Female and black occupation of the Brazilian Legislature: a case study

Souza, Leticia Godinho de; Gomes, Ana Paula Salej; Cruz, José Vitor Costa; Santos, Mariana Saraiva Duarte

doi:10.1590/0103-3352.2025.44.277399pt

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Polít. 44 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-3352.2025.44.277399en linkcopy

Female and black occupation of the Brazilian Legislature: a case study

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Given the importance of political representation for Brazilian democracy, as well as the inseparable relationship between parliamentary action and policy making, this article presents the results of a study that evaluated the mandate of a Black Brazilian state representative. On the one hand, research in public administration tends to focus on the executive branch; studies about other powers are less common, especially regarding the legislative branch. On the other hand, there is a long history of studies in this area in political science, both in legislative studies and especially in studies on the political representation of women in parliaments. The mandate was evaluated for effectiveness, that is, its ability to materially represent the interests of women and the groups it intended to represent. Mobilizing literature on the relationship between descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation exercised by women in political positions, we evaluated the mandate’s contribution to dimensions such as: democratic strengthening, political administration, and results of parliamentary action.

Keywords:
politics; representation; black women; parliamentary evaluation; gender; race

Dimension	Question	Rationale
Descriptive and symbolic representation⁶	Does the office have representativeness that contributes to overcoming the existing democratic deficit in the Brazilian parliament?	Recognition of the demand for democratic consolidation places attention on the problem of unequal representation of population groups that are underrepresented, invisible, oppressed or without due recognition, considering the intersections with other sub-representations.
Parliamentary Activity	Is the office capable of exercising the parliamentary function adequately, considering its legislative and supervisory functions?	It emphasizes the intensity of parliamentary action in: the number of bills, requirements, etc.; the effectiveness of parliamentary action (success of proposals and their implementation); impact of parliamentary action in relation to substantive representation and what was within its reach.
Office Management	Does it contribute to the development of parliament and cabinet?	Evaluates aspects related to good office management practices, which reflect the efforts to gather the necessary resources for the best performance of the functions of the mandate. The following representativeness of the team, technical competence, ability to vocalize the themes that were the basis and guidelines for the election of the parliamentarian, capacity to accept contingency demands, adapt to adverse circumstances, among others.
Substantive Representation	Does it contribute to the consolidation of democracy?	It takes into account the effort made by the mandate to implement changes towards what was proposed since the election campaign verifies the adversities faced in view of the political context and the structure of the legislative house itself; identifies the strategies used to achieve substantive representation; the capacity of the carry out, with propositions, votes and consistent and forceful performance all activities related to the content related to the invoked representation.

Social group		Minas Gerais Electorate	Elected members (2019-2022)		Is this group underrepresented?
Women		51,9%	10	13,0%	Yes
Black¹ (preto)		11,8%	4	5,2%	Yes
Mixed-race (pardo)² and black (preto)		60,0%	16	20,8%	Yes
Age group	21 to 24	8,1%	1	1,3%	Yes
	25 to 34	20,3%	5	6,5%	Yes
	35 to 44	20,2%	24	31,2%	No
	45 to 59	24,8%	32	41,6%	No
	60 to 69	11,4%	13	16,9%	Yes
	70 to 79	6,1%	2	2,6%	Yes

Educational level	Electorate of Minas Gerais	ALMG Elected members (2019-2022)
Educational level	Electorate of Minas Gerais	Total		Women Percentage
		Percentage	Quantity
Basic education	6,4%	2,6%	2
Secondary education	18,3%	10,4%	8
Tertiary education	6,8%	80,5%	62	100%
Tertiary unfinished	3,3%	6,5%	5

Propositions	PEC	PLC	PL	PRE
Andréia de Jesus	39	1	49	0
Confidence Interval (CI)	26,3 - 31,7	1,5 - 2,4	41,3 - 59,1	2,5 - 5,5
Relative position to CI	Above CI	Bellow CI	Within CI	Bellow CI
Median	30	1	49	0
Quartile	4º	Median	3º	Median

Committees		Number of times	Type of membership
Special	Committee of members of the standing committees - § 1 of Article 204 of the Internal Regulations	2	Active member
	Committee on Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 14/2019.	1	Alternate member
	Committee on Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 34/2019	2	Active member and President
	Committee on Proposed Constitutional Amendment No.36/2019	1	Active member
	Veto Committee No. 28/2021	1	Active member
Permanent	Public Administration Committee	1	Alternate member
	Women’s Rights Defense Committee	3	Active member (2) Vice president (1)
	Human Rights Committee	4	Active member (2) Vice president, President
	Popular Participation Committee	2	Alternate member

Campaign	Website	Parliamentary activity¹
Right to the city	Rights of those affected by mining	Basin of the Doce River, Brumadinho, Colônia Santa Isabel, Governador Valadares, Itabira Itabirito, Mariana, Nova Lima, Porteirinha Riacho dos Machados, Sabará, São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo, Serra da Piedade, Serro and Triângulo Mineiro.
		Right to housing
		Women’s empowerment Female emancipation
Security	Women and gender-based violence	Incarcerated mothers Quilombola women Women in situations of violence Women victims of violence in rural areas Transgender women
Security	Human rights and anti-prison issues	Former prisoners Incarcerated individuals Prison system Human rights violations
Racism	Anti racism	Dissemination of Nazism
		Practical investigation of the crime of racism Confronting racism Eradication of slave labor Racial slander Religious intolerance Racism in childhood Combating intolerance crimes
		Haitians, migrant population
	Quilombos and traditional communities and territories	Congado, Januária, São Domingos do Prata, São Francisco, Virgem da Lapa
	Quilombos and traditional communities and territories	Indigenous schools Indigenous populations Venezuelan indigenous populations Caxixós, Katuramãs, Kamakam Mongoiós Kiriris, Maxakalís, Nahô Xohã, Taipuru Puris Tuxá, Xucuru kariri, Xakriabás, Xokleng, Kaingang and Guarani
Culture		Urban cultures of impoverished regions Hip hop Graffiti
Work and income	Agroecology	Food security
Work and income		Public servants Public servants’ pension system
Public transport

Focus group 1	Focus group 2
Traditional peoples (“quilombolas” or marroons) Afro-Brazilian religious groups (“terreiros”) Traditional peoples (indigenous) Occupations	Occupations
Focus group 3	Focus group 4
Feminist organizations Traditional peoples (quilombolas)	Black youth Feminist organizations Traditional peoples (fiandeiros)

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Universidade de Brasília. Instituto de Ciência Política Instituto de Ciência Política, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro - Gleba A Asa Norte, 70904-970 Brasília - DF Brasil, Tel.: (55 61) 3107-0777 , Cel.: (55 61) 3107 0780 - Brasília - DF - Brazil
E-mail: rbcp@unb.br

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[TFN9] Source: Prepared by the authors.