Women in Brazil
Dilma Rousseff, former President of Brazil and the first woman to occupy the post
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| Gender Inequality Index | |
|---|---|
| Value | 0.447 (2012) |
| Rank | 85th |
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 56 |
| Women in parliament | 9.6% (2012) |
| Females over 25 with secondary education | 50.5% (2010) |
| Women in labour force | 59.6% (2011) |
| Global Gender Gap Index | |
| Value | 0.6949 (2013) |
| Rank | 62nd out of 144 |
Women's societal roles in Brazil have been heavily impacted by the patriarchal traditions of Iberian culture, which holds women subordinate to men in familial and community relationships. The Iberian Peninsula, which is made up of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, has traditionally been the cultural and military frontier between Christianity and Islam, developing a strong tradition for military conquest and male dominance. Patriarchal traditions were readily transferred from the Iberian Peninsula to Latin America through the encomienda system that fostered economic dependence among women and indigenous peoples in Brazil. As the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world, religion has also had a significant impact on the perception of women in Brazil, though over the past century the Brazilian government has increasingly broken with the Catholic Church in regard to issues related to reproductive rights.
Brazil is thought to possess the most organized and effective women's movement in Latin America, with visible gains having been made over the past century to promote and protect the legal and political rights of women. Despite the gains made in women's rights over the past century, women in Brazil still face significant gender inequality, which is most pronounced in the rural areas of Northeastern Brazil. In 2010, the United Nations ranked Brazil 73rd out of 169 nations based on the Gender Inequality Index, which measure women's disadvantages in the areas of reproductive rights, empowerment and labour force participation.
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