The Importance of Social Movements on Women’s Rights and their role in Politics and Creative Informal Economy – guest blog by Célia Sacramento

Located in the state of Bahia, Salvador is a Brazilian city whose population is mostly composed of afro-descendants. These afro-descendant women have always had a distinct position either as head of the household or working informally. It is reasonable to say that they were the first individual entrepreneurs in Brazil. For a long time, these afro-descendent women were excluded from the formal labour market in Bahia, and were left to perform domestic work or to exercise their creativity in order to survive. They created products like acarajé (a fried bean cake served with hot sauce), caruru (a dish of mustard greens cooked with fish or jerked beef), feijoada (a dish of black beans cooked with pork meat and served with rice) and stews of all kinds and would sell them around the city. These dishes, consequence of the creative economy, are now part of the cultural patrimony of the Brazilian culinary.

The participation of Brazilian women in Social Movements, however, started to increase only in 1975, the year chosen by UN as the International Women’s Year (Ano Internacional da Mulher). It’s important to highlight that the protests organised by the Brazilian women at that time were not directly related to gender matters. They were mostly associated with issues such as education, cost of living, housing, the need for child care centres, peace, health, domestic violence and the end of the military dictatorship, including freedom for political prisoners. It was during that period of time that Brazilian Civil Society started to get organized, having the input of the Women’s Social Movement in all its branches. Therefore, it is undeniable that the movement contributed to the advance of the Brazilian society. At the end of the 70’s, with the passing of the Divorce Law (Lei do divórcio), women, who were mainly housewives at that time, began to enter the labour market. As a result, many of them ended up having to face double shifts: they had a job, but had to do the housework as well.

During the 80’s, women’s movement gained space and the first Councils for Women’s Rights were created. The one in Salvador, established in 1985, is an example of them. The movement has also participated in the discussions for Diretas (civil movement that demanded direct presidential elections in Brazil) and later on, in the development of the MPs’ election, resulting in 512 representatives. Despite the reduced number of only 27 women, their participation – some of them from the social movement, like MP Benedita da Silva – was essential for the establishment of public policies for women that are part of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. In the 90’s, the movement intensified the development of public policies in the main Brazilian cities. As a result, Brazil saw an increase in the number of Councils for Women’s Rights around the country.

Bahia stands out when it comes to policies for women due to the 1989 State Constitution (Constituição Estadual), as described in Title VI, Chapter XIX (Título VI, Capítulo XIX). Such achievement was possible thanks to the contribution from Cecilia Maria Bacellar Sardenberg, PhD and Ana Alice Alcântara Costa, PhD, who are coordinators at the Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies on Women (NEIM, in the Portuguese acronym) from the University of Bahia and developed valuable academic research work that was essential for the empowerment of the fight for gender rights. 

Célia Sacramento

Célia Sacramento is an Accountant and also a Lawyer, expert in audits, forensic accounting, tax planning and electoral law. She also holds a Masters in Controllership and Accounting – USP (University of Sao Paulo) and a Doctorate in Production Engineering – UFSC (University of Santa Catarina). She is a Counsellor in CRC-BA (Regional Accounting Council, Bahia), a Partner in AUDPEC (Audit, Consulting and Forensic Accounting), a Professor at UEFS (University of Feira de Santana), UFBA (University of Bahia), Unijorge and Maurício de Nassau, the President of CONAPROF (Professors National Cooperative) and the Deputy Mayor of Salvador, from the Green party.