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Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest

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A History of the Black Women's Movement in Brazil: Mobilization, Political Trajectory and Articulations with the State
Cristiano Rodrigues & Marco Aurelio Prado
a a b

Institute of Social and Political Studies, State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
b

College of Philosophy & Human Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil Version of record first published: 26 Jun 2012.

To cite this article: Cristiano Rodrigues & Marco Aurelio Prado (2012): A History of the Black Women's Movement in Brazil: Mobilization, Political Trajectory and Articulations with the State, Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest, DOI:10.1080/1612197X.2012.697613 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2012.697613

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Social Movement Studies, iFirst article, 120, 2012

A History of the Black Womens Movement in Brazil: Mobilization, Political Trajectory and Articulations with the State
CRISTIANO RODRIGUES* & MARCO AURELIO PRADO**
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*Institute of Social and Political Studies, State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, **College of Philosophy & Human Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

ABSTRACT This study examines the trajectory and consolidation process of the Black Womens 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 movements 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 rst, carried out between 2005 and 2007, deals specically 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 racebased public policies in Brazil and Colombia. Data for this research were collected from the BWMs 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 BWMs 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 movements internal conicts, 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 Brazils public sphere. KEY WORDS : Social movements, gender, race, public sphere, public policies, Afro-Brazilian women

In this study, we follow the progression of the Black Womens Movement (BWM) in Brazil since the 1980s. Examining the processes underlying the constitution of this social movement, we nd points of convergence and divergence with the black and feminist movements. Throughout the paper we discuss the movements consolidation at the national level, its relationship with the Brazilian state and the role that gender and race have played in shaping its internal structure and external claims. Research for this paper is based on two projects conducted between 2005 and 2011. The rst, carried out between 2005 and 2007, focuses on the institutionalization of the BWM,
Correspondence Address: Cristiano Rodrigues, Rua da Matriz, 82, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro 22260-100, Brazil. Email: cristianor@gmail.com 1474-2837 Print/1474-2829 Online/12/00001-20 q 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2012.697613

C. Rodrigues & M.A. Prado

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while the second, a four-year study completed in 2011, explores the black movement and the adoption of race-based public policies in Brazil and Colombia. A variety of sources were used for this paper, including internal documents from the BWM (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. Much of what follows is based on information obtained during these interviews, especially from key BWM members Luiza Bairros, a sociologist, activist in the black movement and the BWM in Bahia and current Minister of the Special Secretariat for the o Promotion of Racial Equality; Edna Roland, a psychologist, former president of the Sa Paulo-based NGO Fala Preta, Speaker of the World Conference Against Racism III and Coordinator of the Program for Racial Equality in the Municipality of Guarulhos; Nilza sBlack Womens o Paulo-based NGO Gelede Iraci, a consultant, president of the Sa Institute and coordinator of the Network of Black Brazilian Womens Organizations and Vanda Menezes, a psychologist, activist in the BWM in Alagoas, former secretary for the Womens Secretariat of Alagoas and consultant specializing in gender and ethnic/race relations. It is important to note that many of the activists interviewed for this research appear here as both informants and authors. This is because in many cases the same women who have worked as activists in the BWM have been the historiographers and academic interpreters of the movement. The text is structured in three parts. First, we present the historical background out of which the BWM emerged, using as a landmark the participation of black women in feminist and black organizations. Second, we discuss the process through which the BWM grew to become its own autonomous, nationally recognized movement. Finally, we address the articulations between the BWM and the state, with a focus on the adoption of public policies. Throughout the work, we consider the BWMs 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 movements internal conicts, 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 Brazils public sphere.

The Intersection Between Race and Gender In 1975, as part of the celebrations for the United Nations-sponsored International Womens o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, Year, various public activities were held in Sa bringing women together to discuss issues pertinent to their condition. Occurring during a period of relative strain within Brazils repressive dictatorial regime,1 and aided by the sponsorship of the UN, the events seized upon a window of opportunity that allowed women to organize themselves publicly (Sardenberg & Costa, 1994; Alvarez, 1998; Soares, 2000; Pinto, 2003). In many ways, the events of that year followed the model of second wave feminism that had been achieving success in the USA and Europe. However, the dialogue between black women and white women within the feminist movement of Brazil in the 1970s and early 1980s was complicated by divergent interpretations of the ways that patriarchy and racism affected them. Luiza Bairros describes the relationship between black and white women activists in the 1970s and 1980s:

Black Womens Movement in Brazil When we began to dialogue with the white feminist movement, there was, on the part of white feminists, a great misunderstanding of the questions facing black women. In retrospect I see that, for example, the feminist discussion of patriarchy as a system that promotes the superiority of men over women was a very important thing. But black women never absorbed this analysis of patriarchy as being the analysis. For black women discussing the issues of women, the starting point was always racism. And as racism is a system of oppression that seems, in my opinion, to affect a much larger sphere than patriarchy itself, I mean to say this: it wasnt enough for us, in that time, to just analyze the question of how oppression expressed itself as man over woman, because we understood that the black man was also disempowered within society. So actually, this thing of the black mens machismo was not exactly equal to the machismo of white men, in that the black mens machismo was subordinate, undervalued by the racism of the white man. (Interview, Salvador, October, 2006.)

