Brazil

Rhetoric and reality in responding to women voters

Does the platform pushed by feminist NGOs reflect what women really want? Do bills initiated by women legislators really echo the public policy preferences of female voters and the agenda of feminist organizations? Do female legislators and feminist NGOs really represent female voters?

Researchers sought to answer these questions by looking at the case of Brazil. They began mapping female voters’ preferences of public policies by analyzing national surveys. They also analyzed speeches by female representatives in Brazil’s Congress, both from the House and the Senate. And they analyzed both the quantity and quality of bills initiated by both congresswomen and female senators to assess their legislative preferences and verify whether they advance more bills in defence of women’s interests than their male counterparts. Finally, they interviewed nearly half of federal congresswomen, as well as NGO advocates for rural female workers, Catholic women and female Native Brazilians.

The researchers have already published several articles with many more to follow. A book is expected to be published in 2012. In addition, the research has led to further collaboration between Simone Bohn and a political scientist from the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba. They developed a project related to Bolsa Familia, the conditional cash transfer policy of President Lula’s administration. Together they have produced one article on the policy, are working on a second and planning a third.