Female vote in Brazil: how was it achieved?

O female vote in Brazil it became officially permitted from the 1932 Electoral Code, enacted during the government of Getulio Vargas. The struggle for this right dates back to the 19th century and is directly linked to the feminist effort to equalize rights between men and women.

Accessalso: Suffrage movement — the struggle for women's political rights

Women and the right to vote

O right to vote is one of the most important rights of democracies. indirect, as it allows people to exercise their citizenship and taking part in the political process, electing their political representatives or running for available political positions. However, for a long time, a number of groups present in Brazilian society did not have access to this right and, therefore, did not exercise their citizenship.

The female vote was one of the main demands made by feminist movements in the beginning of the 20th century.

One such group was women. Women's suffrage was only possible in the Western world thanks to the hard struggle of women to conquer this right. It was no different here in Brazil, and women from different

Social classes, moved by the desire to equalize rights, they struggled to conquer space in politics.

THE Women's struggle for the right to vote broke out in Brazil at the end of the 19th century. In the year 1880, the Saraiva Law was enacted, bringing major changes to the electoral system in Brazil. This law allowed every Brazilian with a scientific title to vote and, taking advantage of this, the scientist Isabelde Souza Mattos demanded in court the right to vote.

The struggle of women continued with the beginning of the 20th century, although the resistance to granting this right to women was very great. The growth of the cause of women's suffrage resulted in the emergence of associations, institutions and even parties in defense of this agenda. One example was the emergence of female republican party, created in 1910 by the teacher Leolinda de Figueiredo Daltro.

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In 1920, one of the most important associations for the cause was founded and, thus, the League for the Intellectual Emancipation of Women (LEIM). Two years later, this association had its name changed to the Brazilian Federation for Female Progress. This association was led by the feminist BerthaLutz, one of the great names in the fight for equalizing the rights of men and women in Brazil.

This association acted strongly for the achieving greater rights for women in society and played an important role in Brazilian politics. Some of the main causes of this federation were the insertion of women in the labor market, the right to education and the conquest of the female vote. As early as 1922, the federation held an international congress in Rio de Janeiro with the aim of defending the female vote.

Accessalso: Feminism in Brazil - how did it come about and what did it claim?

The female vote advances in Brazil

The performance of the feminist movement in Brazil, for the right to vote for women, the cause advanced. As we have seen, there have been initiatives in this direction since the 19th century, but they have not advanced politically. In 1917, for example, a proposal by Maurício de Lacerda to extend electoral enlistment to women was rejected.

In any case, the engagement of women gave strength to the cause and, in the 1920s, the first achievements began to be noticed. O A pioneering state in this regard was Rio Grande do Norte, a place that approved a law that guaranteed the right to vote for women: this was State Law 660, of October 25, 1927. This event was explored by the Brazilian Federation for Women's Progress so that this right could be extended to women throughout the country.

With the approval of the law in Rio Grande do Norte, the first woman to demand her enlistment was the teacher Celina Guimaraes, residing in the municipality of Mossoró. This made Celina the first woman to enlist to vote both in Brazil and in Latin America.

Bertha Lutz (wearing dark glasses) was one of the most responsible for winning the female vote in Brazil.[1]

The state of Rio Grande do Norte also witnessed another important achievement for women. In 1928, a municipal election was held in the city of Lages, and one of the candidates for mayor was Alzira Soriano. She received support from the state governor, Juvenal Lamartine. The election result was surprising for the time: Alzira won with 60% of the votes.

Alzira took office as mayor of Lages on January 1, 1929 and had to face all the challenges of an extremely sexist society. During her tenure as mayor, she dedicated herself to the development of infrastructure works in the city and the construction of schools.

Alzira remained in the position for a short time, as she left the city hall after the 1930 revolution. She was invited to remain as mayor of the city, but she did not agree with the government of Getúlio Vargas. With the democratization of Brazil, in 1945, Alzira returned to politics, being elected to the position of councilor of Lages.

Accessalso: Gender inequality: what is it?

1932 Electoral Code

Despite the significant advances that took place in Rio Grande do Norte, the right to vote for women only advanced in the country years later. The rise of Getúlio Vargas to power in Brazil in 1930 had brought great changes to the Brazilian electoral system, and one of the most significant happened with the approval of the Electoral Code (Decree No. 21,076) on February 24, 1932.

This Electoral Code established norms for the standardization of the elections that would be held thereafter. It was established that voting would be mandatory and secret, in addition to being Gender restrictions on voting abolished. With this, women won the right to vote in Brazil, making our country the first in Latin America to grant the suffrage for women.

The achievement of the vote by women from the Electoral Code of 1932 can be seen in Article 2 of this decree: "A citizen over 21 years of age, without distinction of sex, listed in the form of this code"|1|. Thus, women could vote as long as they were over 21 and literate. From 1934 onwards, the female vote is now present in the Constitution enacted that year. Currently, voting is a right guaranteed to every Brazilian citizen, including the illiterate, by the 1988 Constitution.

Winning the female vote is an important milestone in the history of Brazil's democratization. For this reason, a commemorative date was created in honor of this achievement. In day February, 24, celebrates the Women's Vote Conquest Day in Brazil.

Grades

|1| Decree No. 21,076, of February 24, 1932. To access, click on here.

Image credits

[1] FGV/CPDOC

By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher