LABOUR-BRAZIL: Women Participate More in Union Activities

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 6 1998 (IPS) - Women workers in Brazil are becoming more involved in union activities – historically dominated by men – and they have good reason to fight for their rights.

On average, women in Brazil earn only 54 percent of the salary paid to their male colleagues, according to a report by the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States. In other countries, the unequal pay structure for women is not as bad – being 82 percent in Costa Rica and 75 percent in Uruguay.

At the same time, however, unemployment is higher among women. The latest information of the official Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), issued in March, revealed an unemployment figure of 9.26 percent among women, compared to 7.43 among men.

Numerous studies have shown that in the private sector, even when performing identical functions in the work place, women in Brazil receive lower salaries than men. A recent survey by the Ministry of Administration reflected strong inequalities even in the public sector.

The study revealed that 44.18 percent of the officials in the central government are women. But in the better paid jobs — those in “management and high-level consulting” (as the more qualified positions in Brazil are called), the proportion of women is more skewed. The percentage of women is 45.53 for the lowest of those positions, and then decreases for the higher levels of responsibilities and remuneration. At level six the highest only 13.24 percent are women.

Brazil’s first lady, Ruth Cardoso, acknowledged that gender inequalities and “invisible barriers” still exist and prevent the advancement of women in government administration. This was one of the topics of a recent seminar which took place in Brasilia at the end of April.

Cardoso, an anthropologist, said that she was in favor of quotas for the inclusion of women in leadership roles in unions and political parties in order to achieve a better balance between the sexes.

“Affirmative action” measures have already been establishedin electoral processes. In the 1996 municipal elections, parties were required to have women in 20 percent of the positions in their lists of candidates. That percentage will be increased to 25 percent in the national parliamentary elections and state legislature elections next December 4th, when elections for president will also be held.

A project sponsored by congressional representative Marta Suplicy seeks to fix the female quota definitively at 30 percent.

CUT, the largest union in Brazil, has women occupying 30 percent of executive leadership positions, says Sandra Cabral, the union’s national secretary for communications. “Of the 27 members of the Executive, nine are women.”

Women have to be more active because in addition to wage discrimination and high unemployment, there is the “feminization of poverty.” In other words, poverty affects mainly families headed by separated or widowed mothers, says Cabral.

At the same time, female workers are more exposed to sexual harassment and child labor, according to Nina Goulart, Secretary for Women’s Affairs of Fuerza Sindical, another union that has established a quota for female participation in its leadership. But, she added, in the “base” unions, those quotas generally have been ignored, especially in areas dominated by men, like the steel sector.

The tendency for greater female participation also is the result of union demands, which have diversified vis-a-vis the economic and social changes worldwide. Demands now transcend issues of wages and employment and have expanded to include social rights.

One recent development in this sense has been the emergence of specialized unions and “differentiated categories”” not necessarily based on region or sector. This is the case, for example, of the National Federation of Domestic Workers, which is overwhelmingly female. It is fighting to obtain privileges for members – such as unemployment insurance, indemnities, vacations and bonuses.

The Federation won its first battle when the Labor Committee of the House of Representatives took up a proposal to consider its demands.

“There are 3.2 million workers in Brazil, and we need a law to have more just labor relations and to guarantee our rights,” said Florencia Guimaraes, a leader in the professional sector.

The Secretaries’ Union of the state of Sao Paulo has only been in existence for 11 years. Now it represents 800,000 workers who “have been forgotten for decades,” until they organized and brought some unity to its many members scattered across many firms, declares the union’s president, Leida Borba de Moraes.