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The rst formal race-related division within the womens movement occurred in 1975 at the Conference of Brazilian Women in Rio de Janeiro. Black women activists at the conference presented the Black Womens Manifesto, in which they stated that unity between black and white women was not a given, a priori, but rather that it could only be achieved through deliberate dialogue and action (Nascimento, 1978; Gonzalez, 1982; Caldwell, 2007). Black feminists emphasized how the liberation of white women was directly related to the systematic subordination of black women, and how white women had failed to recognize the fact that being white in a racist and Eurocentric society allowed privileges that, in seeking egalitarian relations within and between genders, should be deconstructed (Soares, 2000). Black feminists saw that maintaining a system in which domestic work was performed mostly by black women in the homes of white families allowed white women greater access to the diversied educational and vocational opportunities won by women since the 1960s2 s, are (Carneiro & Santos, 1985). The words of Sueli Carneiro, an activist from Gelede exemplary in this regard: How do I ensure that policies promoting equality reach the black population, without having to refer to race specically? Why have black women come to the conclusion that they must organize themselves politically to face the triple discrimination they suffer as poor people, black people, and women? History has shown the following: the feminist movement is born, grows, and develops; women organize themselves, protest, and achieve rights. Society opens up to the question and begins to recognize gender inequality; policies begin to be developed. If this story does not introduce race as a variable, what happens? All of these achievements, which are collective victories for black and white women alike, end up privileging white women and increasing the inequalities that exist between black and white women in the country. This has happened here; comparing the 1980 census to the 1991 census demonstrates this. There was a widespread diversication of womens participation in the workplace, and women began to enter traditionally male careers. Wonderful! Now, divide this by color and see that black women remain conned to domestic employment.3 o Paulo, January, 2005) (Interview, Sa Given the invisibility of racial issues within the feminist movement, and the blindness to gender relations in the black movement, black women activists set out to challenge their

C. Rodrigues & M.A. Prado

activist colleagues. According to Carneiro (2003), black women had to blacken the agenda of the feminist movement and sexualize that of the black movement. In so doing, they promoted a diversity of ideas and political practices within these movements while at the same time claiming themselves as new political subjects outside of the established feminist and black movements.

Black Women within the Black Movement: Engendering the Anti-Racist Struggle in Brazil Since the late nineteenth century, Brazilian society has supported the idea that racism in the country is practically inexistent. There is general consensus that the exceptionalism of Brazilian national identity, similar to that of many other Latin American countries, resides in the fact that the people come from the harmonious union of three distinct races (whites, Indians and blacks). To alleviate the ill repute of a country with a high level of racial mixing, the idea of whitening, through both biological and cultural miscegenation, developed. Skidmore (1994) states that proponents of whitening found in miscegenation the solution to improving the countrys population, as they believed that the black population would disappear totally within several generations of mixing with whites. They thought that black hereditary traits were weaker than white traits, and thus mixing would actually dilute black traits to the point of extinction. In so doing, whitening would advance the countrys mixed population toward the ultimate goal of being completely white, both culturally and physically. Between the 1930s and 1970s, the idea of the exceptionalism of Brazilian race relations developed into what is conventionally called, in both academic and non-academic circles, the myth of racial democracy. This myth about Brazilian national identity peaked during the military regime, reaching what many consider to be dogmatic proportions (Skidmore, 1994). Despite the repressive dictatorship and the myth of racial democracy, many black organizations in Brazil emerged onto the public scene in the 1970s, inuenced by the impact of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA and the struggle for independence in African countries.4 Motivated by this backdrop of emerging political activism, the Unied Black Movement (Movimento Negro UnicadoMNU) was formed in 1978. What distinguished the MNU from earlier black organizations was its leaders attempts to develop a platform of national character, ghting as much for the political democratization of the country as for an end to es, 1999). racism (Guimara Black women played a key role in the formation of the MNU. As we have seen, their political allegiance with the anti-racist agenda was stronger than with the feminist agenda, because they considered racial discrimination to run wider and deeper than gender discrimination. Coming from a black feminist perspective, they recognized that their male counterparts were also oppressed, and found common ground with them in ghting racial discrimination. Given the centrality of race for black women, the political ruptures between them and the men of the black movement were less explicit than those that occurred between them and the white women of the feminist movement. Within black organizations, the main dispute between men and women centered around the struggle for spaces of power, as discussed by Luiza Bairros:

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Black Womens Movement in Brazil From a certain moment on, the MNU here in Bahia began growing in such a way that many women started joining, and the conicts started to become more evident. That is, in relations between black men and women. There was the question of political space, because the women had a very large presence within the organization and yet the whole movement was dominated by men, who did not give any space to the women. Today I would say that the greatest conict with black militants was their approach to sexual politics. It is now called sexual politics, is it not? This nexus of ideas and practices involving gender, race and sexuality. And these politics had implications for power relations. With black men it was basically this: a question of power relations. (Interview, Salvador, October, 2006.)

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Concerned that the specicity of the experience of black women was inadequately addressed within the black and feminist movements, black women activists began, as we will see in the next section, to ght for the consolidation of an independent movement that would address their concerns about gender, race and class (Bairros, 1995; Ribeiro, 1995; Carneiro, 2003).

The Emergence and Political Trajectory of the BWM Starting in the early 1980s, black women activists gradually began forming an autonomous movement. In what can now be seen as a fairly rapid succession, these women evolved from forming groups for black women within the black and feminist movements to, by the end of the decade, establishing a fully autonomous movement. In the early stages, nuclei of black women formed to support one another within the black and feminist movements. In 1982, during the third Conference of the MNU in Belo Horizonte, they presented the document Sexism and Racism. In this document, they discussed the situation of black women and homosexuals, proposing that the MNU incorporate into its platform the struggles of these specic segments of the black population. The condition of sexual and/or racial domination cannot be explained only by analyzing the question of class. Though the situation of domination and discrimination against women and homosexuals is inscribed in the economic structure, it is in fact founded in the roles played by each individual within the family structure. We have observed that the way these two groups are treated often leads them to internalize the condition of subordination and perceive it as a natural process. For the black man, the absorption of prejudices that the dominant ideology imposes on women and homosexuals causes him, in practice, to continue playing his role as a superior, heterosexual and normal, even though he tries to look politically progressive or revolutionary and support the struggle of women and homosexuals in his theoretical discourse. The work of recovering mutilated and strangled identities, as well as addressing questions of awareness and the practical manifestations of these ideologies of domination, is necessarily one of the rst internal tasks for MNU militants. (MNU, 1988, pp. 28 and 29. Emphasis in the original.) Black women began the process of articulating categories of gender, race and class as a way of legitimizing their claims in the public sphere. At this time, they approached the

