The main character of this paper, Suely Oliveira, was the first woman elected state representative in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in 1950. Re-elected five times, for 16 years she remained the only woman in the Gaucho Parliament. This paper aims to analyze the conditions surrounding her mandates by examining her womanhood, the effect caused by it in her relationship to other representatives, and the way she saw herself as a woman in this scenario. These issues will be approached from a theoretical perspective, which discusses the importance of the presence of women in politics and the struggle for the rights of women and other minorities. The article has two sections: the first points out, albeit briefly, a set of theoretical issues that underlie the analysis of the presence of women in politics; the second examines the trajectory of Oliveira in the State Assembly.
History of women; relations of gender; History of Rio Grande do Sul; Feminist Theory; political participation