NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz).
Number 483, March 7, 2003


Women´s Struggles for Equality Continue
By Joanne Blaney

International Women´s Day (3/8) has been strongly commemorated throughout
Brasil since the early 1970´s. The focus of this day is to celebrate
advances in equality for women and to focus on struggles within the context
of eliminating all discrimination against women. The date is incorporated
in the national calendar reaffirming the necessity to educate society in
respect to equal rights between women and men as well as to formulate
public policies that guarantee women´s rights. Advances in women´s rights
have been made throughout the years; however, much remains to be done to
achieve true equality for women. This year, many groups are emphasizing
key issues such as employment, health, merchandising of women´s bodies,
gender equality, eliminating violence against women, and being a voice for
peace and against war.

Employment and Gender Equality

The concentration of wealth in Brazil is well documented --- the richest
10% of the population possess 50% of the income; the poorest 50% of the
population have less than 10% of the income. This concentration of wealth
is also connected to sex and race. Women now constitute 41% of the
economically active population in Brazil. However, according to a 2002
study, men earn 29,2% higher salaries than women for the same work. More
than one-half of women workers are in the informal sector receiving even
lower salaries. Women are employed in manual and repetitive work which
contributes to health problems while jobs in technology and information
areas are reserved mostly for men. Unemployment of women grew 7,2% between
2001-2002 and has now reached 22.3%. This social inequality also shows
itself strongly in the areas of inadequate housing, education, and day care
centers for women.

Brazil has the second highest population of African descendants in the
world, numerically lower only to the country of Nigeria in Africa.
Afro-Brazilian women, on the average, receive a 40% lower salary than white
women. Women are more likely to be poor than men and an Afro-Brazilian
women over the age of 60 is three times more likely to be poor and 4 times
more likely to be indigent than other women of the same age.

Workers´ rights continue to be weakened. Law #9.032/95 (2002) reduced
workers´ compensation. Employers may now report a work accident or
work-related illness as a common sickness. This releases the employer from
obligations connected to worker compensation. Another effect is the lack
of legal notification of worker-related accidents or illness. This has
serious implications for women. The number of accidents at work has
greatly increased among women because of the repetitive, and at times,
dangerous work that they do. The weakness of workers´ rights means even
lower salaries and lack of rights in part-time work for women.

The 2002 national plebiscite against the Free Trade Act of the Americas
(ALCA) indicated a strong rejection of Brazilians to the proposed treaty
and showed strong support for a model of development that guarantees
Brazil´s sovereignty and equality. Women´s groups, in particular, are
concerned about the effect of ALCA in exploiting women even more in the
area of employment. The privatization of services that would result from
ALCA would make health and education less accessible to women and generate
more exclusion and discrimination.

Half of the Brazilian population that lives in the rural area are women.
According to the Minister of Agrarian Development (MDA), only 11% of the
titles to land are in the name of women. MDA is working to eliminate
discrimination against women and increase micro-credits to women in the
northeast so that they may remain on the land with their families. Thirty
percent of leadership slots in MDA organizations are now reserved for women.

According to the Brazilian Electoral Tribunal, 50,8% of the electorate is
composed of women. In the 2002 election, 43 women were elected to the
Federal Congress resulting in a 48% increase since the 1998 elections.
There was a 25% increase of women state and district representatives. The
Workers´ Party had the greatest increase in the number of women elected
across the country. Women are occupying more and more public space but are still far from having political power due to machismo.

Health Issues

In 2000, the World Health Organization´s analysis of health conditions in
191 countries, indicated Brazil in 125th place because of precarious or
nonexistent health services. Especially for women the situation is
serious. Where they exist, most health posts lack medical personnel and
proper equipment.

Maternal mortality rates are very high as compared to other countries. The
latest statistics indicate that 110 women die for every 100,000 infants
born. Millions of women do not have access to prenatal programs or
competent assistance at the moment of the birth of their babies. There is
a lack of emergency services to aid women suffering from hemorrhages,
eclampsia (caused by high blood pressure), and infections in the
post-delivery period. There continue to be a large number of caesarian
birth as well as insufficient hospital beds.

In Brasil, the number of women between the ages of 45 and 64 with
hypertension has grown significantly since the 1980´s. A recent study
indicated that in Salvador, Brasil, there is one women with hypertension
for every 2 men as compared to one woman to 6 men in France or Finland.

AIDS is now a major cause of death of Brazilian women between the ages of
15-49 years. The growth of HIV contamination cases is greatest in married
women infected by their husbands. In 1985, one woman was HIV contaminated
as compared to 25. In only 4 years, between 1994-1998, the number of women
contaminated grew 9 times more than men and continues to grow.

Violence Against Women and Sexual Exploitation

According to the latest statistics of Foundation Perseu Abramo, every 15
seconds a woman is beaten in Brazil and 43% of Brazilian women suffer
domestic violence. Domestic violence is also an indirect cause of high
maternal mortality rates. There are only 47 houses throughout the entire
country to protect victims of domestic violence. Machismo and impunity of
aggressors continue to be root forces contributing to the increase in
violence against women. Women´s groups are working to change the laws that
allow for impunity and to improve the women´s police stations in the
country that deal with domestic violence cases.

According to Unicef (2002), 100,000 women and children are sexually
exploited commercially in Brazil. They are taken through Manaus to
Venezuela, through Suriname to Holland, or through Argentina to Spain.
Some also remain in Brazil and are moved from state to state in order not
to be found. The exploiters of these women and children are men, of whom
68% are Brazilians, a majority being lawyers, businessmen, police,
politicians and employees of the judicial branch of the government. The
neoliberal model with its high levels of female unemployment and absence of
economic and financial perspectives for women as well as the daily
merchandising of women´s bodies by the media has increased prostitution and
trafficking in women.

(Sources: National Brazilian Report: CEDAW Convention to Eliminate all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (2002); Policies for Women:
National Council of Rights of Women and the Secretary of State for Women´s
Rights, 2002; SOF Newsletters: Women and Health, 2001-2003)




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