A History of the Black Women's Movement in Brazil: Mobilization, Political Trajectory and Articulations with the State

Abstract

This study examines the trajectory and consolidation process of the Black Women's Movement (BWM) in the Brazilian public sphere since the 1980s. Our objective is to understand the processes that underlie the constitution of this social movement, as well as its points of convergence and divergence with the black and feminist movements. Furthermore, this study discusses the movement's process of institutionalization/bureaucratization, its articulation with the Brazilian state and the relationship between gender and race in its internal structure and external claims. The study is based on two research projects conducted between 2005 and 2011. The first, carried out between 2005 and 2007, deals specifically with the consolidation of the BWM, while the second, a four-year study completed in 2011, focuses on the relationship between the black movement and the adoption of race-based public policies in Brazil and Colombia. Data for this research were collected from the BWM's internal documents (a compilation of pamphlets, newsletters and proposals), government documents and informal conversations and semi-structured interviews with 12 black women activists from different regions of the country. Throughout the work, we consider the BWM's internal processes of creating an autonomous movement as well as its external processes of bureaucratization and interconnection with the state. Focusing on these parallel processes allows us to better understand the movement's internal conflicts, its articulations with other social movements, its challenges and methods of navigating political/institutional spaces and the ways in which the emergence of black women as political actors has impacted Brazil's public sphere.

Keywords:

• Social movements
• gender
• race
• public sphere
• public policies
• Afro-Brazilian women

Notes

 1. The military dictatorship, installed in Brazil in 1964, began the transition process to representative democracy during the administration of General Ernesto Geisel. This ‘political opening’, as it is often called, began in 1974 and came to completion in 1985 with the indirect election of the first civilian president in over 20 years. During this period, political exiles were pardoned and allowed to return to the country.

 2. Black women activists have always shown concern for the situation of domestic workers. They have played a critical role in the movement for domestic workers’ rights in several states throughout Brazil. For more information, see McCallum (2007).

 3. In 2007, according to data from the National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística—IBGE), paid domestic work employed 6,731,197 people, 94 per cent of whom were women. Of these women, 61 per cent were black and 39 per cent were white. Paid domestic work accounted for 16.4 per cent of women's work. 21.4 per cent of black women worked as domestic workers in comparison to 12.1 per cent of white women. Similar to other parts of the world, domestic work in Brazil makes up only 0.8 per cent of the occupation among men (IPEA, 2008). Research reveals that gender and race are intertwined variables in relation to paid domestic work. Male domestic workers (39.8 per cent) have their labor rights guaranteed, in comparison with 26.2 per cent of women. In 2007, the average monthly income of white men in domestic service was around R$ 465.20 (roughly US$ 242.19), while that of white women was R$ 351.34 (roughly US$ 183) and black women was only R$ 308.71 (roughly US$ 160.79) (IPEA, 2008).

 4. A more detailed discussion on the role played by black organizations in Brazil throughout the twentieth century can be found in Domingues (2007) and Hanchard (1994).

 5. Favela is a commonly used term in Brazil for areas of poor housing built on steep hills in cities, or for areas of poor housing on the outskirts of cities.

 6. Thereza Santos, the black activist appointed to the CECF, was responsible, along with Sueli Carneiro, for publishing the book Black Women, in 1985. This is the first book that, using statistical data collected from censuses between 1950 and 1980 disaggregated by gender and color/race, explored the underprivileged socioeconomic position of black women in relation to white men and women and black men. This book remains one of the most complete works on the social condition of black women in Brazil. See Carneiro & Santos (1985).

 7. A more detailed discussion of the participation of black women in neighborhood movements is beyond the scope of this work. However, a careful analysis of the topic can be found in Perry (2008).

 8. The northeastern region of Brazil is characterized, in addition to its large black population, by low levels of socioeconomic development. The south and southeast regions have, in turn, the country's largest white population and most robust economy. Black women's organizations oftentimes mimic, unintentionally, these regional disparities. In the north and northeast there is a larger concentration of informal organizations for which support is based in volunteer participation. Meanwhile, the south and southeast are home to the majority of professionalized NGOs, such as Geledés—Black Women's Institute, the leading Brazilian NGO for black women. These organizations usually have a professional cadre of activists, and financial support coming from state agencies and international institutions such as the Ford Foundation, the International Women's Health Coalition, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bank of Boston Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. The north–south disparities are reflected in the political activity of black women activists; NGO members from the southeast have greater access to spaces of dialogue with the state and international agencies, and thereby can exercise greater control over the political agenda of the movement as a whole.

 9. The Network of Black Brazilian Women's Organizations was founded in 2000, during the preparatory meetings for the UN World Conference Against Racism (III WCAR). The Network is made up of a set of 27 black women's NGOs from different regions of the country. The National Forum of Black Women was established in 2003 and, unlike the Network, brings together black women activists from any black organization, whether it is specifically for women or not. The Forum includes only two professional NGOs; the majority of participating organizations are volunteer-based. This information was obtained from interviews with Edna Roland, Nilza Iraci and Vanda Menezes.

10. Between 1970 and 1980, the Brazilian government promoted female sterilization as a means of population control and contraception. With the widespread use of surgical sterilization, by the mid-1980s this practice accounted for 27 per cent of contraceptive measures used by women (IBGE, 1986). Surgical sterilization rates, elsewhere, were considerably lower: in France, 6 per cent; England, 7 per cent and Italy, 4 per cent.

11. This information was obtained from interviews with Edna Roland, Nilza Iraci and Vanda Menezes.

12. The Feminist Health Network (www.redesaude.org.br) was founded in 1991 to defend the security and expansion of women's sexual and reproductive rights. The Network was, in the 1990s and early 2000s, one of the BWM's main supporters. In addition to focusing on the intersection between gender, race and class in its political agenda, the Feminist Health Network included in its board of directors women from the BWM.

13. In the first half of the 1990s, well-established Brazilian trade unions began considering racial issues in their lists of demands. They published books, conducted workshops and seminars and set up special committees within the unions to address race.

14. Black activists in the 1970s showed dissatisfaction with the traditional May 13 celebrations commemorating the abolition of slavery in Brazil, as the festivities largely ignored the history of black resistance and struggle during slavery. In response, activists from Rio Grande do Sul proposed creating a National Day of Black Consciouness, to be celebrated annually on November 20. This is the date on which many allege that Zumbi, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares, died in 1695. Today, this holiday is celebrated in more than 200 Brazilian cities from all regions of the country, and since 1996 Zumbi dos Palmares has been registered in the Pantheon of National Heroes.

15. In 2001, the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration began implementing affirmative action policies in certain ministries and government agencies. The Ministry of Agrarian Development, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice sought to establish quotas for blacks in management positions, in filling vacancies for public selection, in contracting outsourcing service providers and in staffing international agencies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated the program ‘Scholarships for Diplomacy’, intending to support black candidates interested in pursuing careers in diplomacy. Except for the grants awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, all of these policies were discontinued with the change in government. Soon after the close of the III WCAR, the first affirmative action program for black students applying to public higher education was introduced in Rio de Janeiro. The two state universities of Rio de Janeiro were the first public universities to adopt a quota system in the country; the first students admitted under this system began in 2003. Today, more than 80 public institutions of higher education have adopted some form of affirmative action policies for the admission of black students and/or public school students. The Federal University of Alagoas even has a specific quota for black women.

16. Data obtained from the Federal Senate site (www.senado.gov.br), the Ministry of Planning site (www.planejamento.gov.br) and the site of the feminist NGO Cfemea (www.cfemea.org.br).