Brazilians will return to the polls next week less than a month after voters elected a record number of women as mayors, but gender equality is still a distant goal in a political culture long dominated by men.
Only one female candidate will participate in the 50-city mayor run-offs on 28 October, which means Brazil will continue to lag behind most other Latin American states in terms of the gender balance among elected officials.
The popularity of Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff, and the planned widening of a quota system for women candidates have raised expectations of rapid change. But gains have proved steady rather than spectacular.
Read more at The Guardian, published 19 October 2012.
Brazilians will return to the polls next week less than a month after voters elected a record number of women as mayors, but gender equality is still a distant goal in a political culture long dominated by men.
Only one female candidate will participate in the 50-city mayor run-offs on 28 October, which means Brazil will continue to lag behind most other Latin American states in terms of the gender balance among elected officials.
The popularity of Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff, and the planned widening of a quota system for women candidates have raised expectations of rapid change. But gains have proved steady rather than spectacular.
Read more at The Guardian, published 19 October 2012.