C. Rodrigues & M.A. Prado

intersection between gender, race and class through a sum of discriminations model, as noted by Edna Roland: It was like this: the black woman was discriminated against three times, because she was black, because she was a woman and because she was poor. We lived the sum of these discriminations. It was an assertion that the black woman was the most discriminated against out of all women, because she suffered all of these conditions. Over time, these forms of analysis were reprocessed, etc., and have arrived at a point o Paulo, January, 2006.) that is now called intersectionality. (Interview, Sa One of the rst autonomous groups of black women was created in Rio de Janeiro in 1983. NzingaBlack Womens Collective included among its members Lelia Gonzalez, perhaps the most prominent female black leader during the 1980s. The groups statement of principles reects the climate of the debate at the time:

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We are a Collective: our decisions are the result of democratic discussion, not the arbitrary nature of an authoritarian hierarchy. We are a Collective of Women because we ght against all forms of violence, namely the struggle against sexism and sexual discrimination. We are a collective of Black Women: along with sexism, we struggle against racism and racial discrimination that makes us the most exploited and oppressed sector of Brazilian society. Our goal is to work with low-income black women (over 80 per cent of black women), who mostly live in favelas5 and outlying neighborhoods. And why? Because they are discriminated against because they are women, black and poor. (Gonzalez, 1984, pp. 11 and 12. Emphasis in original.) o Paulo in In 1982, center-left candidate Franco Montoro was elected governor of Sa Brazils rst open democratic elections. Seeking to close gaps between civil society and the state, Montoro created the State Council on the Feminine Condition (Conselho o FemininaCECF) in 1983, the rst state agency with a mandate to Estadual da Condic a deal specically with issues of concern to women. The council was initially composed of 15 advisors, all of whom were white. Soon after its announcement, however, black women activists mobilized and gained the appointment of a black woman to the CECF, as well as the formation of a Committee of Black Women within the council.6 The women who mobilized for the election of a black representative to the CECF decided to continue o Paulo. organizing together, and in 1984 they created the Black Womens Collective of Sa This collective was responsible, in that same year, for organizing the rst State Meeting of o Paulo and other states. The Black Women, which was attended by 450 women from Sa meeting addressed the following themes: black women in the labor market, black women and education, black women and health, black women and violence, black women versus white women and black women versus black men (Alvarez, 1990a; Ribeiro, 1995; Roland, 2000). o Paulo and, following this, the The participation of black women in the CECF of Sa National Council of Womens Rights (Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Mulher CNDM) represents an important milestone for the political trajectory of the BWM. Though in some cases black women found themselves in tension with the black and feminist movements, this case shows how they used their connections and identications with the movements in mutually enhancing ways. By using their status as women to gain access to

Black Womens Movement in Brazil

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the political sphere, they simultaneously advanced the cause of the black movement by propelling black people (women) into positions of inuence. Black women began the process of dialogue with the state before the militant men of the black movement did, thus providing them with political experience that would prove resourceful to their male colleagues (Roland, 2000). In 1985, during the Third Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encounter held in o Paulo, black women began to show their strength and organization (Ribeiro, Bertioga, Sa 1995; Roland, 2000). There were 850 women formally registered for the meeting, 116 of whom declared themselves black and mixed race. The theme of the meeting was feminism and racism. Present but not formally registered was a group of black women linked to neighborhood movements (favelas and outlying neighborhoods) from Rio de Janeiro. The group had o Paulo by bus for the meeting but was unable to pay the conference fee.7 traveled to Sa When the event organizers barred these women from participating, they set up camp outside the hotel where the meeting was being held and began to protest. Reporting on this meeting, Alvarez (1990b, pp. 25 and 26) states the following: What happened during the remainder of the meeting was an intense polarization of opinion among the participants. The organizing committee took the view that all should be subject to the same rules; that is, no one could enter without paying the registration fee. They tried to assure participants from other countries that this decision was taken out of a suspicion of political manipulation, and not as a response to the women from the bus, with whom they sympathized. [...] besides the fact that the favela residents were denied their admission, the most unfortunate aspect of the incident was that the discussions that followed focused on the question of the bus and not on the issues of race and class it provoked. (Emphasis in original.) In 1987, during the Ninth Feminist National Encounter, held in Garanhuns, Pernambuco, black women activists ofcially decided to create an autonomous movement. Feeling that their specic concerns were being left out of the platform of the feminist movement, they discussed the formation of a National Encounter of Black Women (Soares, 1994; Ribeiro, 1995; Pacheco, 2002). The rst National Encounter of Black Women was held the following year in Valencia, Rio de Janeiro, and attended by 450 women from 17 states. According to Ribeiro (1995), this meeting was severely criticized by sections of the black and feminist movements, who accused the black women of driving a wedge between the social movements. The black women argued that they no longer wanted to be subject and subordinate to the general guidelines of the other movements, but to become spokespersons for their own ideas and to ght together with black men and white women against racial and gender inequality (Ribeiro, 1995). The number of organizations and groups created by and for black women increased signicantly throughout all regions of Brazil between the mid-1980s and late 1990s. Currently, the BWM is composed of more than 100 groups of diverse size, structure, nancial organization and participation8 (Rodrigues, 2006; Caldwell, 2007). In general, black womens organizations work in ve main areas: preserving and afrming AfroBrazilian culture, promoting self-esteem among black women, supporting sexual and

