assaulted, or committed other crimes against women are unlikely to be brought to trial.

[53] Brazil has recently overtaken Thailand as the world's most popular destination for sex tourism, which involves travel for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with prostitutes.

The states of Pernambuco, Espirito Santo, Amazonias, Parana and the Federal District enacted laws requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for having intercourse with a minor.

[53] Brazil's adoption of the domestic violence code was mainly influenced by its participation in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the urging of the international legal community, and the tenacity of local grassroots movements.

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.

[61] Hence, the women's movement in Brazil has often been understood in the larger context of a push towards greater political participation and socioeconomic equality.