O female vote in Brazil was conquered during the provisional government of Getulio Vargas, in 1932 and incorporated by the 1934 Constitution as optional.
O right to vote for women in Brazil it is part of the suffrage movement, which took place in several countries between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The focus of this movement was to fight for the right of women to vote, at a time when politics was organized in a sexist way, keeping political dominance in the hands of men.
The exclusion of women from the political process was mistakenly justified by a prerogative that claimed that women would be incapable of political discernment. The fight for the right to vote for women symbolized the first wave of feminism.
The female vote in Brazil was only equated with the male vote through the 1965 Electoral Code.
History of women's voting in Brazil
THE history of women's voting in Brazil is part of the electoral reform measures commanded by Getúlio Vargas in the period of provisional government.
Brazilian women who fought for the right to vote made up an intellectual and political elite, which contributed to their access to the vote.
In 1928, Celina Guimarães Viana, a resident of the city of Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte, got permission from the courts to vote.
The justification for her political participation was included in the 1926 State Electoral Code, which defended access to the vote to those who had the necessary conditions.
Celina Guimarães was literate, of legal age and was even with justice. The judge accepted the argument and the governor of Rio Grande do Norte consented to the determination.
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Also in 1928, the law student, Maria Ernestina Carneiro Santiago Manso Pereira, known as Mietta Santiago, noted that the prohibition on female suffrage was contrary to the Constitution of the time. (in 1891).
With that, she filed a writ of mandamus and managed to obtain the right to political participation, ran for Congresswoman and voted for herself.
In this way, Mietta Santiago was the first woman in the country to fully exercise her political rights: the right to vote and to be voted.
In 1929, Alzira Soriano runs for mayor of Lajes, a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, supported by the then governor of the state, Juvenal Lamartine.
She wins the elections and becomes the first woman to hold a political office in the country's history.
In 1931, the then president of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas, announced his proposal for electoral reform, including women to the right, as long as they were literate. Thereby, in 1932 the female vote was won in Brazil.
With the enactment of 1934 Constitution, the vote was extended to widows and single women who performed paid activities. However, married women should have permission from their husbands to vote.
The 1935 Electoral Code determined the mandatory vote of women who performed paid work.
For those who did not perform paid activities, voting would be optional. It was only with the 1965 Electoral Code that the female vote was equated with the male vote.
Learn more at:
- 25 Women who made history in Brazil
- 20 Important women who marked history
- The main struggles and achievements of women throughout history
- Meet the women who won the Nobel Prize
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