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reproductive rights, advancing the struggle for human rights and monitoring gender and race-based public policies. With regard to the preservation and afrmation of Afro-Brazilian culture, various groups promote activities aimed at re-interpreting the history of black participation in Brazilian society, reframing the story of the black community in balanced, rather than derogatory, ways. In the eld of promoting self-esteem, there are services such as psychological counseling, self-help groups, community work and job market training programs for women and youth. The agenda for sexual and reproductive health rights has been one of the primary struggles in the BWM at the national level, where activists have been trying to inuence public health policies that address the intersection between gender and race. In the eld of human rights, the movement has supported initiatives such as SOS-Racism (a hotline service for complaints against racial and cultural prejudice, discrimination and intolerance), the ght against religious intolerance (particularly in relation to attacks from conservative religious groups against Afro-Brazilian traditions) and complaints of race- and gender-based violence. Finally, there is growing interest among black women activists in the monitoring of public policies related to gender and race. The objectives of this monitoring are to guarantee that public policies address inequalities in access to public services (with particular focus on education and health); to enlarge areas of participation, such as councils, conferences and working groups specializing in gender and race and to ensure that public policies are carried out properly from planning through execution.

Early Consolidation and Organization of the BWM Similar to their colleagues in the feminist movement, black women activists chose to promote national recognition of their movement by hosting national encounters. As we have noted, their rst meeting was held in 1988the year in which Brazils new constitution was ratied, and also the centennial year celebrating the abolition of slavery in the countryand emphasized the key points of the movements agenda, most notably the need for public policies directed toward black women. The Second National Encounter of Black Women was held in 1991 in Salvador, Bahia, and counted among its participants 430 women from 17 states. The key issues discussed at this meeting concerned the movements organization, strategies and perspectives (Ribeiro, 1995; Pacheco, 2002). The outcome of this second meeting revealed the challenges of unifying a movement with such diverse representation. Participants were unable to reconcile the wide range of perspectives on how to structure the movement, and the meeting ended without a clear consensus of how to proceed together (Ribeiro, 1995; Pacheco, 2002; Caldwell, 2007). Following this, the movement experienced a period of lower involvement at the national level, choosing instead to host state and regional seminars that would enrich the conversation about the direction of a national organization. In 1997, the National Meeting of Black Women took place in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, with the participation of 69 women representing 10 states. With the theme What Unites Us, What Separates Us, black women activists returned to the question of how to create a national movement. However, again there was no consensus on how best to address the organizational framework (networks, forums, etc.) needed to advance the movement on a national scale (Roland, 2000).

Black Womens Movement in Brazil

The Third National Encounter of Black Women, held in Belo Horizonte in 2001, was attended by 400 black women from throughout the country, and also failed to consolidate a vision for action at the national level. I believe the feminist movement has had more ability to handle its internal differences than the Black Womens Movement. And for this reason, I think the amplitude of the womens movement in Brazil is much larger in general, has more reach, has achieved a political impact with far greater visibility. But thats not all. White women have greater social and economic capital. These have been some of the difculties that, for example, have made it impossible, even today, to create a National Network of Black Women in Brazil. Internal conicts within the Black Womens Movement have made the existence of a network, open to all black women o who want to mobilize and participate, impossible. (Interview, Edna Roland, Sa Paulo, January, 2006.)

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With these obstacles, the BWM consists of two independent but cooperative forms of organization, each with its own concepts of how to advance individually while promoting the larger movements political trajectory and strengthening its claims. Today, there is the ` es de o de Organizac Network of Black Brazilian Womens Organizations (Articulac a o rum Nacional Mulheres Negras Brasileiras) and the National Forum of Black Women (Fo de Mulheres Negras). The Network is a space for political dialogue and debate, linking black womens organizations to the political/institutional arenas in which their voices may have political inuence. The Forum, meanwhile, provides resources and structure for the many community-based black womens organizations throughout the country. In short, the Network provides more avenues for top-down activism while the Forum is of a more grassroots nature.9

The BWM and its Articulations with the Brazilian State Throughout the 1990s, the BWM found itself caught between the national and international recognition it had gained, and the persistent difculties it faced in trying to coalesce around a unied internal organization. The introduction of the Itapecerica da Serra Declaration was a landmark in alleviating some of the major tensions within the movement and providing a common language to proceed.

Itapecerica da Serra Declaration: Unifying Around a Reproductive Rights Agenda s organized the National Seminar on Black Womens On 21 22 August 1993, Gelede Reproductive Rights and Policies as part of the preparatory events for the UN World Population and Development Conference, to be held in Cairo in 1994. The seminar was attended by 55 participants, all linked to womens organizations, black organizations, universities and public health services. The workshop produced the Itapecerica da Serra Declaration, which criticized the Brazilian government for treating reproduction as a public issue and the means of sustaining life as a private matter (Ribeiro, 1995; Roland, 1995, 2000).10

