Brazil women bring fight against sexism on to political agenda
Source: Financial Times
When a leftwing female congresswoman was described as too ugly to be raped, Manuela D’Avila’s stomach turned. The speaker was Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian far rightwing congressman and presidential candidate.
That feeling only worsened after the execution-style murder in March of Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councillor, a crime that many attribute to the fact that she was a black lesbian activist.
“This is the political violence we women are subjected to,” says Ms D’Avila, a journalist and presidential candidate for the Communist party in this October’s elections. Ms D’Avila, a legislator in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, aims to change things by boosting the presence of women in the sexist world of Brazilian politics.
Click here to read the full article published by Financial Times on 14 May 2018.
When a leftwing female congresswoman was described as too ugly to be raped, Manuela D’Avila’s stomach turned. The speaker was Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian far rightwing congressman and presidential candidate.
That feeling only worsened after the execution-style murder in March of Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councillor, a crime that many attribute to the fact that she was a black lesbian activist.
“This is the political violence we women are subjected to,” says Ms D’Avila, a journalist and presidential candidate for the Communist party in this October’s elections. Ms D’Avila, a legislator in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, aims to change things by boosting the presence of women in the sexist world of Brazilian politics.
Click here to read the full article published by Financial Times on 14 May 2018.
