Campaign in SC “Woman: the vote that changes politics” is launched in a special session at Alesc

Encouraging female participation in the political-social structure and recognizing the importance of women’s positions and their achievements are the objective of the campaign “Woman: the vote that changes politics”, launched in a special session on Monday night (25) at Alesc, chaired by deputy Paulinha (Podemos).

The proposal is from deputies Paulinha, who is coordinator of the Women’s Secretariat, and Luciane Carminatti (PT), Women’s attorney at Alesc.

Tributes During the campaign launch ceremony, women who stand out in different areas of activity were honored.

According to Congresswoman Paulinha, the Women campaign: the vote that changes politics aims to “show Santa Catarina society, for the first time, women who preside over the bodies where they work and how much the performance of these institutions has been renewed with female participation”.

“Rethink your voting option when it comes to choosing a councilor in your city, for example. The call is for Santa Catarina society to understand that our participation is not a matter of dispute, but a need for more justice, more equanimity”.

Female participation in politics

Carminatti highlighted the difficult trajectory of all the women present and honored during the session, and highlighted that issues relating to women should be addressed not only in the month of March, but on 365 days of the year.

“I have been traveling around the state of Santa Catarina talking about the importance of female participation in politics. To encourage candidacies and support them, we need to design a different scenario for this year’s elections, starting with the municipal election, because the situation we have today leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to female participation”.

Still on female representation, Carminatti points out that the state Legislature is made up of 37 male deputies and only three women.

“We only have three women to represent more than half of the Santa Catarina electorate, which is female, made up of single mothers, daughters, granddaughters, grandmothers, aunts, nieces, in short, different women with different views and conceptions. And this situation is not exclusive to Santa Catarina, as it is repeated throughout the country, where being a white, straight man offers many more opportunities to be a candidate and, mainly, to be elected”.

Female participation in national politics

According to data from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), women represent 52% of the Brazilian electorate, but only 33% of candidates are female. Of these, only 15% are elected.

Carminatti highlighted that the situation has not changed in the last 20 years.

“The National Observatory of Women in Politics analyzed data from elections from 2002 to 2022. The number of state deputies elected went from 12.65% to 17%. In two decades we have not reached 1/5 of all elected deputies in the country. There are four men for every woman elected, in an evidently unequal power relationship”, she highlighted.

According to the parliamentarian, “the most significant growth was in federal deputies, which went from 8.19% in 2002 to 17.74% in 2022. A number that is still small. Even if we united the entire Women’s Caucus in the Federal Chamber, it would be insufficient to approve a Bill”.

In the Federal Senate, the scenario is even more challenging, according to the parliamentarian. According to Carminatti, in 20 years, the number of Brazilian senators remained at 14.81% of the seats.

“When we arrive at the State Executive, the situation is no different. The board of governors has remained stable since 2002. 7.41% were elected. An index that was repeated 20 years later, and it is already scary to see the national scenario. When we analyze the data from Santa Catarina, the situation can be even worse”

Providing more data, Luciane presented that the “Superior Electoral Court showed that, in a ranking of 186 countries, Brazil has 17.5% of the parliament made up of women, while the world average is 25.7%. We lost to countries like Rwanda and Cuba. We lost to Nicaragua, not to mention developed countries like Sweden and Iceland,” she added.

Women honored

Among those honored at the special session, judge Maria do Rocio Luz Santa Ritta, sworn in as president of the Regional Electoral Court in Santa Catarina, is the first woman to conduct an election in the State.

According to the judge, her intention at the head of the TRE is to create a welcoming policy so that women feel more valued and welcomed.

“They need to be more encouraged, as politics is a predominantly male space. We seek to change this reality with affirmative actions, such as the quota policy to find material equality between men and women. We also need the contribution of men to reach this level of quality.”

The judge believes that “the launch of the campaign on the importance of women’s votes represents the beginning of a long journey. We have more than 50% of the female electorate, so representation has to be greater, we have to be aware of building more equal representation.”

Luciane Ceretta, dean of Unesc (University of Extremo Sul Catarinense), highlighted that a campaign that works on women’s participation in politics today is essential, as it is also important to honor women who stand out in their areas and who, as a result, they faced numerous challenges, overcame these challenges and managed to consolidate themselves.

“It is something of great significance and will certainly inspire many other women to also have the courage and persistence to occupy the positions they desire,” she said.

The councilor, Marcilei Vignatti, president of the Union of Councilors of Santa Catarina (UVESC), believes that “the participation of women changes democratic processes and we make politics more complete to represent the whole of society”.

Regarding the honorees, Paulinha also praised the House employees who received their plaques. “Among our honorees tonight, we have here our beloved servants, those who have been in the house for many, many years”.

They also received tribute from deputies Paulinha and Luciane, former deputy Ada de Luca and deputy Marquito (Psol), the judge of the Federal Regional Court of the fourth region, Ana Cristina Ferro Blasi; the vice-rector of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Joana Célia dos Passos; the president of the Brazilian Bar Association in Santa Catarina, Cláudia da Silva Prudêncio;

Also honored were the vice-mayor of Joinville, Rejane Ganbim; the president of the Regional Accounting Council of Santa Catarina, Marisa Luciane Schwab, the president of the association of magistrates of Santa Catarina, judge of law, Janeara Maldaner Corbetta; the president of the Santa Catarina press association, Débora Almada.

The session also paid tribute to the secretary of Inclusion of People with Disabilities and Parasports of the municipality of Blumenau, Gisele Chirolli; the vice-president of the Regional Engineering and Agronomy Council, Fernanda Vione; the Municipal Secretary of Tourism, Sports and Culture of Florianópolis, Zena Becker; the councilors of the municipality of Águas Frias, and the councilors of the municipality of Ipira.