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There are three main reasons why the Itapecerica da Serra Declaration is a foundational document for the political direction of the BWM. To begin, it is the rst document produced by the BWM that advertises a controversial political position, stating that: The state has basically come to treat reproduction as a public issue, and the means of sustaining lifehousing, health, education, food and workas a private matter. Understanding this role reversal is crucial at this juncture in preparation for the World Population and Development Conference III [...]. Reproductive freedom is essential for those ethnicities that are discriminated against. Therefore, we must ght so that reproductive decisions are made in the private realm, with the state guaranteeing reproductive rights and ensuring healthy conditions for sustaining life. (National Seminar, 1993, p. 03. Emphasis added.) The issue of reproductive rights and birth control via sterilization had already been receiving attention within civil society. The assertion that reproductive freedom was fundamental to black women represented a break with the dominant thinking of the black movement, with specic regard to surgical sterilization procedures undertaken by large-scale state programs of the time. The black movement urged black women to avoid birth control, partially in response to suspicion of a governmental bio-political strategy to exterminate the black population. The feminist movement, in turn, argued for the complete deregulation of the practice of birth control. Black women shared the concerns of the black and feminist movements, although they never fully endorsed one over the other (Roland, 2000; Rodrigues, 2006). The second reason the Itapecerica da Serra Declaration is a milestone for the movement is its theme; it was the rst widely accepted and widely distributed document to focus in the eld of health, which would thereafter become a central area of focus for the BWM. Since its drafting, most NGOs and groups of black women have enhanced their health programs for black women, receiving funding to develop projects from an array of agencies as diverse as the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the International Womens Health Coalition, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the United Nations, among others. Finally, the Itapecerica da Serra Declaration inaugurated a new and productive space for dialogue between the BWM, the Brazilian state and international foundations and agencies. While some black women had participated, for example, in the World Conference on mea, Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) as part of the group Planeta Fe as well as in the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993), such participation did not have a collective character, lacking dened goals and strategies.11 It was only following the preparations for the UN World Population and Development Conference that the movement began to show the power of its collective organization. Some items of the Declaration were incorporated into the ofcial government document sent to Cairo, and the Brazilian Feminist Network of Health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights (Rede Nacional de, Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos) nominated a black woman to Feminista de Sau be its representative in the conference12 (Ribeiro, 1995; Roland, 2000). The Beijing Process and New Articulations Between Gender and Race In 1994, black women began to organize for the Fourth UN World Conference on Women (FWCW), to be held in Beijing in 1995. The womens preparation for this conference revealed their growing effort to involve themselves in a larger global movement.

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Black women participated in all of the preparatory state forums leading up to the FWCW and achieved considerable visibility around their issues. Along with this, black women participated in large numbers at the National Conference of Brazilian Women, held in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1995. With their collective participation, the women ensured that the issue of race would be incorporated into the documents from the Conference of Brazilian Women being sent to Beijing, as well as in the ofcial document from the Brazilian government. According to Alvarez (1998, p. 301), Afro-Latin American womenwhose political trajectories often traversed both the black movement and feminist organizationsparticipated in the Beijing process in impressive numbers, proclaiming that any strategy for development, peace, or equality must necessarily consider the particularities of black women, and promoting the formation of national networks that would guarantee the active participation of diverse ethnic and racial representatives in the Beijing meetings.

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At the FWCW, the involvement of black women expanded the discussion of race to a global level. Attendees agreed that racism manifests itself to lesser or greater extents in all societies, consistently privileging the white race at the expense of others. They noted that racism is not conned to one region or culture, but is a general and pervasive determining factor of social exclusion. This heightened focus on race, supported by black and white feminists alike, led to the inclusion of proposals in the conferences Ofcial Declaration aimed at eradicating racism and building a platform of action advocating full citizenship for all people (Ribeiro, 1995). Proposing Reparation Policies: Zumbi dos Palmares March and the Durban Conference The second half of the 1990s was a critical time for the reorientation of race relations in Brazil. The year 1995 could be considered a watershed year for the black movement as a whole, and especially for the BWM. In 1995, several organizations within the black movement and trade union movement13 began a process of dialogue and celebration around the 300th anniversary of the death of Zumbi dos Palmares,14 seeking to ensure that race was prominently featured in discussions and planning (Bento, 2000). In addition to celebrating the National Day of Black Consciousness, black organizations in Brazil organized discussions about reparations and afrmative action policies. If the focus of the black movement up to the early 1990s was on deconstructing the myth of racial democracy, from the mid-1990s forward the balance shifted to working on policies to promote racial equality and access to spaces of decision and power. Weve made all the complaints. The myth of racial democracy is reduced to ashes. We now want to demand effective action from the statea requirement of our political majority. (Document from Zumbi dos Palmares March, 1996, p. 3.) As a result of the Zumbi dos Palmares March, the federal government signed a decree creating the Interministerial Working Group to Valorize the Black Population (Grupo de o da Populac o NegraGTI). The mission of this Trabalho Interministerial de Valorizac a a group was to discuss and propose afrmative action policies for black people in various

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areas of the state and civil society, with special attention given to policies related to education, jobs, health, culture and communication. The preparatory process for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance III (III WCAR), held from 31 August to 8 September 2001 in Durban, South Africa, was also a milestone for the BWM. The preparations helped to materialize, to a certain extent, the BWMs processes of consolidation and political visibility that had begun in the early 1990s. The struggle for reparations and afrmative action policies, which had been taking shape within black womens organizations throughout the 1990s, became a central component of the BWM following III WCAR, with many organizations coalescing around these themes and intensifying dialogue with the state. The preparatory process for Durban demonstrated the ways in which black women had entered, in large part thanks to their relationship with the feminist movement, into the international scene in the 1990s. The ease and expertise with which they navigated the roles and spaces of local and international NGOs were visible. In the series of Preparatory Conferences for III WCAR, black women demonstrated their organizational capacity and their knowledge of how to inuence negotiation, thus positioning themselves as prominent political subjects within the black movement. The Brazilian delegation was the largest of those present in Durban, with approximately 600 members. Edna Roland, an activist in the BWM in Brazil, was appointed Speaker of the conference, the second position in the hierarchy of III WCAR. Through her leadership, along with that of many other Brazilian activists, conference attendees formed a consensus around using the term Afro-descendent to dene the descendants of enslaved black Africans outside of Africa, and also agreed on the proposition for reparation policies for Afro-descendents. The adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action is a clear example of the expanding size and strength of the BWM within and outside of Brazil. Much of the Declaration and Program, including the requirements for reparation/afrmative action policies, incorporate content and language carried over from the Regional Preparatory Conference of the Americas in Chile, in which Brazilian black women had earlier played an inuential role promoting their agenda. As an example, paragraph 4 of the Program of Action of the Durban Conference urges governments to facilitate the participation of people of African descent in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society and in the advancement and economic development of their countries, and to promote a greater knowledge of and respect for their heritage and culture; (Durban Declaration and Program of Action, 2001, p. 28). The III WCAR also recognized issues specic to black women and the multiple forms of discrimination to which they are subjected. Accordingly, paragraph 9 of the Program of Action requests States to increase public actions and policies in favor of women and young males of African descent, given that racism affects them more deeply, placing them in a more marginalized and disadvantaged situation. (Durban Declaration and Program of Action, 2001, p. 29.) The documents adopted in Durban allowed the leadership of the BWM and the black movement to demand compliance from the Brazilian state with regard to the targets established in the conferences Program of Action. This shift in dynamics created greater political space for discussions on reparations and afrmative action, specic policies for black women, and other key issues for achieving racial equality in the country.15

