Women’s right to abortion, and the effective implementation of social policies, especially those directly concerning women, will be key issues at the Second National Conference on Policies for Women, to be held in Brasilia from Friday to Monday.

In an exclusive interview, Ms.

There are still too few women on the lists of candidates for Brazil’s municipal elections in October. Women candidates for the position of mayor in the Oct. 6 elections represent only 10.3 percent of the total, hardly larger than the 2004 figure of 9.5 percent.

The Brazilian government is congratulating itself on the first-stage approval of a draft electoral law that increases women's participation in party politics. However, the women's movement says it introduces no changes to a power structure that excludes women from politics.