The figure of the woman, from a secondary element, has become something extremely important in today's society, where she exercises every once again a protagonist role, although she still suffers from the historical legacies of the patriarchal social system in her day to morning. Over time, thanks to the struggles promoted, women have been able to increase their space in social structures, abandoning the figure of a mere housewife and assuming jobs, important positions in companies and less hierarchical structures submissive.
Despite a greater presence in the labor market, there is still an inequality with regard to different genders. The woman, in many family profiles, accumulates both labor and domestic and even maternal functions, often becoming overloaded. In addition, the number of women occupying higher education positions in companies is still smaller, although they constitute the majority able to belong to the labor market. And speaking of work, the salary of women is still proportionally lower than that of men in today's society, a factor that becomes even more critical when we refer to black women.
In political positions, although we have overcome the fact that there has never been a female president in Brazil - and also in other countries of the Latin America, such as Argentina and Chile – the comparison between women and men in executive, legislative and judiciary. It was even in Argentina that the first woman (Isabel Martínez de Perón) was president of the world, although other women have previously held positions as heads of state elsewhere in the world. globe.
In the 2014 elections, only 10% of the elected candidates were women. Although this number is better than in previous elections, it is still very low. In addition, five states (AL, ES, MT, PB and SE) did not elect even a woman to one of the positions of deputies federal, and even those with the best indexes (AP and TO) completed only 38% of the total number of elected representatives with women.
Cristina Kirchner and Dilma Rousseff are examples of female leaders in South America ¹
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It is because of this still latent inequality, the result of a past that left its marks in the present time – in which women were seen only for reproduction and as a complement to man – that the need to fight for rights arises. female.
Not by chance, the influence of feminism has grown in society, despite the fact that many people carry myths about this movement, such as thinking that feminism is the opposite of machismo or that feminist women fight men, among others errors. The feminist struggle is for equality between women and men in society, it is against machismo and patriarchy, fighting for individual freedom, so much so that men can also act, although the leaders must obviously be composed of women.
One more problem experienced by women in society is the issue of violence. Although specific laws (such as the “Maria da Penha Law”) and the Women's Police Stations have been created in the Brazil, there are still numerous cases of aggression in the home environment, harassment, rape, murder and others. Not to mention the constant social monitoring of women's attitudes and bodies, which are increasingly more surrounded by "rules" and moral postures that often deprive rights and freedoms individual.
For all these reasons, although the role of women in society is becoming bigger and better, there are still many challenges to be faced. It is therefore necessary to fight the macho culture in society (and this does not mean “fighting men”!), improve women's access to jobs and eligible positions, promoting better salaries, making women's rights effective over their own bodies and their individual freedom, in addition to providing protection for threatened women in their everyday.
The challenges are great, but the less resistance people have to question or combating women's agendas, the broader and better the realization of a more equality. It is a mission to be completed by all of society, both women and men.
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¹ Image credits: Presidency of Argentina / Wikimedia Commons
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