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Black Womens Movement in Brazil The Politicization of Race and Gender in Multi-Institutional Arenas

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In 2003, with the inauguration of president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), signicant measures with regard to race and gender equality ticas para as were established. The Secretariat for Policies for Women (Secretaria de Pol Mulheres) and the Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality (Secretaria o da Igualdade RacialSEPPIR) were created with ministerial status Especial de Promoc a under the auspices of the federal government. In addition to these measures, the Lula government sought to intensify dialogue with civil society through the creation and/or reformulation of Councils of Popular Participation and National Conferences on Public Policy. Continuing a process that began in the 1990s, black activists were key actors in this new national political scene. For the scope of this paper, we will review four instances in which the participation of black women activists was especially extensive and productive. These include SEPPIR, the National Health Policy for the Black Population, National Womens Conferences and National Conferences for the Promotion of Racial Equality. The Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial EqualitySEPPIRwas ofcially created on 21 March 2003. It has been one of the main achievements of the black movement in general and the BWM in particular. Not surprisingly, the rst minister of SEPPIR was Matilde Ribeiro, a veteran activist in the eld of race and gender rights who had worked in the trade union movement, BWM and the Workers Party. In her inaugural speech she stated: The agenda of racial equality has never held such status within the structure of the federal government. Our mission is to coordinate government policies and maintain relationships with civil society, considering the importance of advancing afrmative action and including groups that face racial and ethnic discrimination. (Inaugural Address, 21 March 2003.) The impact of III WCAR in Brazil nds in the creation of SEPPIR its high point, continuing progress initiated in the nal years of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration (1995 2003). During this time, the government promoted the adoption of racial quotas in higher education, as well as the implementation of race-based public policies in the areas of labor, health and agriculture (Maio & Monteiro, 2005). In order to promote racial equality broadly, SEPPIR has grown to operate in a somewhat trans-ministerial dimension, partnering with other ministries to help them create racially sensitive measures in their policy agendas. Examples of this trans-ministerial format include measures such as taking race/ethnicity-based censuses in schools; proposing public health policies for the black population and recommending a greater diversity of school books emphasizing positive traits of blackness and African/Afro-Brazilian culture. Regarding basic education, the approval of Law 10.639 of 2003, which mandates the inclusion of AfroBrazilian History and Culture in the ofcial curriculum of the public school system, represents a clear attempt to reinterpret the countrys racial history. Despite these advances, the emergence of SEPPIR in the political-institutional arena is not without its challenges. On the one hand, there are the intellectual critics of racially targeted public policies, who see the institutionalization of SEPPIR as a victory for the process of racializing the anti-racism struggle in the country, thus denying the a-racial tradition (whose climax would be the myth of racial democracy) and the concept of universality in Brazil (Fry

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& Maggie, 2007; Grin, 2010). On the other hand, the institutionalization of SEPPIR brings dilemmas of an internal order, such as: who among the black movements is the best able to occupy a position within the secretariat, and to what extent does such leadership represent, in reality, the black population of Brazil. Finally, SEPPIR faces issues of funding and sustainability in the short term and long term. In 2003, its rst year, the ministry had no budget allocation. In 2004, its budget was approximately US$ 10.5 million, the lowest among the 37 Ministries of the Lula government. Between 2005 and 2010, SEPPIRs average annual budget was US$ 41 million, while for the year 2011 it was expected to have a 50.7 per cent reduction.16 One justication for the ministrys low budget is related to the fact that SEPPIR is not an executive program with management responsibilities, but rather lls an advisory role tasked with providing consultations, liaisons and coordination. From the standpoint of sustainability, there is always the risk that future governments less aligned with anti-racism will disassemble the ministry.

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National Health Policy for the Black Population The public debate on reproductive health, gender and race initiated at the Seminar of Itapecerica da Serra crossed the frontiers of activism and became a subject of academic research and political-institutional interest, with the creation of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to analyze the racial dimensions of sterilization in Brazil (Maio & Monteiro, 2005). The activities developed by black womens NGOs, augmented by support from academics and funding from institutions like the Ford and MacArthur Foundations, were essential to establishing an agenda for sexual and reproductive rights (Roland, 2001a). In 1996, the Ministry of Health held a roundtable on the health of the black population. Despite much discussion, no consensus was reached on the need to create programs focused specically on black peoples health. The only exception was the Sickle Cell Anemia Program (Programa de Anemia Falciforme), as sickle cell anemia is a disease with a demonstrably greater impact on the black population, and the statistics were sufciently compelling to justify it as a public health priority (Roland, 2001b; Maio & Monteiro, 2005; Rodrigues, 2010). In 1997, the federal government established the Program for the Health of the Black Population. However, according to Roland (2001b), the program was a failure from the beginning because it received no allocation of resources or dened set of guidelines. In 2004, under the Lula administration, the Ministry of Health and SEPPIR signed a commitment with the intent of implementing a National Health Policy for the Black Population. As part of this agreement, the Technical Committee on the Health of Black People was created with the task of systematizing proposals for the promotion of racial equity in health care. The creation of the Technical Committee was accompanied by the First Seminar on the Health of Black People, which produced the document National Health Policy for the Black Population: A Question of Equity. The document emphasized the need to expand black peoples access to the public health system, the importance of including race/color on birth and death certicates, and the need to develop policies that met the particular health needs of particular ethnic and racial groups (Maio & Monteiro, 2005). In 2006, the National Health Council approved the National Health Policy for the Black tica Nacional de Sau de Integral da Populac o Negra). Among the Population (Pol a

