Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Women Demand Action on Gender and Race

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 20 2004 (IPS) - The Brazilian government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is facing heavy pressure from Brazilian women activists to draft a comprehensive action plan in favour of women within the next two months, based on recommendations that include the legalisation of abortion and recognition of the rights of lesbians.

In an ”exceptionally daring” meeting, women activists demanded concrete responses from the government to issues that ”are always shirked” by public policy-makers, Nilza Iraci, executive coordinator of the Geledés Institute of Black Women, told IPS.

Iraci was referring to the Jul. 15-17 National Conference on Policies for Women in Brasilia, held to reach agreement on the principles and guidelines that should orient the gender-related actions and policies of the leftist Lula administration.

She also underlined ”an unprecedented aspect” of the conference: 47 percent of the more than 2,000 participating delegates were black women.

That percentage faithfully reflects the proportion of people who identify themselves as Afro-Brazilians – the 45 percent who check the categories ”black” or ”brown” – in Brazil’s official censuses.

But it is an exceptionally high proportion in events of this kind, and further highlighted the strong participation of black women in the nationwide process that sent the representatives elected in municipal and state meetings held in the first half of the year to last week’s national conference in the capital.

Iraci noted that all of the country’s indicators ”place black women at the bottom of the social pyramid,” which makes them the poorest of the poor in this South American country of nearly 180 million.

The conference thus underscored the need to combine the questions of race and gender, in order to promote true equality. ”We want public policies for all women, in their diversity,” which requires specific actions, said the activist.

Indigenous women, represented by 50 delegates, also demanded ”differentiated treatment” in the areas that affect them the most, like health and education. The issue of diversity in this case is even more complex, because it involves preserving dozens of different languages and cultures, and addressing enormous gaps in health coverage.

One ”interesting” and novel aspect was the ”unprecedented alliance between black and indigenous women,” established in a ‘Charter of Kinship’ signed during the conference, said Iraci.

The document strengthens the fight against racism, because the two groups agreed to build ”a common agenda” and to mutually support each other.

A joint demand voiced by the two groups in the Brasilia conference was for the creation of a special election fund to finance the campaigns of lower-income female candidates – a category into which black and indigenous women in Brazil tend to fall – in order to make it possible for them to run for political posts in minimally equal conditions.

The results of the conference were ”excellent” according to Iraci, whose organisation is now waiting for the government to draft a plan for the ”rapid implementation” of a number of measures that would improve the conditions of women in Brazil.

The most controversial recommendation – the legalisation of abortion – was approved by all of the debate panels in Brasilia and all of the state-level conferences, the activist pointed out. Very few delegates expressed opposition.

The question revives a debate that has lately been limited to a few sectors of society, and to the question of legalising abortion in specific cases, such as pregnancies involving anencephalic fetuses – lacking a brain – which do not survive outside the uterus.

But in a country in which three-fourths of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholics, and where the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations have a heavy influence, even in politics, the legalisation of abortion is unlikely.

This is a question that depends on amendments to the country’s laws, which means it is up to parliament to decide, said the Special Secretary (minister) of Policies for Women, Nilcéa Freire, the driving force behind the conference.

In Brazil, abortion is only legal in cases of rape and when the pregnant woman’s life is at risk. An initial legal ruling allowing the abortion of anencephalic fetuses may be upheld or struck down by the Supreme Court.

The number of illegal abortions in Brazil is estimated at between 750,000 and 1.4 million a year. That estimate is based on the number of women admitted to public hospitals due to complications arising from abortions carried out in inadequate conditions, which includes most abortions in the country.

Illegal abortions are the cause of death of many poor women who cannot afford the well-equipped clandestine abortion clinics visited by middle-class or wealthy women, Maria Betania Avila, the head of the women’s group SOS Corpo, told IPS.

Similar resistance will be faced by other recommendations approved at the conference, such as the demand for recognition of the rights of lesbians, including the right to legal same-sex unions and specialised medical care.

In support of the recommendations and actions that face religious opposition, the women taking part in the conference stressed that Brazil is a lay country, which must not be subjected to the interests of any one segment of the population.

The document containing the resolutions arising from the conference will be ready for distribution by the end of the week, and will orient the National Plan of Policies for Women, to be drafted by an inter-ministerial conference.