Dilma Rousseff was elected as the Brazilian during the 2010 Presidential elections and assumed office on January 1st, 2011. She represents a historical landmark for Latin America, and all of female politics because she is the first female President of Brazil. Rousseff identifies with the Workers Party of Brazil, which is classified as a left-winged party. Dilma Rousseff has been repeatedly stated in Forbes most powerful women in the world, including the year 2015 (Forbes). Brazil is a country in the global south, where more women leaders are located including Rousseff. However, unlike most gendered regimes, she did not come into power through a family dynasty or even through wealth. The Brazilian President was purely elected with the majority
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Rousseff does not openly declare herself as a feminist but does state that she is an advocate of women’s rights. She wanted her presidency to be the door opener for women to become more involved within Brazilian politics and continue the empowerment of women wanting to become president (Moura). After her election, there was a spike in women running for office on the regional level, legislative level, and executive level (Moura). Brazil has had a quota system since the mid 1990’s that requires thirty women be represented in Brazil’s congressional elections (Moura). However, not until 2010 did the amount of women candidates reach that quota (Moura). Despite the amount of women running for office positions and women representing fifty-two percent of Brazilian voters, only ten percent of women are actually elected into the legislative branch (Moura). According to Celi Pinto, “The quotas have never been a threat to men’s power,” speaking directly about Brazil’s quotas (Moura). Women are deciding to become more involved in Brazil’s citizenship and conventional politics by participating in their civic duty of voting, and even running for elections but there is still a crisis of representation in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Brazil, amongst many countries within and outside Latin America, need to discover the issue with substantially low women represented in government even when the state has a female
Rousseff does not openly declare herself as a feminist but does state that she is an advocate of women’s rights. She wanted her presidency to be the door opener for women to become more involved within Brazilian politics and continue the empowerment of women wanting to become president (Moura). After her election, there was a spike in women running for office on the regional level, legislative level, and executive level (Moura). Brazil has had a quota system since the mid 1990’s that requires thirty women be represented in Brazil’s congressional elections (Moura). However, not until 2010 did the amount of women candidates reach that quota (Moura). Despite the amount of women running for office positions and women representing fifty-two percent of Brazilian voters, only ten percent of women are actually elected into the legislative branch (Moura). According to Celi Pinto, “The quotas have never been a threat to men’s power,” speaking directly about Brazil’s quotas (Moura). Women are deciding to become more involved in Brazil’s citizenship and conventional politics by participating in their civic duty of voting, and even running for elections but there is still a crisis of representation in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Brazil, amongst many countries within and outside Latin America, need to discover the issue with substantially low women represented in government even when the state has a female