Black Womens Movement in Brazil

15

programs guidelines were distinguishing intrinsic factors of certain diseases prevalent in the black population from factors resulting from social exclusion, such as poverty and lack of education. Further, the program asserted that there is institutional racism within the public health system in Brazil which negatively affects the care given to the black population (Rodrigues, 2010). Black Women and the National Conferences on Public Policy The National Conferences on Public Policy have been part of Brazils system of democratic participation since the countrys transition to democracy in the 1980s. The Conferences joined other hallmark democratic innovations, such as Brazils successful experiments in participatory budgeting and municipal councils on public policy, in promoting citizenship while establishing transparent forms of public management (Avritzer, 2002, 2009; Smith, 2009; Pogrebinschi, 2010). The Conferences are public spaces intended for people to participate in public policy, organized thematically in order to involve civil society and government at equal levels (Pogrebinschi, 2010; Silva, 2010). Conferences are usually preceded by municipal, state or regional events from which delegates are elected to participate on the national stage. In this way, the structure of the Conferences progression from local to national ensures equal participation from all regions and populations of the country. According to Pogrebinschi (2010), between 1988 and 2009 there were 80 national Conferences in the country, covering an array of themes including health; environment; state, economy and development; education, culture and social services; human rights and minorities. Of all the national conferences held in Brazil since 1988, 20 have been dedicated to minorities. These include senior citizens; people with disabilities; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; indigenous people; women; children and adolescents; youth; racial minorities and Brazilian communities abroad. Except for the Conferences on the rights of children and adolescents, held since 1997, all conferences on minorities have taken place since 2003, the rst year of the Lula government. In 2004, the First National Conference on Women was held, with the goal of proposing guidelines for the creation of the rst National Policy Plan for Women (Plano Nacional de ticas para as Mulheres) and evaluating the actions developed by the Secretariat for Pol Policies for Women. The following year brought the First National Conference on Racial Equality, also aiming to formulate a National Plan for the Promotion of Racial Equality o da Igualdade Racial), as well as to evaluate SEPPIRs (Plano Nacional de Promoc a performance in promoting racial equality. The Second National Conferences in these areas sought to consolidate and evaluate the implementation of the two respective National Policy Plans. The Second National Conference on Women was held in 2007, and the Second National Conference on Racial Equality was held in 2009. Adding together both years of both conferences, these events brought together over 380,000 people in conversations at the local, municipal and state levels. Of this total, approximately 4000 delegates were present at each of the two National Conferences of Women; half of the attendees were representatives of organizations, associations and social movements focused on gender issues (Brasil, 2009a). Each of the two Conferences on Racial Equality also included the participation of about 4000 people at the national level, with 60 per cent representing social movements focused on race issues (Brasil, 2009b).

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The presence of black women at these conferences ensured substantial debate around issues concerning black womens health, increased political participation of black women, the weight of racism on black womens lives, the challenge of inequalities in the labor market and other historic struggles of black women activists. According to Pogrebinschi (2010), guidelines adopted at national conferences for minorities tend to be administrative (with claims directed to the executive) and legislative (addressed to Congress). In the rst Conference on Women, 56 per cent of deliberations were administrative, while in the second conference 74.8 per cent were administrative. In the rst Conference for Racial Equality, 95.5 per cent of deliberations were administrative, while in the second conference this number dropped to 87.6 per cent (Pogrebinschi, 2010). According to Pogrebinschi (2010), the prevalence of administrative deliberations over legislative deliberations can be explained in three ways. First, conference participants believe that the executive branch responds more effectively and rapidly to their claims in comparison with the legislative branch. Second, a signicant portion of administrative deliberations requires the implementation of measures already established by law. Finally, both women and blacks have representatives in national councils on public policies (the National Council of Womens Rights and the National Council for the Promotion of Racial Equality), which have equal representation from civil society and the executive. These councils on public policies play a leading role in the Conferences, thus inuencing where deliberations are directed. After deliberations are made by conference delegates, an ofcial document is drafted and sent to the executive and legislative branches to be signed. In the cases we are discussing, the executive has responded to the demands voiced at the conferences through a series of presidential decrees. Additionally, the Lula administration adopted the rst and second National Policy Plans for Women in 2005 and 2008, respectively, and the National Policy Plan for the Promotion of Racial Equality in 2009. Of all the conference deliberations that have become laws and amendments, 18.3 per cent have been related to minority issues including, but not limited to, the subjects of gender and race (Santos & Pogrebinschi, 2009). Conclusion The consolidation of the BWM has occurred, as we have underlined here, gradually. The initial double militancy approach of, in the words of Sueli Carneiro, sexualizing the black movements agenda and blackening the feminist movements agenda has transitioned into a process of empowering an autonomous BWM. Despite internal differences regarding the national role of the movement and its forms of organization, black women activists have undoubtedly succeeded in inuencing the agendas of other social movements (especially the black and feminist movements) and improving public policies from the local to national levels. Black women activists have been especially adept at accessing the political-institutional arena as a primary means of moving their agenda forward. The movement continues ghting for the economic and political rights of the black population, with a keen awareness of the gender and class issues involved in such a ght. The relationship between the BWM and the state has guaranteed, to various degrees, a commitment by the government to address the concerns of black women. The participation of black women in international conferences sponsored by the United Nations, the creation of the Special Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality within the federal

Black Womens Movement in Brazil

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government, and more recently the establishment and consolidation of Secretaries and Coordinators for the Black Community in different cities and states in the country, reveal how much the discourse of black women has achieved. Despite its internal challenges, and the racism and sexism that still persist in Brazilian society, the BWM has successfully established spaces of dialogue that continue to effectively promote positive change in the daily lives of black women. With encouraging advances in public policy over the last decade, and a momentum that has repeatedly overcome internal and external challenges, the BWM is well positioned for progress in the struggle to combat race and gender inequality in Brazil.

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 rst 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 lios) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geograa e Domic sticaIBGE), paid domestic work employed 6,731,197 people, 94 per cent of whom were women. Of Estat these women, 61 per cent were black and 39 per cent were white. Paid domestic work accounted for 16.4 per cent of womens 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 rst 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 countrys largest white population and most robust economy. Black womens 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 sBlack Womens Institute, the leading Brazilian NGO majority of professionalized NGOs, such as Gelede for black women. These organizations usually have a professional cadre of activists, and nancial support coming from state agencies and international institutions such as the Ford Foundation, the International Womens Health Coalition, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bank of Boston Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. The northsouth disparities are reected in the political activity of black women activists; NGO members from the southeast have greater access to spaces of dialogue with the state and

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international agencies, and thereby can exercise greater control over the political agenda of the movement as a whole. The Network of Black Brazilian Womens 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 womens 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 specically 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. 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. This information was obtained from interviews with Edna Roland, Nilza Iraci and Vanda Menezes. The Feminist Health Network (www.redesaude.org.br) was founded in 1991 to defend the security and expansion of womens sexual and reproductive rights. The Network was, in the 1990s and early 2000s, one of the BWMs 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. In the rst 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. 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. In 2001, the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration began implementing afrmative 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 lling vacancies for public selection, in contracting outsourcing service providers and in stafng 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 rst afrmative 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 rst public universities to adopt a quota system in the country; the rst students admitted under this system began in 2003. Today, more than 80 public institutions of higher education have adopted some form of afrmative action policies for the admission of black students and/or public school students. The Federal University of Alagoas even has a specic quota for black women. 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).

9.

10.

11. 12.

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13.

14.

15.

16.

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C. Rodrigues & M.A. Prado

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ncias, revelac o de substa o e outras armadilhas no combate ao racismo no Brasil Rodrigues, C. C. (2010) Produc a a neo, Sociedade e Cultura, 13(1), pp. 125 136. contempora Roland, E. (1995) Direitos reprodutivos e racismo no Brasil, Estudos Feministas, 02, pp. 506 514. es & Roland, E. (2000) O movimento de mulheres negras brasileiras: Desaos e perspectivas, in: A. S. A. Guimara scara: Ensaios Sobre o Racismo no Brasil (Sa o Paulo: Paz e Terra). L. Huntley (Eds) Tirando a Ma de reprodutiva da populac o negra no Brasil: um campo em construc o, Perspectivas em Roland, E. (2001a) Sau a a de e Direitos Reprodutivos, 2(4), pp. 1723. Sau o saiu do papel: Entrevista com Edna Roland, Jornal da Rede Roland, E. (2001b) PAF: um programa que ainda na de, (23), Available at www.redesaude.org.br/jornal/html/body_jr23-edna.html (accessed Feminista de Sau 14 January 2011). ncias Nacionais e Processo Legislativo: Participac o, deliberac o e Santos, F. & Pogrebinschi, T. (2009) Confere a a tica brasileira, in: 33rd Encontro Nacional da ANPOCS. Caxambu, Brazil, October o na pol representac a 2630, 2009 (Caxambu: ANPOCS). es de Sardenberg, C. & Costa, A. (1994) Feminismos, feministas e movimentos sociais, in: Mulher e Relac o nero, pp. 81 113 (Sa o Paulo: Loyola). Ge ncias Pu tica: alguns determinantes da blicas Nacionais como forma de inclusa o pol Silva, V. P. (2010) As Confere o e deliberac o, Masters. Universidade Federal de Minas capacidade inclusiva desses espac os de participac a a Gerais. Smith, G. (2009) Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citzen Participation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Skidmore, T. (1994) O Brasil Visto de Fora (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra). mero Soares, V. (1994) Movimento feminista: paradigmas e desaos, in: Revista de Estudos Feministas, 2. sem, nu especial, pp. 1124 (Rio de Janeiro: Ciec/ECO/UFRJ). o da cidadania feminina, branca e negra no Brasil, in: A. S. A. Soares, V. (2000) O verso e reverso da construc a scara: Ensaios Sobre o Racismo no Brasil (Sa es & L. Huntley (Eds) Tirando a Ma o Paulo: Paz e Guimara Terra). UN (United Nations) (2001) World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 8 September 2001 (New York: United Nations).

Cristiano Rodrigues holds a Ph.D in Sociology from the Institute of Social and Political Studies at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ), Brazil. He was Fulbright Visiting Researcher at San Francisco State University, 2009 2010, and has received fellowships and awards from the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program and the Brazilian Scientic Research Council. His research interests include development, globalization and ethnicity/race; African Diaspora, race and nationalism in Latin America, the comparative politics of Latin America; feminist theory; political sociology and social movements. lio Pradois is a Professor of Political Psychology and Social Psychology at Marco Aure the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. He holds a Ph.D in Social o Paulo, 2000, and has held Psychology from the Pontical Catholic University of Sa positions as visiting professor or visiting researcher at the National University of San Luis, Argentina, the University of Coimbra, Portugal and City University of New York, USA, respectively. His research interests include social and political psychology, political behavior, social movements, political mobilization, gender and sexualities, public policies and collective action.